Paul Sellers says cap iron position doesn’t matter

[pidgeonpost]

He does cover more ground than just beginners' stuff but he is very good on basics. Breath of fresh air in fact.

As a hobbyist I might go a year or more between hand-cutting dovetails, and plenty of other joints, so a reminder of the basics is something I find very useful whether from PS or anyone else. Yes, I can get the info from a book, but sometimes watching a video of someone else doing the job is invaluable and is indeed a breath of fresh air.

 

[Jacob]

I've ordered the Fein book. Expensive and somewhat brief. I'll pass it on here if it's not a keeper.
I'm already not impressed by his M&T technique - you'd think they'd get that right in view of the title of the mag!

Book arrived. Yes expensive and brief!
Very nicely presented, lovely photos and some interesting bits and bobs but somehow more of a promotional brochure than a useful book. Promoting what though?
Well the magazine itself I suppose, and this whole ethos of beardy chaps, lovely workshops, glorious shavings. They are selling an idea, which to most of their consumers will remain as an idea; fantasy woodwork?
What else do they have to offer of value?
Refreshingly free of gadgets, jigs, expensive retro tools covered in brass knobs, tool polishing etc.

 

[Adam W.]

Glad you like it.

People love it, it's coffee table stuff. I really like the photos of the old furniture in the mag and there are some good contributors too.

 

[Jacob]

Just flipping through it on my coffee table.
There's a hint of modern sharpening there - the weirdly clumsy way he holds his chisel as he sharpens it on an oil stone. p15. Chisels have handles. You get a much more accurate bevel and much more force/speed if you hold the handle end and put your other hand pressing down hard somewhere about the middle of the whole thing. This is what handles are for in many ways, mainly for holding. Odd that he didn't know. I've seen this before and I think it's a modern sharpening convention - possibly a bad habit picked up from using jigs, which are innately clumsy.
He's also using a bevel edged chisel for chopping out DTs. Firmer is better - more wedge action, like a mortice chisel.
I'm planning to go through the book to nit-pick and find faults.
Odd the uncomfortable side-saddle mortice chopping sitting position - why not sit astride in the normal way? It's not as though he's wearing a skirt .

 

[Adam W.]

I'm pretty confident that you'll be recommending to the peanut gallery in the end.

 

[Jacob]

I'm pretty confident that you'll be recommending to the peanut gallery in the end.

Scanned through to the end. Yes it is good, with a few quibbles.
But what always makes me uneasy about this lot is the glorification of very ordinary woodwork - nothing here which would have been out of place in a pre 1960 woodwork mag. and non the worse for that.
But maybe it has to be glorified to counter the new wave glorification of gadgets, routers, modern sharpening nonsense and so on.
He glorifies nails, which interested me, as I have often pointed out how useful they are! I've inherited a simple book shelf done with rebates/dados/nails in the way he shows. The rebates/dados go on the verticals taking the weight of the horizontal shelves.
I've also got a drawer in a Welsh made table which is nailed together - no rebates just butt joints, the bottom nailed on to the sides. It's actually a very practical way of making a drawer.
But neither of these are glorious - they are utterly nondescript, cheaply done. Nails just ordinary everyday nails, not worth looking at.
PS forgot to say - the big secret of "fine" nailing is pre drilling, which Fein demonstrates, and probably the first time I've ever seen anybody else comment on this!

 

[Adam W.]

Scanned through to the end. Yes it is good, with a few quibbles.
But what always makes me uneasy about this lot is the glorification of very ordinary woodwork - nothing here which would have been out of place in a pre 1960 woodwork mag. and non the worse for that.
But maybe it has to be glorified to counter the new wave glorification of gadgets, routers, modern sharpening nonsense and so on.
He glorifies nails, which interested me, as I have often pointed out how useful they are! I've inherited a simple book shelf done with rebates/dados/nails in the way he shows. The rebates/dados go on the verticals taking the weight of the horizontal shelves.
I've also got a drawer in a Welsh made table which is nailed together - no rebates just butt joints, the bottom nailed on to the sides. It's actually a very practical way of making a drawer.
But neither of these are glorious - they are utterly nondescript, cheaply done. Nails just ordinary everyday nails, not worth looking at.

Well that's a fair comment about the glorification of something ordinary, but if it makes 10% of its readership change to making stuff instead of buying Ikea, it's a good thing, no?

 

[Ozi]

Oh popcorn time..or is that only reserved for sharpening threads?

Not that it matters, but I've always set mine about the same distance as he said (just over a mm). The cap irons on my planes aren't the tightest so setting super close just causes problems.

Doesn't make the blindest bit of difference if you put the blade in upside down like I did this afternoon - it's a special kind of stupid not everyone can achieve. Still can't believe I did it

 

[D_W]

Gawd! He said he wrote an article on WC.

What's that?

Site. The article also went into popular woodworking in a shorter format, but I don't believe that if I have something to share that someone should pay for it. I also tend to do things other people don't do with a level of experimentation that other people don't go to (This is different than being a master at doing something, or doing really neat work - I do OK work, I can do very neat work if I have to but you can't flow the same way doing the work. I fully get why you like the whole riving thing - it's a flow and the highest level work doesn't have the flow).

WC is a relatively low traffic forum because it does tend to be pretty heavy discussion and the posters there want to know details (kind if like I asked you - we all want to "know stuff" and then decide if we'll make use of it, so if you get questioned over there, nobody sweats it...well, some do, but most of the long termers don't).