Hello!


Diego_p

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I'm new here. I have no experience woodworking. The most experience I do have is just a measly little bench that I made out of pallet wood but having watched videos and read more on the subject of woodworking I've gotten much, much more interested in it and want to move on to doing more advanced things. 

That being said, the first project that I'm hoping to complete is a lift top coffee table that that was inspired by David P. from Make Something (the drunken woodworker). But i want to make it out off solid walnut wood. And for the top I was thinking of making it maple with a walnut border around it. 

The process will be slow AF but I'm slowly going to get it done. As of now all I've got are some cheap chisels, a couple saws and a cheap smoothing plane. I also have a no.5 Stanley jack plane but it needs to be restored before I can use it. 

As for the wood, it's the only thing I have quite a bit of. I've bought rough sawn walnut and maple locally where I live for $4 bf/walnut and $1 bf/maple.

Anyway, I hope to learn a lot in this forum and even share what I get done. 

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How are you going to mill your rough lumber?  You doing that by hand with your smoother?  That's quite a project with limited tools and experience.  I'm still relatively new to the hobby, I started three years ago building Ana White stuff and calling everything "rustic" since it had obviously filled nail holes and sanded through finish. I'm not sure I could have tackled that lift top table until a year or two ago when I really started adding some tools.

Regardless, jump in and see where it goes.  If you really get into this hobby, it's addictive and expensive. 

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Hi Ronn, thank you.

I just realized that I posted this in the wrong section. Haha. 

Bleedinblue that's actually what I am trying to do. I've seen a few videos of people doing a lot of work by hand. (Hand tools) and I truly want to try that route. I like the idea of history and how things were made before having all the power tools. 

Of course eventually I will get to using some power tools, but for now this is how I'm going to try to tackle it. I'm feeling ambitious. Haha. 

Besides I've been through a few 'life' events that have put me down, I think that physically getting into something like this will help me a lot.

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Welcome to the forum Diego! I think it's great that you are starting on this voyage but there are a couple things to consider here. Do you have a sharpening setup for your plane irons and chislels? Its not impossible to use a smoother to flatten you rough boards (not the norm but if it's all you have...) but the rough boards will be murder on your blade. I recommend you restore your #5 and set that up as your rough plane and keep your smoother for the finer work.

As for the walnut top, what exactly do you mean by making a border out of walnut? Keep in mind you cannot frame in or lock in the table top without accounting for wood movement.

We are here to help you with this process! Journal your build in the project journals section and ask a lot of questions !

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

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Hi Diego! Like Shane said, sharpening your cutters is critical for effective hand tool work. It doesn't have to cost a lot to get started (look uo 'Scary Sharp' method). I highly recommend investing in a honing guide for chisels and plane irons, as holding the tool at a consistent angle to the abrasive makes the process tremendously more efficient. And don't let the flood of internet info overwhelm you, just concentrate on making two flat surfaces meet along a single line. All the subtle nuances if micro-bevels, back bevels, etc... can come later.

Also, Shane mentioned that cleaning up rough lumber will be hard on your smoothing plane. If there is a Harbo Freight near you, one little 'gem' they carry is the Windsor Design #33 'smoithing plane'. At only $10, it makes a remarkably effective tool for cleaning up rough and dirty lumber, and you won't feel bad about wearing it out. The knob and tote are good donor parts for repairing old planes, too.

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HI Diego ...

Get that jack plane tuned up - if you're wanting to go down the hand-tool rabbit-hole, it will be a workhorse for you. If it's mostly going to be used for rough work, then it doesn't have to be perfect - make sure the sole isn't banana-shaped and make sure the iron is sharp, and you're good to get started ... as said above sharpness is critical ... if you're having problems with hand-tools, stop and sharpen them, it will solve 90% of problems.

Cheap chisels work fine, but ... yes you got it ... keep them sharp - part of the the reason they're cheap is probably because they won't hold an edge for quite as long as expensive ones.

If you have a saw you can use for ripping, and a saw for joinery, then you've probably got what you need. Shannon had a great post on the tools you really need to get started on a fine-furniture project:

http://www.renaissancewoodworker.com/a-real-world-list-of-hand-tools-for-getting-started/

 

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Wow thanks guys this awesome. 

Yes I do have a half ass sharpening 'station' I got a marble (?) Slab and 180, 400, and 600 grit sand paper. Eventually I will get into a nice sharpening stone. But surprisingly this has been working alright. Notice I said alright. Haha. 

The jack plane, I want to restore it but it has so much work needed and I have so few tools  (if any) to get it restored. Unless I can get ahold of a grinder, the blade is badly chipped. The bottom of the plane itself (bed, foot, sole, ???) Is somehow chewed up in a couple spots. I'm not saying it would be impossible to restore the thing, I just know it'll be hard in my situation. 

I haven't really started to actually work on the project. I'm kind of on a tool/supply buying mode. Mainly because I know I need quite a bit more stuff. As I said earlier, the biggest reason I got so much wood is because I found it and I basically wanted it before it was all sold. Instead of paying 10/bf to a local guy here that makes his furniture. (Also rough sawn) or 13/bf online. Which now I guess wouldn't have be such a bad idea. 

Oh man I'm such a newb. I have a lot to learn. 

Shaneymack, I know man. I've seen those videos of wood splitting and cracking. It makes me nervous. I did originally think about doing sort of a mitered walnut frame around the maple. Mind you this is before I read about the woods movement. So now I'm thinking maybe a bread board type of thing? I don't know, I need to get the project started so that I can get you all a visual and get more people weighing in on it. 

It's so exciting. 

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Diego, here's another $10 Harbor Freight tip: They sell a set of diamond honing plates that are a pretty good substitute for a grinder, if your budget is tight. The plates are a @bit small, intended for knife sharpening, but in a pinch, will do a fine job of re-shaping the bevel on a chipped tool.

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