Replies

1. 
   mwenz | Dec 27, 2008 10:52pm | #1

   Jay, consider obtaining the FWW online subscription. It allows you extreme portability and access to most of the better old issues/articles. The added plus is no delievery concerns, even when moving from country to country.

   You don't mention the type of furniture you like or have been building. So tool selection can depend on that.

   Two years in a location? While I think certain hand tools are much needed, I would also search out locals doing woodwork. Most likely you will find ways of work holding, creating basic joints with locally "common" tools that you may not have thought of.

   I would opt for wood planes, from smoothers to jointers. Lightweight. You will need to more actively deal with the planes in changing climates. But it is doable.

   Hand saws. You most likely will need a broader range of hand saws than you may have had. I would skip projects requiring resawing veneers. But basic dimensioning saws seem a must in addition to your present joinery saws.

   Mortise chisels? A 1/4" and or a 5/16" seem to get the most workout by me. If building larger stuff, either twin tenons using the 1/4" mortise chisel or pick up a 3/8" mortise chisel as well. If you can pop for the cost, get the Ray Iles from Tools for Working Wood or vintage oval bolster (aka pigstickers).

   You can create rebates and dadoes well enough with hand saws and chisels. But a couple dado planes and a moving fillister or wide rebate plane seems appropriate.

   Decorative touches. A couple molding planes would seem a good thing. You can make many decorative embellishments with the rebate, a couple H&Rs in sizes of the work you do. Bevels and the like can be made with any plane. Raised panels can be easily made with the rebate plane.

   Grooving. A plow plane. Metal would be my choice. A vintage Record 050 with all the blades doesn't weigh much and with the beading blades and be used for edge treatments or even reeding.

   Work table. I recently bought the portable bench by Gary Blum. It is relatively small, but is a great portable bench. If that is out of the question, make one the first thing in each locale.

   Oh, work holding. Consider getting Schwarz's book on benches. While you ain't gonna be building the benches most likely, the workholding solutions are worthwhile.

   Good luck. But please do let us know what type of furniture you wanna build.

   Take care, Mike

1. 
   Jay | Dec 27, 2008 11:51pm | #3

   Thanks for the response with all of the information, I'll print it out and start looking.  Prior to the move, I had made larger pieces (tables, cabinets, and our bed) and even made the flooring for our new kitchen (don't ask - I was ambitious and had no concept of value of my time - that stinkin' floor cost about $200 / square foot of wood, and the wood was FREE, but it was the most beautiful floor I have ever seen).

   Anyway - I thought I would start with some smaller and simpler pieces to hone my skills (i.e. boxes, stools) before I got into anything too complicated.  I'll check out some of the portable tables too.

   As a side note: I want to reassure anyone who may have been concerned that I am doing everything possible to assure that the wood I purchase here is not on an endangered or protected list.  Again, my abilities to verify are limited by translation of wood species.  Many of the vendors don't even know exactly what they are selling and none are aware of any "protected lists" here, so it takes some research on my own part, but the last thing I want is to show off my latest work on Knots and then get regaled by woodworkers for having built a conference table out of a near extinct species of wood!

2. 
   RalphBarker | Dec 27, 2008 11:11pm | #2

   A couple of thoughts regarding a temporary bench. B&D WorkMates provide some (limited) work-holding capability, but if you don't have a local Casa Depot, that may not be a convenient option. You could improvise a "bench" from almost any sort of table. Wooden handscrews can be used to hold a board on edge, and then clamp the handscrews to the table with C-clamps.

3. 
   BrianDerr | Dec 28, 2008 12:16am | #4

   Just remember that with hand work, the bench and vices are just as important, if not more, than the tools themselves. So put as much effort into planning a bench setup as you do collecting tools. What in the world is your new job?

   Brian

4. 
   Woodman41 | Dec 28, 2008 05:22am | #5

   quite honestly, and this isn't the answer you will want to hear, I'd be putting woodworking on hold. Being an ex-pat is a fantastic opportunity, make the most of it.

   If that sacrifice is too much to bear, buy a Nova lathe and take up turning. Carving is another option.

1. 
   Jay | Dec 28, 2008 07:01am | #6

   Actually, your point is well taken.  Woodworking is definitely taking a back seat, but I find that for some stresses there is nothing more pleasant than working on a piece of wood.  I don't figure I'll ever do more than one or two projects a year, and frankly, I don't have as much time to dedicate to it.

   I have seriously considered taking up turning.  The amount of machinery and tools I'd need to haul around with me COULD be less.  Carving would be interesting if I had the talent.  I have terrible memories of trying to get a piece of ivory soap look like something other than soap fifteen years ago in Boy Scouts...

   When I started this job (I work for the State Dept.) I just figured woodworking would have to wait until retirement in thirty years.  Now that I'm a year into this, and have seen the available wood and can imagine what I might be able to work with in Asia, Africa, or Brazil, I just find myself wanting to have SOMETHING on the side to be working on every once in a while.  Besides, I don't want to wait until I'm sixty to get back into the shop.

   Last summer I spent three months in Tanzania and was terribly frustrated that I couldn't load my suitcases with some of the African Blackwood that I saw.  The figure, the contrast, the availability.  ARGH!!  Now I can (within limits), and I hate to think that all of this will pass by and I'll be left to pick through a local supplier's shelves in Salt Lake City when I'm sixty and rue the day I didn't simply do something with the stuff that grew around me while I was living in Timbuktu.

   I appreciate your comment though, and you have my wife's vote... for now.

1. 
   Woodman41 | Dec 28, 2008 07:31am | #7

   It occurred to me a little while after posting my comment that another option would be to partner up with a local craftsman and simply pay for use of the machinery and space. Not only would this be a convenient way to have access to a shop but it would also be a great opportunity to build local relationships that could last well beyond your tenure there.

2. 
   dkellernc | Dec 28, 2008 08:39am | #8

   Jay - One thing you may not have thought of.  The USDA/Customs guys are very, very fussy about what they let into the US in terms of plant material, both living and dead (and especially if the plant material is on a CITES schedule).  Since you've a State Dept. job, you might have some pull that the average citizen might not have, but there's still a possibility that you might not be let in to the country with that beautiful piece of Brazilian rosewood that you carved into a magnificent statue over the course of a 2 year period.

   This might not matter to you - it may simply be the process, not the product.  Then again, it might be heartbreaking to have to leave something you really wanted as a souvenir of your resorcefullness in persuing your "wish job" instead of your "real job".

   FYI - I'd seriously check into The Green Wood Project.  The organization teaches people in South America to make Windsor-type chairs from green wood with hand tools only, basing the work on the colonial American techniques for the same.  The idea is to make the forest so valuable as a source of raw material that cutting it down and burning it to grow a meager crop is no longer considered.  Not only would you be working for a good cause, the Green Wood Project guys would LOVE to have a connection at the State Department, the locals get to see the techniques and simple tools that provide them with something useful that they keep or sell in the marketplace, and you'll come back to the States with some bona fide skills to make Windsors, instructed by some of the best in the craft.

5. 
   ring | Dec 28, 2008 09:12am | #9

   Jay,

   Like others have said, just make the most out of the opportunities you've got. See what the locals do and try to learn their techniques.

   As far as your questions, just a little bit of info:

   This is a link to a site that lists a lot of tropicals with their local names. Not everything, of course, but quite a range-
   http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/TechSheets/tropicalwood.html

   If you have a good set of cordless tools that all take the same batteries - impact driver, drill, jigsaw, small circular saw - you can usually work out a solution for the charger and then you're set. I've got a bunch of DeWalt 18V tools with a 110V charger, and a 220-110V converter. It has been useful in various corners of the world.

   Aside from the workbench suggestions you've gotten I'd throw in the luggage a few pipe clamp heads. You can find 3/4" pipe anywhere, and pipe clamps are useful for improvising all kinds of things.

   And finally, stay on line! If you've got a problem and post a photo here, somebody will usually come up with an idea.

   best of luck,

   David Ring

   http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e

1. 
   Jay | Dec 28, 2008 10:26am | #11

   Great suggestions, everyone.  I will definitely check out Green Wood - it sounds fascinating.

   I appreciate the concern about bringing stuff back too.

   Thanks for the link to the tropical woods translation.

   I think I'd like to invest something into a decent bench that can move with me and start there.

   Speaking of photos and getting info from the online crew - I need to post some photos of a tree that was cut a few blocks from my home.  I was riding my bike through the area and saw the wood being cut into huge pieces.  I asked one of the guys what kind of wood it was - I didn't recognize it, and he rattled off a name I didn't recognize either.  The wood itself was beautiful and the trunk must have been three and a half feet in diameter.  It was definitely some kind of tropical hardwood.  I asked what they were going to do with it and they said they just pile it up and people will haul it off for firewood!

   Had my wife not made me build my own doghouse with it (we have almost no storage for large planks of wood), I'd have piled it all up and hauled it home.  Not that I could have done anything with it, but it's the principle of the matter, right?

1. 
   mwenz | Dec 28, 2008 11:09am | #12

   This is the portable bench I bought to take along to shows. I like it enough I'll pick up a second one as well.

   http://www.blumtool.com/pages/benchhorse.html

   View Image

   Sort of beats even my old "stable" Workmate benches by a mile.

   Without elec. drills, I'll add to my former list by mentioning brace, hand drill and auger bits and drill bits for the hand drill.

   Take care, Mike

1. 
   Shoemaker1 | Dec 28, 2008 04:28pm | #13

   As mentioned earlier a bunch of cordless tools and get a small solar charger, inverter pack and pickup 12 volt battery as you go.
   Make a shipping case for the tools that can double as a bench.Ship home as much wood as you can, then when you retire a ready supply of seasoned stock is waiting. How many board feet of wood can you get in a State department letter?As I look at the thermometer I wish I had your dilema .
   You might try soapstone carving some of those contries have lots of soap stone.

6. 
   davcefai | Dec 28, 2008 10:22am | #10

   I strongly endorse the suggestion to subscribe online to FWW. That's what I have.

   I also suggest you look into a Wolfcraft (or similar) machine table. Visit http://www.wolfcraft.com. These tables fold down easily. I have one with a 7" circular saw mounted in it and it is a just acceptable substitute for a table saw. The table will also take a router and a jigsaw - but only one at a time. On the other hand mounting the tool, although a pain, is not THAT bad.

   You could splurge and get both the machine table and the router table if your work style necessitates this.

7. 
   nikkiwood | Dec 29, 2008 06:47am | #14

   In this country at least there is a brisk market for good used machines that have been well-cared for.

   Unless you want to go the total hand tool route, I would at least investigate the possibility of buying the minimal machinery you need (e.g. table saw, small jointer, portable planer) at the beginning of your assignment, then selling it as you move on. Then repeating the process.

   As someone else suggested, getting access to a local shop might work too -- but would probably be a hit or miss proposition depending on where you are stationed.

   High quality, portable benches (that break down for shipping) are more than possible. I remember seeing one in an early FWW book, built by an Australian who moved around a lot. I thought it was a wonderful and ingenious idea -- lightweight but sturdy. I would be glad to see if I could dig out the article, scan it, and send it to you.

   ********************************************************
   "It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."

   John Wooden 1910-

1. 
   Jay | Dec 29, 2008 07:07am | #15

   A copy of that article would be wonderful!  Thank you so much.  My email: jeporter02 AT gmail DOT com

   Thanks!

1. 
   nikkiwood | Dec 29, 2008 07:22am | #16

   I will look for it.............It is probably 20 years since I actually looked at the article; the fact that it remained in my memory says something about how impressed I was with it. I seem to remember also seeing a similar type bench designed built by Ian Kirby; I will look for that as well.********************************************************
   "It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."

   John Wooden 1910-

1. 
   dougmeyer | Dec 29, 2008 04:50pm | #17

   I think that maybe if I was in your place I would take up the hobby of building plank type furniture. I would then ship said furniture home to someone in the states and have them put it into my storage unit for me. Then in 10 or 15 years (or what ever) when I get back to the states I would rebuild my furniture into something nicer.

   That way I would be able to take advantage of all the nice woods that are available overseas vs. in the US.  No officer that is not wood I am importing it is a kitchen table!

   And while I support protecting wood and all that, keep in mind that some woods that we do not allow to be imported are used in other countries for many uses. So not buying any of it really is not going to do much for helping the wood. If you feel guilty about buying wood locally over seas that may be endangered then contribute to one of the many groups that are pushing to try and protect trees.

   Doug M.

8. 
   davidbrum | Dec 31, 2008 05:28pm | #18

   Jay

   Just a thought. If I could squeeze it in, I'd consider bringing a bandsaw. You could bring one of the generic 14" jobs, just leave the base at home. Most of these can be easily wired for 220v and are fairly light in weight, probably under 100lbs without the base. You could make a new base out of packing materials once you get there.

   A bandsaw would allow you to rip, resaw, make tenons, cut curves, etc. You could do the rest with hand tools.

   Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

   David B