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Cheers for that, Philly. Much appreciated. I'll start looking into Danish oil.

Hi, I'm building my first project, a cherry bookcase. I'm thinking ahead to the finish, but I know very little about the realities of the different types. I've done a few searches here but haven't been able to find exactly what I'm looking for. I really like natural-feeling finishes, which...

Mignal, I hadn't realised I'd opened up a can of worms. In the end I went with a fife collector in the US who sells a special oil concoction he's made up which he says works wonders. We'll see, but I have no reason to doubt it as he seems straight up. I'll give it a go when it arrives and see...

I've got two fifes, simple, keyless flutes, made in ebony which I would like to look after properly. After a few soakings in whatever oil Mom had in the kitchen (the fifes, not me), I want to put the proper stuff on them. I beliee they are both ebony. One is about 30 years old, the other...

Mike, Yeah, I do want to. :D I don't know why, I just seem to want to do things with as little mechanical/modern interference as possible to really learn the old handskills. The only problem is that I don't really have anyone on hand to really teach me some of these skills, so I'm getting...

Mike, That diagram is actually what I am talking about. The top of the case overhangs the front and the sides, so I was thinking about some kind of joint where the uprights could be slid in from the back for assembly but would be blind to the front and sides. I was thinking about a...

Wow! You guys are fast! MM12, I'm not sure what you mean by "buttoned". The bookcase will be up to about a chair rail height against the wall as I want to use the top of it as a display surface, so I want to keep the top completely clean if I can. MR, thanks for the reassurance on the joint...

Hello, I'm back after having taken the good advice here on jointing planks for my bookcase (resulted in some pretty decent joints done by hand, I must say - many thanks!). I'm doing this project with handtools only (much to the amusement of my workshop mates), where possible. I'm now glueing...

Well, I got back to the project again tonight and David's advice of taking out the hump in the middle seemed to do the trick. I thought less of making a full-clean pass and just doing whatever it actually took to get a straight edge. That got much more satisfactory results and the kind of...

Eureka! David, you know how every once in a while someone will say something about a subject in such a way that what was once mystifying suddenly makes sense? Well, you just did that for me. I couldn't get my head around how a flat plane with a high point in the middle (ie - a plane and...

Pete, About 3 feet, give or take. I'd like to be using a No. 7, but don't have one, so I'm using my No. 5. I'm beginning to question the flatness of it's sole, too. I'll have a good look next time I'm back in the shop.

Paul, Thanks for that. I was thinking of the plane in just that way and, in my simplistic mental model, that should produce a flat result. But clearly it doesn't (even with a perfectly flat plane?). I've also noticed that the way the plane iron takes shavings seems inconsistent. On some...

Really? What causes that? I'm trying my best to have flat pressure at the ends of the board, but the arc still develops. Scott, great tips to prevent the arc. Thanks!

Hello, I've tried searching on this subject of plane sole flatness but there seems to be some conflicting advice. I'm struggling to get straight joints with my Bailey No. 5 and was hoping for some advice. When I true up the edge of a board and check it with various squares and straight...

I don't have a tool board like Jonathan has shown but I have most of my tools on a shelf over my workbench. ( don't have enough tools for a proper board yet...:oops:) I drilled holes near the wall side of the shelf to hold my chisels and screwdrivers. I had to widen out the holes for the...

No, exactly why it pays to ask for some experienced wisdom on this site. I was asking about the angle of the skew and the length of the blades/handles more than anything. Some examples of skew chisels I've seen seem to have very shallow skews, which I'd have thought would limit their...

Always thinking about the right tool for the job, I was looking at this set of skew chisels which seem to have a more acute angle and shorter handle and blade length. How useful do you think this kind of chisel would be for doing dovetails by hand? http://www.garrettwade.com/jump.jsp?ite ...

My mistake. I misunderstood what Jacob was describing. I was thinking of a blind house joint but with a dovetail profile. The top and bottom of my bookcase are going to be longer than the shelves, so the uprights will intersect them about an inch in from the edge. I was thinking about...

Jacob, Hi! I'm starting a project very similar, my first wood project, and I'm trying to do it all with handtools just to learn the craft. I have been debating how to secure the sides to the tops and bottoms. I was thinking of doing it with a sliding dovetail but I have no idea how to make...

Paul and Mike, Thanks for that tip on edge glueing or using an insert rather than T&G. May need to rethink the approach on this! Now that you guys have said all this, it does seem like unecessary work. Jake, Yeah, the chip deflector works a treat. Now instead of a six-inch pass clogging up...