O-level woodwork challenge

[AndyT]

Looks like an interesting challenge - might have a go myself sometime to see if I can manage it in the alloted time including set up. I assume it's intended as a hand tools challenge but that's not me so why not have a go with a modern approach? Will need to get some practice in with my Leigh jig for the dovetails first though.

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That would be interesting, especially if you have to set up the jig for the right dimensions within the three hours, without any spare wood for test cuts. Yes please!

 

[clanger]

Been reading this thread with interest. I'm going to have a go at it on Saturday morning. I've found a piece of poplar to use. However, as it is only a 1 inch board, I am glueing a couple of pieces together to make the square section.

With the exception of the mortices, where I will use the pillar drill to remove the central bulk, my plan is to be hand tools only. However, I will confess that for the stock preparation before I start, I am using machines.

I have redone the drawings as metric equivalents - being at secondary school in the early '80s, that is how I was brought up.

I think that tomorrow night, I will be limbering up - i.e. getting all tools ready, sharpening etc.

For your amusement, I'll post the results on Saturday

 

[AndyT]

Excellent, the more the better. It will be interesting to see different approaches and what's quicker or slower.

 

[clanger]

As promised, I gave this challenge a go this morning. My overall recommendation is to give it a try. It is good for focussing the mind, and shows very quickly where you can improve.both in quality of work, and timeliness.


All Set, ready to go. Including the (not quite) early morning cuppa - dog, pony, sheep and chickens all fed first.

30 minutes in:

Individual items cut to size from the original two pieces, ends for dovetails and tenon squred off on shooting board an initial marking out for face sides, face edges, locations of mortices and baselines for tenons, and both sides of dovetails completed.
Please note that tea has hardly evaporated

1 hour mark:

Tails cut and cleaned out. Marking out for the pins.

1 hour 5 minutes:
Houston, we have a problem

I cut the wrong side of the line on the far right pin. More haste less speed. Unfortunately, I did not have any spare milled up. 25 minutes later, I was back to the point of sawing the pins

Unfortunately, I missed the 1:30 photo - as it is, there was not much progress to show, due to the mishap.

2 hours:

Pins cut. Cleaning up and fitting almost there.

2 hours 30 - need to get a wiggle on:

Dovetails completed. Mortices cut and squared up. I confess that I did use the pillar drill to clear out the bulk. It was at this point it dawned on me that I could have saved a few minutes doing the same with the pins on the dovetails and the centre section of the tenon, instead of hand cutting a number of saw kerfs and chiselling out.

3 hours - Time gentlemen, please!!!:

Tenons completed. Marking out for the bridle joint all done and initial cuts completed, using the climb the mountain technique. Luckily, I had about 3mm to spare before saw bottomed out on the back.

3 hours 30 - Luckily, the landlord was up for a lock-in, and I could get extra time!!:

Bridle mortice completed and cleaned out. Housing being cut

3 hours 55 minutes:

All complete

A few other pics:

Lessons Learned
===============
More Haste - Less Speed
That was the cause of the mishap with cutting the pins.

Plan better up front
I had already decided that as I don't have mortice chisels, I would clear out the waste with an 8mm drill. I used it on the mortices and on the mortice part of the bridle joint. However, I could have saved a couple of minutes using it to clear out pins and the centre part of the double tenon.

I need to improve my sawing technique
I am cutting about 1mm off the line and paring back in a couple of passes. If I could confidently halve that, I would save time by only needing one pass of paring back tp the knife line

Considering I have not hand cut a dovetail since I was doing evening classes 8 years ago, I was actually happy with the final product. The through mortices were a bit more ragged than I would have liked, and there are a couple of small gaps that really should not be there. Luckily, they are all on the inside and so hidden.



Tomorrow,I would like to glue it all up and then plane up the proruding bits on the dovetails and mortices to practice hiding the few gaps

 

[AndyT]

Fascinating, thanks for giving it a go. It's surprising how quick the time goes, isn't it. Or to put it another way, just how long marking out takes before you put a saw or chisel to the wood.
Your work does look very neat though and I expect the joints fit nicely.

It does seem to be a well designed test. If you know exactly how to go about it and your joints fit straight from the saw, there is enough time. If you need to correct a mistake or make too many adjustments, it's hard to finish.

 

[John Brown]

You have to feed your sheep?
Ours seem to feed themselves. Maybe we're doing it wrong.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

??????????? :lol:

 

[John Brown]

"All Set, ready to go. Including the (not quite) early morning cuppa - dog, pony, sheep and chickens all fed first."

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Ah ..... I didn't remember that far back.

 

[clanger]

You have to feed your sheep?
Ours seem to feed themselves. Maybe we're doing it wrong.

Orphan lambs! If I don't go down with a scoop of sheep nuts I will have them demanding!!!

 

[clanger]

Fascinating, thanks for giving it a go. It's surprising how quick the time goes, isn't it. Or to put it another way, just how long marking out takes before you put a saw or chisel to the wood.
Your work does look very neat though and I expect the joints fit nicely.

If you know exactly how to go about it and your joints fit straight from the saw, there is enough time. If you need to correct a mistake or make too many adjustments, it's hard to finish.

Thank you very much! If it was not for the 25 mins lost due to the **** up, I would have been 30 mins over. If I got the sawing good off the bat, I would have been on the money. I can now see how it is very much down to "muscle memory" ( I don't like that term - practise is the term I prefer)
I really do suggest this as a test for others. I would really like to see how someone that does this on a day to day basis tackles it and what they do to hit the time and quality.

 

[clanger]

Just had an interesting conversation with my Mum - standard Sunday evening, whilst dinner cooking. Chatting to her about what I was doing this weekend, I found out that she was involved in adjudicating exams such as this in the early 70s - in her case it was Dressmaking.

Apparently, exam tests such as this were not expected to be completed by students (15-16 years old) within the time window. What was being looked at was the quality of work being delivered, and the manner of working when time is tight.

More interesting for me - I knew my Mum taught in the early 70s but never knew this side of her activities; it sparked off a good long conversation between us - Thank you very much!!!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Apparently, exam tests such as this were not expected to be completed by students (15-16 years old) within the time window. What was being looked at was the quality of work being delivered, and the manner of working when time is tight.

I invigilated a three hour fifteen minute accountancy exam. I saw one woman I knew to speak to afterwards and asked if she thought she'd passed as she'd finished quickly. Yes, she said, I'd done the work - some of the others hadn't. She passed with a merit. She took forty three minutes.

 

[John Brown]

You have to feed your sheep?
Ours seem to feed themselves. Maybe we're doing it wrong.

Orphan lambs! If I don't go down with a scoop of sheep nuts I will have them demanding!!!

Ok. I understand. I take it all back...

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Apparently, exam tests such as this were not expected to be completed by students (15-16 years old) within the time window. What was being looked at was the quality of work being delivered, and the manner of working when time is tight.

Although not the actual exam, I do know how our woodwork teacher marked the mock exam, and I presume (?) it was the same marking scheme as the real thing. It was a subtractive kind of process, max marks was IIRC 150, and you lost varying levels of marks for defects or incomplete work.

I lost 7 marks - the brief asked you to mark on the plan an edge treatment on one piece, I drew a chamfer on the plan but forgot to put it on the actual piece #-o This is how I got to know the scheme, as the teacher explained to me that I was a plonker for missing out on full marks in such a silly way.

I do think the marking was probably less harsh than we are inclined to be of our own work, remembering how many of the class couldn't saw straight and to a line yet still passed ...

 

[Just4Fun]

Clanger, that was an interesting write-up, especially your post-game analysis. Your speed was pretty much identical to mine apart from 2 aspects.

Your error cutting the dovetails obviously cost you dearly whilst my error cutting the dovetails was much easier to fix. My grandmother always told me it was better to be born lucky than rich.

The other thing was the time it took you to persuade the dovetails to fit whilst mine fit straight off the saw. Paring eats time. I always try to avoid that; it doesn't always work out but is so satisfying when it does.

Anyway, good effort. Your joints look good and I am sure they would look fine if you planed them.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Here's my attempt at this. I used Cherry and Oak. The Oak was a mistake as it slowed me down.

I enjoyed doing it but am annoyed at some of the mistakes I made. My excuse is that I was watching the clock instead of concentrating on the job in hand!

 

[AndyT]

Great to see another member having a go. Looks pretty good, and I won't tell the examiner about those chamfers at the top ...

 

[Blackswanwood]

Aaargh - that's what I mean about watching the clock rather than concentrating on the job in hand :lol:

 

[MikeG.]

If only I had time........

This looks such a fun little idea. I reckon anyone wanting to help themselves timewise would be sensible to pick walnut, but yeah, cherry is also sensible. I'd definitely be bringing a router plane to the party, if that's allowed.