Replies

1. 
   RalphBarker | Jan 05, 2010 12:37pm | #1

   FWIW, I'd make the handles
   FWIW, I'd make the handles either out of the same wood as the diamonds, or an even darker wood.

   Even unfinished, I really like the piece, though, Derek. Especially the space at the bottom for storing handguns and holsters. ;-)

2. 
   9619 | Jan 07, 2010 08:35am | #2

   Derek,
   You crack me up.
   "I
   Derek,

   You crack me up.

   "I would make a poor professional."

   If you were a professional, Knots (and all of the other woodworking forums) would dry up and fly away. You are the flute playing high above the other instruments in a John Phillip Sousa march. You are the spice that differentiates Thai cooking from English fare. You would be as successful a professional woodworker as I would be as chairman of the Society for the elimination of humor on the Web.

   You are a child in a candy shop, who not only wants to try all the candy, but who actually does try all the candy, and savors it, and delights in it, and wallows in it, and loves it so much that he takes photos of himself eating the candy and publishes them so that others will come to the candy store too. Candy makers love this sort of stuff.

   You are to hand tools what Hugh Hefner is to SEX. Before Hugh, hardly anyone had sex. He changed all of that. Before Derek, everybody watched Norm. My guess is that you got Charlesworth and Schwartz interested in woodworking when they were kids. My guess is that both Rob and Tom are nephews of yours, and that you got Rob's dad and Tom interested in starting tool companies, just so you could play with more tools and write about it.

   You know, in comparing you to Hugh Hefner, I understated reality. While Hugh has had a first order effect on the world, your influence on getting the world interested in hand tools is much more akin to John the Baptist, than to Hugh Hefner. John was the pre-cursor. He was the man who prepared the way for the Lord. He made the ground fertile, just as you have done for the fine toolmakers of the world.

   I believe that centuries from now, no one will remember tom and Lee, and Lee's son, Rob, but people will still be talking about the man who caused hand tools to become the most collectible items from a previous time.

   You see, other people collect tools and put them in a glass case, away from harmful sunlight, and the dirt and oils of human skin, and the damage that wood can do to them. They serve the purpose of increasing the number of tools available to later generations.

   BUT NOT DEREK. You actually use all of the tools. You modify them, and improve them, and figure out how to hone them to surgical standards, and you subject them to species of wood that God is ashamed to have created. (Luckily, she hid them in a far corner of the world, where few people live (but interestingly enough, everyone who lives there is a woodworker).

   So Derek, the fact that you would not make a good professional is due to the fact that you spend so much time playing with the tools, which, of course, diminishes their value as collectibles. (BUT IT SURE IS FUN, AIN'T IT?

   But maybe I am wrong again. It is possible that instead of reducing the value of tools to collectors by actually using them, that something completely different is happening. Remember Krenov's planes. They sell for thousands even though they look like they were made by a drunken beaver. Maybe every tool that you use, and especially, every tool that you have fettled and written about, will become SUPER-VALUABLE just because you used it. INstead of being called "the Maloof effect", it will be referred to as "the Cohen effect".

   In 500 years, we will know which is the case. Until then, I believe you have the right attitude. Hefner said, "God made women. Let's play with them." Derek said "God let nice tools be invented, so lets play with them." While that insures that you will never make a good professional, it does mean that you will go down in history alongside Hugh and John (the Baptist, of course), for the role you played.

   Now I have to go back and see if there is any Christmas grog left. I have had a few glasses already, and I am feeling like I need a few more.

   THREE CHEERS FOR CHRISTMAS GROG.

   Have a nice year.

   Mel

   PS You know I like to carve. Well, if the Grog holds out, I may just design up a MASTERPIECE. You have heard of Mt. Rushmore, where the heads of four presidents are carved. Well, I am thinking of doing another mountain -- I am thinking of three heads - Hugh Hefner, John the Baptist and Derek Cohen. At the base of the mountain, of course there will be a gift shop, in which all makers of fine tools will be sold, along with magazines and Bibles.

1. 
   WillGeorge | Jan 07, 2010 12:56pm | #4

   Derek and MELL..

   This wardrobe/armoire project has confirmed that I would make a poor professional. I just can't work fast enough!

   I would think a PRO cares about time.. BUT never finishes it on time.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znEePD1nJxo

   JUST ONE MORE DETAIL TO FINISH.. I would say, to make it as I wanted for the receiver..

   And.. You know, in comparing you to Hugh Hefner, I understated reality. While Hugh has had a first order effect on the world, your influence on getting the world interested in hand tools is much more akin to John the Baptist, than to Hugh Hefner. John was the pre-cursor. He was the man who prepared the way for the Lord. He made the ground fertile, just as you have done for the fine toolmakers of the world.

   I have used nails but just for alignment. A brad sticking up where you press the wood onto the brad point..

   You are a child in a candy shop.. I loved Mary Janes!

   http://www.oldtimecandy.com/mary-janes.htm

   And,, I believe that centuries from now, no one will remember Any of us here in Knots! That is OK by Me!

   And.. "God made women. Let's play with them." YES My lady loved that!

   Now I have to go back and see if there is any Christmas grog left.

   Sorry.. I told your wife that I was thirsty and she told me all I have is thiS LAST glass of GROG left for you..

   PS You know I like to carve. Well, if the Grog holds out, I may just design up a MASTERPIECE. You have heard of Mt. Rushmore, where the heads of four presidents are carved..

   Why not the BEATLES.. There were four!

   I go for Help..

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXh4EuJa2TU

2. 
   derekcohen | Jan 11, 2010 04:27am | #10

   Mel, I have been meaning to answer this for so long ...

   I just loved your post!!

   Best wishes for 2010.

   Regards from Perth

   Derek

3. 
   oldusty | Jan 07, 2010 09:46am | #3

   Derek ,

   Time , once it's gone you can never get it back ,yet it dosen't really exist .

   I learned that quality has no time limit .

   dusty, nice piece except all those nails

1. 
   WillGeorge | Jan 07, 2010 07:35pm | #5

   nice piece except all those nails..

   Dang! I am making two, in my style, Pirate Treasure Chests for my China dolls. I hand hammered some nails out of some old brass 1/4 X 1/4 inch square stock I had around the shop.. I thought they looked really 'Cool"...

4. 
   James R. | Jan 07, 2010 11:36pm | #6

   Derek:

   Just a thought here which you can take with a grain of salt. Your handles seem a bit too heavy and short I think. The armoire has nice lines that take my eyes up and down. Even the points on the diamonds add to the contemporary clean look, whereas the handles sort of disrupt that look. Perhaps you could try a longer, leaner handle to add to your original clean look. Again, just a thought.

   Whatever you do it will still be a nice, very well made armoire.

   Jim

1. 
   derekcohen | Jan 08, 2010 12:24am | #7

   Thanks James

   I agree, the handles will go. I had to get something on the doors for the visitors to use. I have been experimenting with a couple of designs. At first I thought I'd use something as small as inoffensive as a Shaker knob (in Jarrah). But the problem is that diamond insert - it rules the type of add-on pattern that may be used. So I have made a prototype of a "diamond-rectangle-type-shape". This seems to work better. I will make up something usable when the visitors go.

   Regards from Perth

   Derek

1. 
   ktkamm | Jan 08, 2010 10:01am | #8

   Looks great. You are a true inspiration and a prolific SOB.

   Kieran

2. 
   roc | Jan 10, 2010 07:14pm | #9

   Well I haven't had my coffee
   Well I haven't had my coffee yet ( not a good thing generally but we just rose from our first sleep on our new bed,a real bed as opposed to our futon ( which I liked and will miss )(Queenmasteroftheuniverseandbabybunnytrainer

   has found a need for something kinder to hips than a thin cotton pad and a pine slat support. Before you start; this was her bed I didn't pick it out . . . And so feeling exceptionally energized and rested will attempt to tackle this dilemma of door to hand interface and so will share this singular state before it dissipates perhaps for ever. Who knows ? )

   Being a metal rat in the chinese astrological calendar and specifically a white metal rat ( not to be confused with the white metals ) I humbly submit, well not exactly humbly though it is a noble thing to strive for and think it a good Idea generally. . .

   Where was I ? . . . oh yah . . . I am seeing metal handles and to be bold and linear why not take it over the top and use two blade like handles vaguely reminiscent of your letter opener. Not sharp, obviously, but thin and flat. Seen edge on, as it were, they look one way but from the side they have a different character.

   OK . . . I am tired now . . . I feel the light and energy dissipating . . . wheew . . . it is a good thing I shared it when I did . . . well maybe not a good thing, time will tell, give it a hundred years or two but the sharing is what counts I am but a medium which the "IS" for all time on high uses. I claim no part in the creation of this . . . well . . . creation that I have brought into the world, with your help, if the time is right, and so am off to the espresso machine for any little sustenance and recovery that it may afford me from this great tax on my system. Thanks for sharing this moment with me . . . . . . incoherent mumblings and driveling . . . incoherent blithering . . . trailing off. . . into the kitchen . . .˜

   View Image

   <a View Image

   Ooooo that's strong !

   View Image

   . . . . .

   AHHHHhhhhhhh . . .

   That's better.

1. 
   Lataxe | Jan 11, 2010 06:13am | #11

   Roc,

   You are a handsome divvil! (No you're not). :-)

   Nice crema.

   Now, as a cawfee addict meself, I need to see the whole of that polished stainless steel kontraption you have. I am often tempted to buy a Huge Gaggia - one that looks like the infamous Christine motor car with lots of red and chrome - but soon I would be just a pale brown frazzle of a bloke accosting passers-by to engage them in interminable one-way conversations. (Not like now).

   Perhaps one of these would be more practical. It sports the necessary gleam.

   View Image

   This hissy-gleamer resides in our local tea & coffee shop, which has been going since 1700 & summick. The lad that owns it has a happy time travelling about the globe buying sacks of the stuff he samples and approves. I am not at all envious.

   View Image

   View Image

   I like Yemeni Matari and also Hawaiianan Kona. WotUgulp?

   Lataxe, sipping at some Malawi at the moment.

1. 
   roc | Jan 12, 2010 03:06pm | #13

   Lataxe,

   re: espresso

   Oh ! Very nice coffee shop ! Woodwork there is beyond words. Now I really want to bring a bike and a book to your neighborhood and make a nuisance of myself.

   What am I slurping at the moment and what machine?

   Well lets just say this is the one I had the hots for

   http://www.amazon.com/Pavoni-EG-8-Europiccola-Gold-Plated-Espresso/dp/B0016OD7FE/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1263323413&sr=1-11

   I saw it in a shop and fell in love ! Lots of old machine panache. The only thing missing was a radioactive materials symbol and I can always add that. Take it off one of those old crates out back.

   Then I began to study up on how to run it and lets just say that the way I go about things by the time I got my espresso made and my plane blades sharpened using my normal, some call it obsessive, modus operandi that it would be time to clean up and go to bed.

   Soooooo . . .

   Queenmasteroftheuniverseandbabybunnytrainer came home with this one.

   http://www.amazon.com/DeLonghi-EC702-15-Bar-Pump-Espresso-Stainless/dp/B001CNG7RY/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1263324329&sr=1-5

   Her boss said she wanted to store it at our house and would come get it if she needed it.

   Does anyone have a manual for this particular Delonghi by the way ?

   My goal with coffee machines/parafinalia is to have zero plastic touch the hot water or hot coffee. Not much luck so far. This, I theorize, explains the progressive brain deterioration you all have surely observed in me since I signed on here at Knots. But it could be something unrelated. Watching the news on TV for example.

   As far as espresso beans I pretty much put through it what shows up in the freezer. Which is always organic and fair trade by the way. Currently this

   http://www.greenmountaincoffee.com/Coffee/FTOEspressoBlend?shop=GMCR&__utma=1.4241850961028699600.1263323821.1263323821.1263323821.1&__utmb=1.3.10.1263323821&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1263323821.1.1.utmgclid&__utmv=-&__utmk=255713800

   We had a coffee blend that we would have took up arms to defend from Safeway. In their standard fashion of product/customer attention they discontinued it. We did everything we could think of to get another fix but alas it is gone from our reach. We searched for months for something close. Nothing. Tried to blend our own. Yah . . . right.

   Then some one gave this one to Queenmasteroftheuniverseandbabybunnytrainer.

   http://www.greenmountaincoffee.com/Coffee/FTORainforestBlend?shop=GMCR&__utma=1.4241850961028699600.1263323821.1263323821.1263323821.1&__utmb=1.3.10.1263326116&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1263323821.1.1.utmgclid&__utmv=-&__utmk=191677098

   The person had just received a bunch of coffee from family and just wanted to unload some of it.

   It was like coming home !

   So sorry to disappoint but I am a total dilettante when it comes to espresso but hope to climb up to the light one day. I do know I can't grind whole espresso bean in our whirly gig metal blade "grinder" to the right grind to get a decent shot consistently. Usually the water/steam(?) goes through too fast and I get an americana whether or not I want one. Usually nice crema though so I hide behind that.

   : )

2. 
   joinerswork | Jan 13, 2010 09:53am | #14

   roc,
   You simply haven't had
   roc,

   You simply haven't had coffee til you've had the stuff made from beans that have passed thru the intestinal tract of a civet cat. It has an indescribably piquant flavour. Or so I'm told. I'll never know, because 1) it is prohibitively expensive, and aside from that, 2) cat lover that I am, I still can't get past the thought of where those beans have been been, regardless of seeing our dog testify to the lip smacking goodness of cat crap countless times. To fully appreciate that product, I believe one must be a true coffee common-sewer.

   Cheers,

   Ray

3. 
   roc | Jan 14, 2010 02:38am | #15

   >Lip smacking goodness<

   You actually made me snicker.

   I think the cat got the best out of the whole deal. Do the common-sewers hock up a fur ball when they are finished with their morning cup ?

   I have been known to go around the neighborhood and let the cats smell my breath after Queenmasteroftheuniverseandbabybunnytrainer feeds me a steak.

   I secretly suspect the coffee brew we like so much has some sinister element like the cat crap but I hate to mention it to Q. And I Don't Want To Know The Details.

   Life is sooooo weird ! Except for wood working. At least that make some sense.

4. 
   BruceS | Jan 14, 2010 09:59am | #16

   Hawaiian Kona ? Tastes a little like Lava to Me. I prefer a good Sumatra Mandaling. And never ever one of those "Gourmet" flavored concoctions.

5. 
   roc | Jan 15, 2010 09:22pm | #17

   BruceS,

   >Kona,Sumatra,"Gourmet" flavored concoctions.<

   I agree down the line. If not going for a blend of beans.

6. 
   Lataxe | Jan 16, 2010 04:25am | #18

   Bruce,

   Lava! Mmmmmmmm!!

   Today I are been mostly drinkin' Panama Macienda: leather, straw, toast & caramel flavours, as well as a bit of tobacco.

   Lataxe, not quite twitchin'.

7. 
   roc | Jan 16, 2010 09:45pm | #19

   > leather, straw, toast & caramel flavors, as well as a bit of tobacco.<

   Sounds (tastes ) to me like you are describing some of this most interesting stuff

   http://whisky.com/brands/dalwhinnie_brand.html

   at least that is what I remember from when I first opened the bottle. Specially the leather.

5. 
   9619 | Jan 11, 2010 10:39am | #12

   Derek,

   We are like rivers. We change, yet there the RIVER remains. I see that you are posting more on your woodwork. IMHO, that is a very good thing. All of us who have been here for a while know each other, but the newbies keep coming through. Keep the tool discussions coming too. The increased balance toward projects will give the newbies the understanding that you are a woodworker who really is interested in tools.

   I have been changing too. I am not on Knots much any more. That is NOT a criticism of Knots, which I love. I have been spending a great deal of time in the shop, and loving it. In the past weeks, besides some small projects, I have made two shooting boards, one flat and one angled, a donkey's ear and a miter shooting board, and a miter board for cutting 90 deg and 45 deg by hand. While I have made and used a shooting board before, this time I studied the literature, including your writing, and I have been playing with them. I tried for good acccuracy, and surprisingly, I achieved it. I thought about writing a "lessons learned" for Knots, but I don't think I will.

   The reason is: I read a lot of stuff. Some was idiosyncratic. Some was idiotic. Some stuff was "mox nix" as they say in faux German. Some was very insightful. BUT I couldn't tell what what what until I did it and tried some different stuff to see what works for me. I wonder if this is not "the essence of woodworking". -- the idea that one learns deeply only after personal experience in exploration. Tool exploration is what you do.

   I am not sure that adding my 5 cents worth (I cannot limit myself to two cents) would add much value. The only lesson that I think is central is: JUST GET THE EXPERIENCE. If your eyes are open, you will see what really makes stuff work, and not work. And much of that is not universal. What works for others may not be what works for you. eg I saw a cutting board for which a guy gave instructions on how to make. But he is a guitar maker, and he shoots the pieces for the fronts and backs of guitars. He doesn't shoot endgrain. SO his needs are different.

   Once in a while, one finds a GEM of an idea. In this exploration, the one GEM I found was from you. You said that getting the fence up tight to the plane's iron is not only not important, but it can be problematic. There is a better way of reducing tearout on the far side (a small chamfer).

   Interestingly, almost all of what I read on endgrain shooting boards was that the board had to be tight.

   Maybe Cosman has the right idea. He travels and demonstrates. He doesn't use a shooting board. he uses a small bench hook for planing small pieces flat, for shooting the endgrain, and for shooting the long edges of the boxes he makes in his demos. Obviously this little bench hook would be less than optimal for larger work, but it is surprising how much shooting that a simple small bench hook will support.

   In all my learning, I try to find what is central and what is less important, and what the "teacher" didn't say. For example, I watched both Cosman and Klausz chop s set of dovetails in under four minutes. Cosman didn't use much, if any, of what his book and dvds cover, but he did it much like Frank, except that he emphasized that he does tails first while Frank does pins first.

   Both Rob and Frank just marked the ends of the boards and not the sides. Heck Frank didnt even mark the ends when he did the pins. So what did both fail to say .. when you have the skill, much of what is taught is not "necessary" but merely crutches.

   Interestingly, when I hear woodworkers (just hobbyists) talk about what they learned in courses over the past years, I get the feeling that they take copious notes, memorize, and follow the "teacher" as if he is God Almighty.

   ForestWoman said that I am becoming more philosophical here on Knots. Very astute. I enjoy understand the process of learning woodworking skills as much as learning the skills themselves. I was quite impressed with Harry Houdini's quest to understand how to contact his dead mother. He wanted to find a "real Medium". In doing so, he made public each of those mediums who were not real - which constituted all of the ones he went to.

   So analogously to Harry, I am looking for a "real woodworking teacher". One who doesn't BS and doesn't SELL. I feel like Diogenes and Harry. I have found something that works for me. I have found a small number of highly knowledgeable woodworkers who I send personal emails to with questions - not often since I don't want to wear out my welcome. The results of this approach have been quite rewarding. I never found the posting of questions on Knots to be of the kind of help that I want. I enjoy Knots for three reasons:

   - I see photos of what others are doing, and find it wonderfully instructive and often find it motivating.

   - I see the many different "weltanschauungs" of woodworkers, eg the way different woodworkers see woodworking, and this is very interesting, fun and useful.

   - I learn who has can be helpful in various areas when I have a question. This is worth its weight in gold.

   Well, that was fun. Now back to the shop. I purchased two books in December, and I am captivated. The books are:

   - Tom Fidgin's "Made by Hand.

   - Popular Woodworking's "Hand Tool Essentials".

   Tom should be given some sort of award for a wonderful book. PopWood's book has a lot of good information, and it also has other stuff, but overall, it is well worth the price of admission. The fact that it has lots of chapters written by different authors, some of whom are woodworkers, helps the Religious biases show up. (Religious biases ain't all bad, but it is good to know that the Pope doesn't enjoy talking about Joseph Smith.

   Have fun.

   Mel

   PS I just thought of a brief summary of my discussion of learning about shooting boards. "Experencia docet."