I thought my ?Hornbeam? (Carpinus Betulus) experience is worth sharing. Please feel free to comment!
I recently cleaned my cellar and of course there was only one logical conclusion what to do with the free space, a new and improoved workshop!
After installing several shelves and a proper panel storage system, the old bench had to make room for a new MFT including the TS 55.
At the same time I purchased a small batch of European Hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus) which seamed to be a great idea, since the material looks really special almost white. I decided that this hornbeam should be turned into my first furniture, a small table.
From my little experience I would guess the Hornbeam was right from the bend saw maybe a little planed (about 1 inch thick , 15 to 20 inch long and 5 inch wide).
Since it?s a small shop there?s no room for a planer or thicknesser (although I really start to think I need one), but thanks to this forum I learned there?s almost nothing you can?t do with your TS 55. Additionally I learned form Fine Woodworking that 50 % of all students that learned to hand plane, rather used a sander such as the ETS 150.
I started to cut the hornbeam and with the T48 saw blade I had no problem cutting clean edges. Of course it took some time and adjusting (thanks to all the great manuals that are listed here) until a proper joining situation was reached. Together with the MFT some bench dogs, some Festool clamps and the Veritas Wonder Pups this part of the project was rather easy. Unfortunately the outcome was rather ?unflat? and had a certain touch to some wooden stairs. Nothing a good rub with the ETS 150 and some 80 paper can?t fix.
At this point I should have started to become suspicious, because the time an equipment spend on this process was quite extreme. Anyway the three boards finally were completed and ready to be assembled. The idea was to mount three equal boards together so you can either use the table in a ?U? or ?C? position.
Unfortunately at this point I got too far into the dovetail jig issue and though getting a Leigh D4R would be the one solution for this table.
After several tests with different materials I felt prepared to introduce the hornbeam to my new friend Leigh.
When I started to prepare the boards (cutting same sized panels) the brand new TS 55 with the T48 blade started to scream awfully and the cuts showed burn marks on the inside (left side). Not to mention the physical power I had to put in to finish the cut. This means after approximately 30 hornbeam cuts (probably 40 feet, one inch thick) the blade gave in.
Fortunately I used a small piece of hornbeam to get the proper setting with the Leigh, for the planned half blind dovetails. Using the 80 Leigh bit that came with the jig in my OF 1010 I started with the first two boards and of course adjustments had to be made. At the third board the OF 1010 started screaming followed by burn marks and increasing pressure to finish the dovetail. All together it took me 7 dovetails (probably 1 inch wide) to almost kill the bit.
In the end I decided to make a clean 45? cut instead of dovetails to assemble the table, but it still amazes me how I could pick one of the hardest available woods for my first furniture project while professionals use this material to manufacture rather small hand tools.
Although the table looks quite nice and of course has a really special value!
I recently cleaned my cellar and of course there was only one logical conclusion what to do with the free space, a new and improoved workshop!
After installing several shelves and a proper panel storage system, the old bench had to make room for a new MFT including the TS 55.
At the same time I purchased a small batch of European Hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus) which seamed to be a great idea, since the material looks really special almost white. I decided that this hornbeam should be turned into my first furniture, a small table.
From my little experience I would guess the Hornbeam was right from the bend saw maybe a little planed (about 1 inch thick , 15 to 20 inch long and 5 inch wide).
Since it?s a small shop there?s no room for a planer or thicknesser (although I really start to think I need one), but thanks to this forum I learned there?s almost nothing you can?t do with your TS 55. Additionally I learned form Fine Woodworking that 50 % of all students that learned to hand plane, rather used a sander such as the ETS 150.
I started to cut the hornbeam and with the T48 saw blade I had no problem cutting clean edges. Of course it took some time and adjusting (thanks to all the great manuals that are listed here) until a proper joining situation was reached. Together with the MFT some bench dogs, some Festool clamps and the Veritas Wonder Pups this part of the project was rather easy. Unfortunately the outcome was rather ?unflat? and had a certain touch to some wooden stairs. Nothing a good rub with the ETS 150 and some 80 paper can?t fix.
At this point I should have started to become suspicious, because the time an equipment spend on this process was quite extreme. Anyway the three boards finally were completed and ready to be assembled. The idea was to mount three equal boards together so you can either use the table in a ?U? or ?C? position.
Unfortunately at this point I got too far into the dovetail jig issue and though getting a Leigh D4R would be the one solution for this table.
After several tests with different materials I felt prepared to introduce the hornbeam to my new friend Leigh.
When I started to prepare the boards (cutting same sized panels) the brand new TS 55 with the T48 blade started to scream awfully and the cuts showed burn marks on the inside (left side). Not to mention the physical power I had to put in to finish the cut. This means after approximately 30 hornbeam cuts (probably 40 feet, one inch thick) the blade gave in.
Fortunately I used a small piece of hornbeam to get the proper setting with the Leigh, for the planned half blind dovetails. Using the 80 Leigh bit that came with the jig in my OF 1010 I started with the first two boards and of course adjustments had to be made. At the third board the OF 1010 started screaming followed by burn marks and increasing pressure to finish the dovetail. All together it took me 7 dovetails (probably 1 inch wide) to almost kill the bit.
In the end I decided to make a clean 45? cut instead of dovetails to assemble the table, but it still amazes me how I could pick one of the hardest available woods for my first furniture project while professionals use this material to manufacture rather small hand tools.
Although the table looks quite nice and of course has a really special value!
