WIA'12-Pasadena: Day-0 Vendor Setup with Bridge City

This year again, I volunteered to be a customer demo guy for Bridge City Toolworks at Woodworking in America 2012 in Pasadena, California.  As a demo guy, I got my hotel stay taken care of along with several excellent dinners and social events (in as much as woodworker social events are excellent... this isn't Mardi Gras in Rio de Janeiro!)

We got there early Thursday morning only to end up hanging out with Lee Valley people for awhile since the convention center floor wasn't ready yet.  Great group of people; I was with Chris Wong who works with them.

This video is a collection of short clips taken throughout this first day setting up.  As a warning, my arm makes a terrible camera tripod especially with the coffee I needed to get there at the crack of 9am!  There was this bright thing in the sky...

The start shows some setup shots, some other vendors in progress of setting up, some impromptu overview of the new Bridge City precision fence system for the Jointmaker Pro, a quick tour of the toy box Bridge City brings to the show with numerous out-of-production tools, and some video of a social evening we had at a friend's shop.

At the social, Lee Marshall of Knew Concepts unpacked a made-to-order power saw he makes for the jewelry industry; if you do inlay with shell or bone, this will do so much better than a scroll saw for lack of blade oscillation.  You'll also see the next version of the titanium fretsaw (the "birdcage" saw).

Voilà, the video (haha, I nearly forgot to paste it in...)



More clips on the way... stay tuned!

Knew Concepts Fretsaw Review

The recent 6-video series on hand-cut dovetail joints proved one thing: people are curious about that fretsaw :)

Many people know me from various forums so I'd get asked about it through messages there or Twitter or, yes, even blog comments!  Enough questions that I thought to run a quick (?) video review of the saw.

The saw is a Knew Concepts' titanium 5" woodworkers' fretsaw (say that 5 times fast).  The titanium model is pricy; obtaining and working titanium is difficult.  The aluminum model is nicely anodized red and is nearly as stiff as the gun-metal grey titanium model.  The aluminum model is a steal considering how much other companies charge for anodized CNCed aluminum straight edges.

Fretsaws take scrollsaw blades.  Lee Marshall, who owns Knew Concepts, turned me on to Ben's Scroll Saw blades.  Great price, excellent selection including metal or inlay blades.  Since the fretsaw takes standard scrollsaw blades, you can get them anywhere, but thought I'd suggest where I've had great service so save you searching.

In the dovetail series, I used a #7 skip-tooth blade (15 tpi).  The skip-tooth design, much like a bandsaw blade, gives you good chip removal so you can cut quickly.  #7 is just a nice size... not so small I'm snapping them but not too big either.  If you decide to order some, put some metal-cutting blades in your cart; I did "just in case" and have used them a number of times in place of a rough-cutting hacksaw.

There are also reversing blades with teeth going both directions a bit like those new Bosch jigsaw blades.

Beyond dovetails, I use this saw a lot.  Much more than I expected.  For example, in the current vanity series, the drawer fronts get two fretsawed cuts in each to form a recess.

Hand-Cut Dovetails - Mitered and Off-The-Saw

Ah, the last dovetail set of videos in this series!  wahoo!  Banners fly! People cheer! :)

When I started the series, I listed the 5 videos I intended to produce, but the idea of the mitered dovetails came to mind.  I did mitered dovetails in the boxes for a jewelry box series, but they were done using the Bridge City Toolworks Jointmaker Pro, so the method of doing them is a little buried in there.  I decided to simply add a (bonus!) video since I think mitered dovetails look really elegant.  The method presented takes very very little time over your regular basic dovetails; so little in fact that I'm now thinking all my basic dovetails will be mitered.  It really hit home while editing the video.

The second video here completes the 5-video "joinery series" presented on hand-cut dovetails. It shows how to do off-the-saw dovetails, which are just that: quick n dirty.  I show a couple tricks for helping them come out nice.  These are worth practicing with your dovetail saw and fretsaw as they are really useful for shop boxes and backs of drawers.

So here you go! First up, the bonus video on mitered dovetails:



And lastly, the video on off-the-saw dovetails:



Enjoy!

Addendum: many people have asked me about the fretsaw I use. Enough, in fact, that it prompted me to make a review of the Knew Concepts fretsaw.

Hand-Cut Dovetails - Houndstooth and Signature

In the first entry on hand-cut dovetails, I presented two videos showing how to hand-cut them by eye using a pins-first method and a tails-first method.  The idea was to show that you end up with dovetails either way.  In this entry, I present two more videos on hand-cut dovetails.

The first are houndstooth dovetails, a very nice decorative dovetail that can look amazing on an elegant box.  In my case, I used it for the top two drawers of the vanity since those have a special position versus the other 4.  These are done by eye and are done pins-first simply because they are much easier to do that way unless you really want to layout all the cutlines ahead of time (you don't, right?)

The second is what I'm calling a 'signature' dovetail.  A signature dovetail is one with a special design for just one tail, typically on the least used drawer; call it a sort of Easter egg for the owners to find.  I call it a signature since you could design the dovetail based on your logo or attributes of the style piece it is a part of.  The shop's heat killed my creativity that day, but I decided on making one using Greene and Greene elements.  Might be whimsical, but I like the look of it on the bottom drawer.  The idea likely came to my mind after having visited the Gamble House recently... (next time, I'll do the knot you'll see in the video).  The signature dovetails, regardless the design you choose, will be easier to do tails-first.

The point of this series is to show that while either method results in basic dovetails, some special dovetails may require one or the other method; both should be learned.

This series isn't done yet on dovetails.  The video is ready for 2 more types built on the first two method videos of the last post.  Hopefully you find them interesting enough to grab a saw and give them a try.  If the first couple tries are kinda ugly, well, that's what fire was invented for!

Oh, and I haven't forgotten the vanity.  We're tying heat records this week every day, but I have most of the next episode recorded.  We'll put it out before you get completely sick of dovetails :)

First up, Houndstooth:



Second, Signature:



Enjoy!

Addendum: many people have asked me about the fretsaw I use. Enough, in fact, that it prompted me to make a review of the Knew Concepts fretsaw.

Hand-Cut Dovetails - Pins-First and Tails-First

Between the heat in my shop and needing service on my Mac, these videos have been very delayed.  Sorry!


My bathroom vanity project required 6 drawers so I thought to turn dovetailing them into an independent series of videos (so you don't have to watch the vanity series :)

The first introduction video goes over what I'm trying to show in this series then covers general drawer anatomy and how it affects the layout of your joinery.  No dovetails will be cut or harmed in this video!  That's for the other videos...

There are 5 different ways to dovetail a drawer shown in this series.

The first two methods produce basic dovetails.  The first method shown is pins-first using a Western-style saw, the second method is tails-first using a Japanese Ryoba.  The point of these two videos is to show that regardless which is cut first or which saw style you use, you end up with... dovetails.

Certainly each method has some benefits over the other, but to me, they cancel.  Pick what you like, what you are comfortable with, and have fun with it.  I've never understood the near religious arguments between the two styles or even saw choice; surely the time wasted arguing this in forums or pontificating it in chat rooms could be better spent in your shop building something with either method! :)

So... here's the introduction; no action shots, but the drawer anatomy might be useful.




This next video is the first basic dovetail method based on a pins-first cutting style.  I'm using a Western saw here.




The second basic dovetail method is based on a tails-first cutting style.  I'm using a Japanese Ryoba saw here.




These basic dovetail methods layout the pins and tails equally.  If you want to change their sizes, even gradually, go ahead! I wanted the drawers getting basic dovetails to simply be even plus it makes explaining the method easier.


I am editing the other three videos and will release them as they become ready.  These forthcoming three are not basic dovetails, but more decorative dovetails.  I'll show how to layout Houndstooth dovetails by-eye and an easy procedure for getting them done.  I also show how to make what I call 'signature' dovetails; that is, a dovetail that is loosely based on the idea of a dovetail, but made to be decorative or a 'signature' of your work.  The last method will be a purely off-the-saw dovetail and some tips to get them done fast; they are intended to be fast dovetails with a bit of 'slop' risk; perfect for the back of a stack of 14 drawers you're doing or utility boxes in the shop.

Now, if you don't mind, I need to find a chatroom to pontificate the right way of doing dovetails... :)

Addendum: many people have asked me about the fretsaw I use. Enough, in fact, that it prompted me to make a review of the Knew Concepts fretsaw.