August 10, 2008
Sustainable Irish Timber
Rising oil prices are soon going to have an effect on timber prices - indeed, with a lot of retailers and stockists, they already have. The main problem, obviously, is transport - the further away the timber comes from, the more petrol or diesel is involved in moving it. Timber coming from Scandinavia has a smaller proportion of oil in its costs than timber coming from South America. On that basis, it makes a lot of sense to move away from exotic woods like teak and mahogany toward timber that comes from locations that are nearer.
However, it’s worth noting that the shortest travel distances for timber in Ireland are, of course, for Irish timber. As oil prices rise, then, we can expect to see a parallel rise in demand for Irish oak, ash, chestnut, and other woods. Irish elm, unfortunately, is nearly gone already. With an eye to this rising demand, it’s likely that timber would be a good investment. Land prices are still high on the east coast, but land suitable for timber can be got in counties like Monaghan and Offaly for relatively small money. Well-managed woodland on sites in these areas could have very high returns.
This is a concept that is already being developed in the US, so that companies like Greenwood Management invite investment in timber growth. They offer returns at the moment between 10% and 16% per annum - which is a more than reasonable return. There doesn’t seem to be any company in Ireland offering this kind of service at the moment, although there are forestry companies like Forestry Services. It’s a niche I expect someone to fill in the near future, and it’s a good one for woodworkers to consider investing in.
May 17, 2007
How to Sharpen Woodworking Chisels
There are various levels of quality available in wood chisels, like any other tool. No matter what kind of chisels you have, they’re going to need to be sharpened. In this post, I’ll try to explain how to take care of chisels, and explain what you need to do to sharpen them.
First, don’t keep them loose in a drawer or box. They’ll knock against each other, which causes the cutting edges to become blunt. It’s best to hang them on a rack - a narrow shelf with holes drilled through is ideal - or place them in a drawer with wooden dividers between them. By doing this, you can make sure the only way they get dulled is from use. Obviously, the place you keep them in should be dry, clean, and out of the reach of children.
A dulled chisel is bad in two ways - it doesn’t cut cleanly, and it’s dangerous. Sharp chisels grab the wood immediately, and don’t slip, so you’ve a much smaller chance of jabbing yourself with a good edge than with a blunted one. You’re going to need a sharpening stone and a slipstone, as well as a strop to do the job right.
Take your sharpening stone, and oil it. This is important, because the lubrication between the stone and the chisel is essential. You end up just grinding the blade otherwise!
Hold the chisel at a 20-degree angle (or thereabouts) to the stone and slide the cutting edge of the chisel up and down the stone. You need to work both sides of the chisel blade evenly in order that a burr edge (a tiny curl of metal) forms along the cutting edge.
The best way to check for the burr is by very (very!) carefulyl and lightly dragging your finger away from the cutting edge. If you can feel a slight roughness on the very edge of the chisel then you know the blade is ready for a slip stone, which you use to hone away some of the burr before you finally polish it on a strop.
To remove the final remaining bits of the burr edge, as well as to polish up the chisel blade you need a leather strop. What you do is draw the blade across the strop away from the cutting edge first one side then the other until the whole of the burr has been removed.
You’ll know that your chisel sharpening has been completed properly by just resting the cutting edge of the blade very lightly on your thumbnail. If the blade starts to catch a bit or feels sticky then it’s good to go, but if it slips across the nail, you need to work on sharpening it a little bit more.
I’ve found a lot of this out by trial and error, and a few bits from reading online. If you’ve any furtehr suggestions, please let me know!
April 30, 2007
How to Make A Celtic Harp
There’s a fascinating tutorial up on harpmaker.net, about making Celtic Harps. It’s considerably more detailed than I expected, and goes to thirteen chapters, with illustrations and some of the maths explained. It’s well worth reading if you’ve any interest in making instruments.
March 22, 2007
Tiernan Roe, Woodworker
Tiernan Roe, a graduate of the Indiustrial Design course in NCAD, has started a blog detailing his woodworking projects. The site is very well-illustrated, and worth reading in detail.
Table Saw Maintenance
I’m just clearing out the tabs of my browser here, and finding a few articles that I want to post. The first of these is a link about maintenance of table saws. The article is ten years old, but it’s every bit as useful today, and it covers cleaning, adjustment, spacing, and even provides some excellent guidelines on safe operation. It’s also well illustrated, and I wish I could find more articles like it.
February 6, 2007
Brooks Raise Scandinavian Timber Prices
A letter recently circulated from timber merchants Brooks Group says that they’re having to raise the price of softwoods. This is due to the mild winter in Scandinavia, and consequent inaccessibility in lumber areas - essentially, the machinery is sinking into soft ground that would normally be frozen. It’s expected that prices will re-stabilise, and probably even drop back, as the Scandinavian timber business adjusts, but we can expect more changes like this if mild winters continue.
January 24, 2007
Irish Woodturners Guild
And while I’m making a bunch of posts, I’ve also found that the Irish Woodturners Guild have a website, which is frequently updated, and looks very useful. I’ll be adding that to the links on the site, of course.
Woodturning and Woodcutting Courses at DIT
I’ve just discovered that DIT in Bolton Street do courses in woodturning and woodcutting machinery - that last to the standard of Junior Trade for the Department of Education and Science. Might be of use to someone!
Dublin Woodworkers
I’m looking to put together a listing of woodworkers in Dublin. Other listings will follow for different areas, but I’m starting where I live. So if you’re doing any kind of professional woodwork in the Dublin area, please drop me a line - a comment on this post is fine, with some way I can contact you. You don’t have to have a web site, but if you do, give me the URL as well so I can link to you.
November 30, 2006
Woodworking Ireland 2007
Dates and places have been set for the Woodworking Ireland Show, 2007.
That’s 6th - 8th September 2007 in the National Show Centre, Cloghran, Dublin.