I just needed to get a few more planes goin’ so I can make some keystones… I’d never used some of H&Rs and snipes bills in the collection, so they needed a little work. Also sharpened up a few gouges and straight cutter for the Craftsman combo plane (Sargent 1080, I think). Here’s the arsenal, except for the RAS:
The RAS is just holding the work surface down. 😉 Man, I need to sell that thing and make a real bench, no?
For the arches in The Walnut Calamity, there’s a keystone for each face and a moulding that runs underneath. There’s an entry arch and a stairway arch that are two-sided and a fireplace arch that is one-sided: five keystones and three moulding strips will be needed. I start with the moulding and some guidance from Carving Classical Styles in Wood and Get Your House Right (Ha!):
It’s the classic cyma-astragal-cyma, sunken between the sides of the keystone, just like the existing brackets under the mantel:
To make sure the profile continues through the keystone/moulding miter joint, I hold the moulding up to the bottom of each keystone and mark out a few profile elements. Then I scale those elements up to the top of the wedge-shaped keystone, and connect the dots. First, I used the a rip saw to define the sides:
Oops, cut a little too deep. Insert a sliver and no one will ever know 🙂
Next, I used the combo to sink grooves that will become the fillet next to the sides. The groove is not parallel to the sides, so a little chisel work is required.
To define the quirks for the central astragal, I used snipe’s bills. Then I roughed out most of the cyma (reverse ogee) with flat chisels and gouges:
Then I switched to H&Rs, a shoulder plane and, lastly, carving chisels and scrapers. The Rounds make the funniest little shaving:
🙂 To get the top profile, I stand the keystone on a piece of paper and transfer the profile to the face, sawing it out with my BS. (As much as I like sawing and chiseling end grain by hand… 😉
View Image View Image View Image
Again, finish with carving chisels and scrapers. Smiles, everyone:
Whew! Now I can finish the foyer… <snort>
—————
/dev
Replies
/ ,
Absolutely beautiful work !
dusty
Very nice work. But The Walnut Calamity? Not sure what that is, but you get the prize for the most original (and funniest - I laughed out loud the first time I read that) project name this month.
Suggestion - while a real cabinetmaker's bench is almost a necessity to enable some kinds of hand work, you might consider making a sticking board for the molding. I fussed with clamping molding on my bench for wooden plane use for at least a year before I saw an episode of The Woodwright's Shop where Roy was using one to make a molding. What a revelation! It makes working the entire face of a molding, even tiny moldings, not only possible but actually easy.
And a sticking board couldn't be easier to make. If you potentially don't have a reliably flat surface (as I don't until I finish my new bench), choose a piece of 8/4 in something stout and cheap that's about 6" wide. In my case that was red oak. Plane it flat, straight and square, and attach a fence to one edge that's about 1-3/4" tall to make an "L" shape when viewed from the end, then drive in three sturdy screws across the face of the 8/4 plank in one end to form an adjustable stop. I used SS square-drive deck screws, as these screws get moved in an out a lot and having one strip would be a big PITA.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled