Roubo's variant winding sticks

[Fromey]

Wow, this is really quite interesting.

http://logancabinetshoppe.wordpress.com ... ng-sticks/

 

[AndyT]

Agreed - thanks for posting.
I have the first of the Roubo translations and am likely to get the one on furniture when it comes out, so it's interesting to read of probable historic working practices that have been forgotten.

 

[Bod]

Genius!!!
You only work on the rebates carefully, then only perhaps one corner.
Then just hog off, to the rebate depths.
They knew a thing or two these old old boys!

Bod

 

[bugbear]

Genius!!!
You only work on the rebates carefully, then only perhaps one corner.
Then just hog off, to the rebate depths.
They knew a thing or two these old old boys!

Bod

I have a memory (Walter Rose, perhaps) of floor boards being planed by using a sash rebate as a pseudo marking gauge, and then only thickness planing at the joist crossings. This both saves labour and means stronger floor boards.

BugBear

 

[Bod]

Makes sense, you don't see the underside, and saves huge amounts of work.
Shall try to remember that one.

Bod

 

[Gerard Scanlan]

They are ingenious.

Thanking for digging them up.

Gerard

 

[Racers]

Looks like I have to make some feet for my winding sticks, dam good article.

Pete

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Wow, this is really quite interesting.

http://logancabinetshoppe.wordpress.com ... ng-sticks/

You get essentially the same effect by using four small pieces of 6 mm ply, or anything else that will raise the sticks (two for each winding stick) laid on the two edges of the board prior to resting the winding sticks on them. Not fancy, but works pretty well in my experience. My comment is not intended to knock the modified winding sticks illustrated, but it is another way of doing the same job. Slainte.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

It would be easy enough to make the sticks so the feet did not project above the top, which would make actually sighting the sticks a lot easier. Which is the advantage of temporary plywood shim type, feet, so even a dodge can have advantages. I would like a pair of 'nice' ones though, but doubt I'd use them much. Perhaps I'll do more hand flattening of boards to justify making a pair.

Mike.

 

[bugbear]

You get essentially the same effect by using four small pieces of 6 mm ply, or anything else that will raise the sticks (two for each winding stick) laid on the two edges of the board prior to resting the winding sticks on them.

Given a choice between arranging four little scraps, or using a rather lovely tool, I'd choose the latter. But then, I freely admit to liking "rather lovely tools".

BugBear

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Given a choice between arranging four little scraps, or using a rather lovely tool, I'd choose the latter. But then, I freely admit to liking "rather lovely tools". BugBear

In this instance I say 'whatever floats your boat' is good enough. I'm trying to recall when winding sticks of any sort where critical to me in the successful production of a wooden artefact. With surface planers and thicknessers to hand winding sticks are a near redundant 'ornament' for the most part, although I used them quite a bit in the 60s and 70s (and even some in the 80s) when I squared wood quite frequently with hand tools. Slainte.

 

[bugbear]

With surface planers and thicknessers to hand ...

This happy condition does not pertain to my workshop

BugBear

 

[DTR]

With surface planers and thicknessers to hand ...

This happy condition does not pertain to my workshop

BugBear

Nor mine

 

[Fromey]

With surface planers and thicknessers to hand ...

This happy condition does not pertain to my workshop

BugBear

Nor mine

Nor mine, although I will soon get a thicknesser but for that I will still have to flatten one side and ensure it doesn't have any twist.

I had also thought that this set up could be replicated using dimensionally stable and uniform thickness shims.

However, I'm sceptical that this type of winding stick would save you any time as the article suggests. You still have to cut some wood (in this case with a rebate or shoulder plane) and then reapply the sticks to see if the twist has been eliminated; repeat until it has. In fact, having to use two different planes and mess with a rebate sounds like more effort. The only advantage of these sticks I can see is that they give you clearance of a crown in your wood.

 

[Gerard Scanlan]

Even with a planer/thicknesser I like to true up rough saw timber by hand. That way I can skip the planer for long boards and just go straight to the thicknesser. So I can see the use of these ancient advanced winding sticks in my workshop. However not everyone likes to mess about with hand planes and have tighter deadlines to meet.

 

[rafezetter]

"Traditional winding sticks have a drawback though. They aren’t so reliable when assessing the crowned face of the board. Sure, they’ll tell you if the board is crowned, but they really can’t be reliably used to assess wind on the crowned face because they have to be balanced on the crowned face. This allows the sticks to rock on their centers, which can throw off the reading and make you chase wind that may not even exist. Sure, you could just assess the cupped face, but if the board has enough cup and twist, trying to plane the cupped face can be quite a circus act as the board rocks on its crowned face. Wedges under the high edges can help, but only so much. Sometimes, it’s just easier to flip the board over and work on the crowned face rather than chase the board around the bench."

Been there did that, several times - and it's worse if you are trying to flat both sides; it's why I bought my planer thicknesser and made 2 sleds for it, (that gets nowhere near enough use to justify the price). Having said that I still think learning the hand way is important and the rebate trick also looks like a good time saver, especially for people like me relatively new to hand planing, the thing that might be forgotten between this method; that some consider more complicated, and the "normal" way is that planing out small marked rebates, for me at least, would be far quicker and more accurate than plane a few strokes, check, plane a few more, getting to a point where it's check after every plane stroke.

mark a rebate (easy), cut a rebate to a line (almost as easy), level it all round then hog the rest; with a VERY VISIBLE middle section being reduced so the chances of hollowing out are virtually eliminated.

Now I just need to buy a small rebate plane.... darn you.