exclusive firewood
#14
I applaud your high standards.

They are why your saws are so highly valued.
...Naval Aviators, that had balz made of brass and the size of bowling balls, getting shot off the deck at night, in heavy seas, hoping that when they leave the deck that the ship is pointed towards the sky and not the water.

AD1 T. O. Cronkhite
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#15
(09-10-2016, 11:23 PM)Matt Williams Wrote: I don't see the problem,  mind pointing it out?

This reminds me of my months digging through the piles of scrap behind a specialty cabinet shop. The massive container was literally a scrounger's dream; and an inescapable trap. I would look at the cabinets, cabinet doors, mounds of unfinished stock, and lusted for those imperfect (free) potential specimens in my own kitchen.

Here's the deal: Perfection comes in several flavors. So too, is our perception of the implied value of that perfection.  A craftsperson is strongly reminded to not be self-critical--most people will never see the error. The artisan can hide his/her (their) boo-boo's and be unmistakably, boringly perfect every time. Only show the final, and perfect product. Klaus points out that particular flaw in his friend's quote. We are handtool officianadoes and consequently desire "hand made" products, with the exclusive flaws and perfection that hand and eye work yield. We know a machine shop and CNC tools could do the handle; and be too perfect. Pedder could have also posted a picture of the results of months of scrap and failed pieces, preliminary to putting them into the fire bin.

I am very happy to see that like me Pedder has issues with cutting those blasted slots. Before he pointed out the flaws, I was certain that one of those mistakes was a misaligned bolt hole, my other nightmare.

BTW, Curt should cut the bear at belly button. Bears can look similar to humans, but not that similar.
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#16
(09-11-2016, 01:17 PM)hbmcc Wrote: I was certain that one of those mistakes was a misaligned bolt hole, my other nightmare.


Hi Bruce, 

at this point I want to chime in. Plum generally is a joy to work ...  with one exception. The alignments of thin cuts like blade slots and of small diameter pilot holes for bolts are tricky. The wood withstands these work steps in a way, other woods don't. I had quite a number of misaligned bolt holes on Plum handles. This made me to change the strategy. Instead of locating the hole position at the second side with a pilot hole, the screw hole will be bored with the end size at first and the wider holes for the nuts and the screwheads will be bored with matching counterbores. After this change I never had only one more misaligned screw hole.

The blade slot is another thing. There's no other way than to cut the most of the slot by hand. At least I don't know another way. So the cutting of the blade slot requires high concentration. 

Klaus
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