LOL! I ordered them online and they were a little bigger than I anticipated. But heck, I liked the look of them and if I was going to have nail heads show, I decided I wanted it to look like I did it on purpose. Go big or go home! 😀
Very well, they definitely have an effect. I was just thinking your splitting problems might have been reduced a bit with some smaller nails. These are on the side of a drawer correct? You really didn’t want the heads sticking above the boards? Tremont Nails, very likely where you got the nails you used, has many sizes and styles.
But I’m not aiming to be critical, again, I love your site and posts. I just felt for you a bit, trying to bury those big things into hardwood, so close to the end of the board, while avoiding splits.
Oh, I’m sure you’re right about smaller nails. And also correct on the Tremont Nails order. I’m about to do a bigger order and get some variety. I’m gona need it.
The picture is of my six board chest sides and nails are actually supposed to stick out.
No worries about being received as critical, I love getting comments .. especially the non-spam type. Off to order more nails! 🙂
Yes! I bought it on ebay and it was covered in smootz! And thank you. It was when I started sanding it that I found the curly apple. It was a REALLY nice surprise. If I remember right, I just used boiled linseed oil.
Very beautiful, good job. It’s wonderful on those rare occasions when we’re surprised by a purchase. You’ve been trimming down “electric” wise, are you filling in with hand tools from LN and others? I’ve got quite a hodge podge myself, but am trying to support the small guys as much as possible.
Off to the house. I’ll be back in the shop tomorrow.
Have a good one.
Pete
Pete – Thanks!
I have an equal mix of Lie Nielsen, Veritas and old re-habed Stanley’s planes. But I’ve also picked up some chisels etc. from Hamilton, Blue Spruce and several others. I’m with you on supporting the small guys.
I’m pretty heavy in LN and Stanley rehab’s myself. I don’t have any Blue Spruce chisels, but would love to try one. They look very nice. I do have one of his marking knives.
Oh, and I have a Veritas rabbit and a couple of their other tools. I’m trying to support the smaller guys as well, they sure seem to be keeping quality on a higher level than any of the tool giants. Funny, the companies with the money to invest in R&D and the best materials, are without a doubt the ones paying the least attention to quality.
Just out of curiosity, who do you consider the tool giants?
Buying from Lee Valley / Veritas feels a little like buying from a “smaller” or at least a local tool maker because they’re so close. I love my Veritas rabbet and router plane and their bevel up plane got me comfortable with hand planes a lot faster.
Lee Valley is getting up there in size, but I actually think in a lot of respects, they’ve chosen to bring their quality under control, because they like competing with LN. I still kind of prefer LN planes, but the Veritas rabbit is a winner. I do own a LN low angle jack plane, and sometimes it is the only plane that will tame the wood I’m trying to tackle. My bench is built out of old fir utility crossarms. It’s a softwood and the grain can be a bit squirrely, the low angle helped with it some.
Have you tried a Stanley #3 size? I’m an average sized person, and my #4 is my go to plane, but sometimes the #3 is just a joy to use. Less effort and easier to control. But not so small that my hands don’t fit.
You mentioned you were ready to tackle some mouldings, are you going to go the hand route? Or electric? Don’t let the wooden hand planes intimidate you, once set for a fine shaving, they are a blast to use, and not hard at all.
So here are my thoughts on the molding. One wraps around the bottom of the chest and covers nails, joints, etc. I’m thinking it will be 3 ish rabbets in a step fashion (one deeper than the other). In theory, I could cut these with my rabbet plane and/or shoulder plane, but I need 88″. That kinda sounds like a lot of work and work holding is a bit of a problem although I could finally get of my butt and build my easy to make sticking board.
The second is an ogee directly on the lid. Translation, I only got one shot to do it right and unfortunately I only have a #6 hollow. I think the # 6 might be a tad small since the lid going to be ~ 20″x 38″. So even though I really hate using my electric router .. I’m leaning toward that.
Can’t help you with limited hollow inventory, but BUILD THE STICKING BOARD!! You’ll spend less than 1/2 an hour and it is worth every minute of it. 88″ of moulding will not even be enough to have fun playing with your new jig. If your going to play with hand made mouldings, and I do, a lot, you need to build this. Mouldings are pretty much my main game, and this jig is critical. Anything less than 50 feet, I do by hand. I have two moulders, and a profile grinder to grind knives, but it just doesn’t pay to fire those machines up for less than 100 feet. And the wooden moulding planes are even more fun than the smoothers and jacks you’ve begun using. Once you get the taste, you’ll be trying to figure out how you can use them again. I’ve bought a lot used, and re habbed them. But bought a couple new to fill in.
I consider Lee Valley on the borderline of a big company, but they have a small company attitude. Stanley, the behemoth of them all, who should be able to produce the best product, given their income, is an embarrasment to the tool world. I buy their tape measure’s for when I need gross measurements. That’s about it.
LOL!! Yes, yes I need to build a sticking board. 😀 Tee hee! 50 feet huh! Wow! Ok, I’ll do this weekend! And you’re absolutely right .. 30 minutes tops to make a sticking board. And I’ll play around with one of my scraps of Sapele to see how it turns out. I’m sure I’ll have to do some sandpaper clean up since Mr. Sapele is prone to tear.
My PLAN is to really get into hand cut moldings and I’ve been waiting to take my moldings class later this year before I pick up any more planes. I need a good rabbet and at least # 8 hollows and rounds. I have Matt Bickford book and plan to put it to good use. You have a cabinet business/ shop .. is that why you’re using all that moulding??
I stopped buying Stanley when they moved to Mexico. That just made me mad! The only Stanleys I own are over 100 years old.
DON’T say the word “cabinet” because everyone associates it with kitchen cabinets. And I have never competed in that arena, just too cut throat for me. When I was in my twenties, I guess you could say I apprenticed, (as much as you can in the US) with an old custom furniture maker. Very old, very grumpy, but he was miraculous with furniture, and took a liking to me. And his son was the best finisher I have ever seen to this day. The old man was hired to teach some furniture classes at the college, and I worked for him at his custom shop, as well as was his assistant at the college. But he did lean a bit towards the machines.
I started my own company in 1983, and quickly found out that everybody and their brother was NOT waiting for custom furniture. So I did interiors and bars for a while, a couple of years, until someone said, “you need a moulder”, so being agreeable, I bought a moulder. And for six years, my little shop out in the middle of my dad’s orange grove in Florida, averaged 1.250.000 feet of custom mouldings a year. You want to talk about loud? The rip saw alone had a 70 hp motor on it. I sold the company in 1990.
Fast forward to today, I am in what I guess you would call, semi retirement, disability? I broke my neck in 1998, continued to work from home until 2010 and the company was sold, and the new “big” owners said I was too much of a liability. Illegal, yes, but I didn’t fight it.
I figured, why not go back to your roots. So here I am, except now I am in Lafayette, LA. And no one seems to want custom mouldings. I have the big moulding machines and the profile grinder, but I have run far more moulding by hand than I have by machine.
Matt’s book is great, because it breaks things down to a VERY basic level. You cannot read that book, and NOT think you are capable of making your own mouldings. However, I have tried to buy planes from him and found it far more problematic. His speaking schedule takes president over his plane making schedule. After waiting 6 months without hearing back from him on an order, I went to Philly planes, and was more than satisfied. He was responsive and the planes are beautiful. I’m sure Matt makes great planes, but I think his priorities are more towards speaking rather than making planes.
So I sent you an email if you’d rather talk back and forth that way.
True confessions, I grew up in Texas. My brother moved briefly to Lafayette but don’t think he ever felt like he fit in. I had a project for a while in Morgan City. The guy I worked with down there hunted alligators on the weekends and I swear, I only understood every fourth word he said.
I bought an plane from Phil and really love it. I got the same impression about Matt at Handworks when I talked to him, so I’ll be getting my planes from Phil.
sheworkswood.com 
Goodness gracious, I love your stuff and your blog, but you need to buy some smaller nails. Those that you used could hold a wall up!!!!!
Just saying,
Pete
LOL! I ordered them online and they were a little bigger than I anticipated. But heck, I liked the look of them and if I was going to have nail heads show, I decided I wanted it to look like I did it on purpose. Go big or go home! 😀
Very well, they definitely have an effect. I was just thinking your splitting problems might have been reduced a bit with some smaller nails. These are on the side of a drawer correct? You really didn’t want the heads sticking above the boards? Tremont Nails, very likely where you got the nails you used, has many sizes and styles.
But I’m not aiming to be critical, again, I love your site and posts. I just felt for you a bit, trying to bury those big things into hardwood, so close to the end of the board, while avoiding splits.
Pete
Oh, I’m sure you’re right about smaller nails. And also correct on the Tremont Nails order. I’m about to do a bigger order and get some variety. I’m gona need it.
The picture is of my six board chest sides and nails are actually supposed to stick out.
No worries about being received as critical, I love getting comments .. especially the non-spam type. Off to order more nails! 🙂
I love the handle of your miter saw that is the background of your site. Did you refinish yourself?
Yes! I bought it on ebay and it was covered in smootz! And thank you. It was when I started sanding it that I found the curly apple. It was a REALLY nice surprise. If I remember right, I just used boiled linseed oil.
Very beautiful, good job. It’s wonderful on those rare occasions when we’re surprised by a purchase. You’ve been trimming down “electric” wise, are you filling in with hand tools from LN and others? I’ve got quite a hodge podge myself, but am trying to support the small guys as much as possible.
Off to the house. I’ll be back in the shop tomorrow.
Have a good one.
Pete
Pete – Thanks!
I have an equal mix of Lie Nielsen, Veritas and old re-habed Stanley’s planes. But I’ve also picked up some chisels etc. from Hamilton, Blue Spruce and several others. I’m with you on supporting the small guys.
I’m pretty heavy in LN and Stanley rehab’s myself. I don’t have any Blue Spruce chisels, but would love to try one. They look very nice. I do have one of his marking knives.
Oh, and I have a Veritas rabbit and a couple of their other tools. I’m trying to support the smaller guys as well, they sure seem to be keeping quality on a higher level than any of the tool giants. Funny, the companies with the money to invest in R&D and the best materials, are without a doubt the ones paying the least attention to quality.
Just out of curiosity, who do you consider the tool giants?
Buying from Lee Valley / Veritas feels a little like buying from a “smaller” or at least a local tool maker because they’re so close. I love my Veritas rabbet and router plane and their bevel up plane got me comfortable with hand planes a lot faster.
Lee Valley is getting up there in size, but I actually think in a lot of respects, they’ve chosen to bring their quality under control, because they like competing with LN. I still kind of prefer LN planes, but the Veritas rabbit is a winner. I do own a LN low angle jack plane, and sometimes it is the only plane that will tame the wood I’m trying to tackle. My bench is built out of old fir utility crossarms. It’s a softwood and the grain can be a bit squirrely, the low angle helped with it some.
Have you tried a Stanley #3 size? I’m an average sized person, and my #4 is my go to plane, but sometimes the #3 is just a joy to use. Less effort and easier to control. But not so small that my hands don’t fit.
You mentioned you were ready to tackle some mouldings, are you going to go the hand route? Or electric? Don’t let the wooden hand planes intimidate you, once set for a fine shaving, they are a blast to use, and not hard at all.
Its hard not to really love the LN tools. Every single one I own is an awesome tool.
And yes, I have a #3 rescue that I love. I did an extensive post on the rehab here: https://sheworkswood.com/2012/09/16/no-3-stanley-rehab/. Its a great plane and I use my block plane a lot less because I have it.
So here are my thoughts on the molding. One wraps around the bottom of the chest and covers nails, joints, etc. I’m thinking it will be 3 ish rabbets in a step fashion (one deeper than the other). In theory, I could cut these with my rabbet plane and/or shoulder plane, but I need 88″. That kinda sounds like a lot of work and work holding is a bit of a problem although I could finally get of my butt and build my easy to make sticking board.
The second is an ogee directly on the lid. Translation, I only got one shot to do it right and unfortunately I only have a #6 hollow. I think the # 6 might be a tad small since the lid going to be ~ 20″x 38″. So even though I really hate using my electric router .. I’m leaning toward that.
Can’t help you with limited hollow inventory, but BUILD THE STICKING BOARD!! You’ll spend less than 1/2 an hour and it is worth every minute of it. 88″ of moulding will not even be enough to have fun playing with your new jig. If your going to play with hand made mouldings, and I do, a lot, you need to build this. Mouldings are pretty much my main game, and this jig is critical. Anything less than 50 feet, I do by hand. I have two moulders, and a profile grinder to grind knives, but it just doesn’t pay to fire those machines up for less than 100 feet. And the wooden moulding planes are even more fun than the smoothers and jacks you’ve begun using. Once you get the taste, you’ll be trying to figure out how you can use them again. I’ve bought a lot used, and re habbed them. But bought a couple new to fill in.
I consider Lee Valley on the borderline of a big company, but they have a small company attitude. Stanley, the behemoth of them all, who should be able to produce the best product, given their income, is an embarrasment to the tool world. I buy their tape measure’s for when I need gross measurements. That’s about it.
Pete
LOL!! Yes, yes I need to build a sticking board. 😀 Tee hee! 50 feet huh! Wow! Ok, I’ll do this weekend! And you’re absolutely right .. 30 minutes tops to make a sticking board. And I’ll play around with one of my scraps of Sapele to see how it turns out. I’m sure I’ll have to do some sandpaper clean up since Mr. Sapele is prone to tear.
My PLAN is to really get into hand cut moldings and I’ve been waiting to take my moldings class later this year before I pick up any more planes. I need a good rabbet and at least # 8 hollows and rounds. I have Matt Bickford book and plan to put it to good use. You have a cabinet business/ shop .. is that why you’re using all that moulding??
I stopped buying Stanley when they moved to Mexico. That just made me mad! The only Stanleys I own are over 100 years old.
DON’T say the word “cabinet” because everyone associates it with kitchen cabinets. And I have never competed in that arena, just too cut throat for me. When I was in my twenties, I guess you could say I apprenticed, (as much as you can in the US) with an old custom furniture maker. Very old, very grumpy, but he was miraculous with furniture, and took a liking to me. And his son was the best finisher I have ever seen to this day. The old man was hired to teach some furniture classes at the college, and I worked for him at his custom shop, as well as was his assistant at the college. But he did lean a bit towards the machines.
I started my own company in 1983, and quickly found out that everybody and their brother was NOT waiting for custom furniture. So I did interiors and bars for a while, a couple of years, until someone said, “you need a moulder”, so being agreeable, I bought a moulder. And for six years, my little shop out in the middle of my dad’s orange grove in Florida, averaged 1.250.000 feet of custom mouldings a year. You want to talk about loud? The rip saw alone had a 70 hp motor on it. I sold the company in 1990.
Fast forward to today, I am in what I guess you would call, semi retirement, disability? I broke my neck in 1998, continued to work from home until 2010 and the company was sold, and the new “big” owners said I was too much of a liability. Illegal, yes, but I didn’t fight it.
I figured, why not go back to your roots. So here I am, except now I am in Lafayette, LA. And no one seems to want custom mouldings. I have the big moulding machines and the profile grinder, but I have run far more moulding by hand than I have by machine.
Matt’s book is great, because it breaks things down to a VERY basic level. You cannot read that book, and NOT think you are capable of making your own mouldings. However, I have tried to buy planes from him and found it far more problematic. His speaking schedule takes president over his plane making schedule. After waiting 6 months without hearing back from him on an order, I went to Philly planes, and was more than satisfied. He was responsive and the planes are beautiful. I’m sure Matt makes great planes, but I think his priorities are more towards speaking rather than making planes.
Wow! What a story. 70 hp motor!
So I sent you an email if you’d rather talk back and forth that way.
True confessions, I grew up in Texas. My brother moved briefly to Lafayette but don’t think he ever felt like he fit in. I had a project for a while in Morgan City. The guy I worked with down there hunted alligators on the weekends and I swear, I only understood every fourth word he said.
I bought an plane from Phil and really love it. I got the same impression about Matt at Handworks when I talked to him, so I’ll be getting my planes from Phil.
What an interesting adventure you’ve had so far.