Wooden jewellery box, presentation box, personalised box, handmade box

Glossary

A detailed look at the tools of the trade.

Marking gauge Used for scribing working lines on the face of the wood generally across the grain.

Block Plane My most used plane in the workshop. Ideal for end grain work as well as normal along the grain planing. It has an adjustable front bed which can be set to produce wafer thin shavings.

Home made pencil gauge Used when I don't want to score the wood fibres.

G Cramp General purpose woodworking cramp.

Sash Clamp Another general purpose woodworking cramp. Ideal for gluing boards together to make solid table tops.

Box clamp The jaws stay perpendicular to the bar under pressure with these clamps and are useful for gluing up boxes, drawers etc.

Japanese Chisel These chisels are unusual because the blade is lamented. The cutting edge is quite brittle so these chisels have to be used with some care.

No5 Jack Plane This is my "go to" plane when I need something larger than a block plane.

No7 Jointer Plane This plane has a very long sole and is designed to "shoot" the edges of long boards before gluing them together to make table tops etc.

Planer Thicknesser This machine is used to plane rough sawn timber. The wood is passed over the cutter head first to plane a flat surface then passed under the cutter head to achieve the desired thickness.

Router Table This is actually an old spindle moulder that I converted into a router table. I like inventing things that will help me in the workshop and this machine is by far the biggest success to date.

Spindle Moulder This machine has a large spinning vertical shaft. A variety of cutters can be fixed in metal blocks and mounted on the shaft to give any number of different profiles. A very versatile machine.

Low Angle Jack Plane A larger version of the block plane. It has the same low angled blade and adjustable mouth. These attributes make it especially useful when planing wild grain.

Metal Working Lathe This is my 1950's CVA lathe. I imagine it would have cost a fortune at the time it is so well made. Useful for making jigs where I want absolute accuracy, and for jobs like the router table conversion.

Myford Woodworking Lathe Another old classic machine. Most of my work doesn't involve turned items but occasionally I am asked to make something perhaps with turned legs or turned knobs for drawer or door handles.

Shop Made Chisel This chisel has a very thin blade which I made to pass between dovetails to clean up the corners.

Wood Carving Bench I made this bench specifically for wood carving. It's top is higher than a conventional woodworking bench and the top tilts forwards so that I can mount the work vertically for carving if necessary.

Marples Angled Chisels Two old marples chisels that I have ground on an angle to help clean up the waste between dovetails and pins.

Tormek Grinder This is a water cooled grinder insuring the user can't over heat the tip of what ever is being ground. Particularly useful for Japanese chisels which are susceptible to over heating.

Bench Grinder Traditional bench grinder which can be found in most workshops.

Spokeshave Used for planing curved work.

Dovetail Saw Traditional English dovetail saw with a pistol grip.

Shopmade Plane This plane has a slightly radiused sole made for hollowing out the insides of the curved inner and outer sided jewellery boxes I make.

3/8" Shoulder Plane Used for cleaning up rebates etc.

Soft Wheel Grinder A shop made set up for sharpening wood carving chisels.

Combination Square My favourite workshop square.

Cabinet Scraper Similar to a card scraper but designed to help avoid "hollowing out" on surfaces.

Wadkin Panel Saw Probably my most used machine in the workshop. Designed for cutting sheet material but equally useful for solid timber with the right blade.

Bandsaw Another machine which is used most days. Useful for shaped work but good for re-sawing timber as well.

Disc Sander Not used a lot but is a real time safer with certain jobs.

Router This is my heavy duty router which takes from 1/4" to 1/2" cutters. Endless tasks can be undertaken with this power tool.

Router This is a smaller router that only accepts 1/4" cutters. Less cumbersome than the larger router and better for intricate work.

Biscuit Jointer A very common power tool used in the construction of sheet material but also useful for solid work.

Spray Gun Most modern furniture has a spray lacquer finish which is hard wearing and maintenance free. However for boxes I prefer more traditional finishes such as shellac, oil and wax.

Pillar Drill Another machine which is very common in workshops. This machine has different speeds and I use for drilling wood and metal.

Cordless Drill Invaluable tool in the workshop and on site. I have more than one so that I don't need to keep changing bits around.

Cross Cut Saw I use this saw mainly when I am converting boards I have bought from the timberyard into suitable dimensions ready for machine planing.

Japanese Saw I use this saw to cut the dovetails on the boxes. It works on the pull stroke which is why the blade can be very thin and it gives a nice clean saw kerf. The teeth are hardened so can't be sharpened.