Saturday 28 March 2009

A new plane making jig & some upcoming shows


For the first time in a long time - I had a brief head scratching moment, and I have to say... I loved it! This was a little moments in a 793 step process - but it was great. I am working on a new variation of a smoother - an African Blackwood filled No.5. It has a coffin shape, 50 degree bed angle, 2-1/4" wide blade, but no adjuster and no cap iron. The head scratch happened when I went to clamp the rear infill in place for fitting the cross pins. On an A5 or an A6, there is a mortise cut for the adjuster and I have a very simple little block of wood that I place in the mortise and it gives me a parallel surface to clamp the infill (the top of the wooden block is parallel to the sole). In this case - there isn’t a slot, so I needed to come up with something else. A few scrap pieces of 1/2" baltic birch plywood - an offcut from the scrap box - and I had a great little jig. I lined the edges with leather so as not to mark the french polished surfaces.



Here is a profile shot for another view.



Right after the Blackwood infills were installed - I started on a new model - a SNo.4. The above photo shows the sole of the new plane in the middle. The plane at the top of the photo is a No.4 smoother - with a 7-1/2" long sole and a 2" wide blade. The plane at the bottom is the XSNo.4 - with a 5-1/2" long sole and a 1-1/2" wide blade. And thanks to a wonderful customers request - there is now going to be a plane between the two with a 6-1/2" long sole and a 1-3/4" wide blade. Man, I love my job... and my customers!


There are a few other bits of news to share - traveling news. This next weekend is going to be busy. I will be at the Lie-Nielsen hand tool event in Waterloo Ontario on Friday April 4th from 12 noon until 6, and then again on Saturday from 10 am until 5. I have participated in quite a few of these shows over that last several years and they are always fantastic. They are free to attend and very, very low key. What is so great about them is the spirit in which they are done. The focus is learning about hand tools and to provide an opportunity to try tools and ask questions. There are often several small toolmakers that Lie-Nielsen invites to attend - a great opportunity for us little guys to get out there and meet people and show our stuff. I am looking forward to seeing Deneb again, and visiting further with Sean Walsh - the Canadian LN rep.



Then on Sunday, it is off to Pickering Ontario for the Tools of the Trade show. I have been attending this show for years as well. It is a great show and the perfect place to find antique tools either for collections or for use. I keep a running list of things I am looking for on my chalkboard. There are often several of each item to choose from at the show - the selection is that good.

If you are attending either show, please stop by and say hello.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Mike said...

Hi Mr. K--what a wonderful "betweeny" size and width of iron!

Aren't solutions wonderful discoveries? They certainly bring me joy.

Have fun at the shows. It would be great to get to Canada to do one some time or another.

Take care, Mike

28 March 2009 at 13:03  
Blogger raney said...

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you may be the only guy on the planet who uses brazilian rosewood for clamping jigs.

Nice solution and all, but man - don't you have any hard maple offcuts around? lol

31 March 2009 at 15:10  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hey Mike,

I am really excited about this plane. I have the shell piened together now and hope to fit the infills tomorrow.

cheers,
Konrad

31 March 2009 at 17:26  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hey Raney,

Yeah - it is a bit goofy using Brazilian for a jig... but it was an offcut from a handle so it was perfectly parallel,square and the correct thickness. It was faster than using maple. Long live the scrap box!!

Cheers,
Konrad

31 March 2009 at 17:29  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Would be cool if you could bring an 'in progress' plane or two to the Lie-Nielsen event this weekend :)

2 April 2009 at 10:38  
Blogger Konrad said...

What stage would you like to see?

Cheers,
Konrad

2 April 2009 at 12:28  

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Tuesday 3 March 2009

I joined the army.

There seem to be two different approaches to setting up shop. One method is to buy the tools you think you need based on the work you are doing or want to do. The other way is to buy tools as you need them. I am quite firmly planted in the buy as you go camp. Part of this was economics. When I developed my interest in woodworking, my spousal approved budget was under $500. With that - I had to buy tools and actually make something worthy of putting in the apartment (surprisingly… or embarrassingly - we still use it - see below).




For me, “buy as you go” is also a result of being self-taught. I have no clue how to use a vacuum veneer system - so I am certainly not going to go out and invest the money in something I know nothing about. So I wait until I am faced with, or about to be faced with the need for a particular tool.

My lefty workbench is a perfect example. There are 10 drawers - and I decided to take the time to continue my adventure down the hand cut dovetail path. I used a mediocre dovetail saw for the entire job and when I was done - I bought an Adria dovetail saw. My logic was now that I understand what goes into hand cutting dovetails - I had a better understanding of the tools I would need for the task. The saw arrived - it worked perfectly, and I really do think my dovetails improved (I can cut them quicker and more accurately).



This past October, I finished off the sunroom - a post will follow, but the above photo will give you an idea. There were fourteen 4'x8' sheets of 3/4" veneer core cherry plywood in that wee little room. I do not use a whole lot of sheet goods - but this project was all about sheet goods. I have a decent “yellow” table saw, and took a day to build a large out-feed table so I could at least rip a few sheets down to size.



The trouble was most of the cuts ended up being crosscuts - something I could not safely do with my table saw setup. Given that I work alone - I really didn’t have much choice but to break down the sheets to more manageable sizes with a fence and a circular saw. This was perhaps the most frustrating woodworking experience I have ever had. I have a typical circular saw - light weight and tears up plywood something fierce. Even pre-scoring the veneer, putting masking tape over the cut - nothing worked. So I ended up breaking down the sheets a little oversized and then cutting them to the correct dimension on the table saw. This might not have been too bad were it a single sheet or two... but 14 sheets... I nearly lost my mind (and chucked the saw out the door).

Now that I know what does not work – it was time to find a solution for the next time.



Let me back up for a moment. My friend Steve helped me install a walnut floor in the sunroom. We used air-dried black walnut from a local sawmill - 3/4" thick T&G… and it is magnificent. The room is small - 10'x13', so renting a sander seemed like overkill. Steve said “no problem - I already have the sander”.

The next day he showed up with this funny looking R2 in tow. The sander had arrived! It was a Festool CT22 and the Rotex 150.

We took the sander upstairs and Steve started to sand. I kinda freaked out because the door was wide open and neither of us had put out drop cloths or had dust masks. He just smiled and continued sanding.

“Is it broken?”

“No.”

“where is the cloud of walnut death?”

“where it should be - in the CT22.”

“bloody hell!”

And that was it - I had seen the light. We proceeded to sand the entire floor with that sander, and in the end there was no dust to sweep up or vacuum, heck... our knees were still clean! Steve commented that when laying floors, sometimes he has to add dust to help fill in the odd gap between boards. Until now - I had not heard of Festool, and spent the next hour grilling him about Festool and their product line-up.

The entire Festool system is based on efficient dust collection. Actually... “efficient” does not cover it... total removal is more accurate. It is strange how we have all just accepted that dust is a reality of working with wood - and we have gone to great lengths to protect ourselves with white jump suites, dust masks, oxygen tanks... when the solution is just to collect it before it can escape. All of my large machines are hooked up to a cyclone, but all my hand held power tools are dust creating nightmares. I do very little sanding and will go to great lengths to avoid it - but sometimes it is unavoidable. As soon as I saw the Festool sander and dust collector in action - I knew I was going to invest in one (I am told it is not called a dust collector but rather a “dust extractor”).

I am calling this a system because it best describes it - a system of thinking about working in a dust free environment. What a revelation! They have a plunge cut circular saw that produces a cut as smooth as my table saw (with a Forrest II blade) - no dust. It has tracks of various lengths for breaking down sheet goods - man could I have used this for the sunroom! The routers - works with the track as well... no dust. And the Domino. no dust. I was convinced.

For some reason - mention Festool on any woodworking forum, and it polarizes people within three posts. There are people who view their products as overpriced and overhyped, and then there are those that see them as high value tools and could not imagine working without them. Ponder this - even if the tools themselves are only as good as the competition - isn’t the dust extraction capability a compelling deciding factor? If someone said you could replace your extra dusty $100 ROS with a $200 dust free version wouldn’t you do it? I would… in a heartbeat.

Exit soap-box and back to the point of all this.

I am a big fan of supporting those toolmakers and vendors who take the time to venture out and get in front of people to show their products. Several years ago I was looking for my first bandsaw - and decided to buy a Laguna simply because they took the time to come to the Toronto woodworking show and I felt it was important to support them.

My friend Dan Clermont from British Columbia contacted me a month or two ago to let me know he was going to be at the Toronto woodworking show introducing Festool to Southern Ontario. I was thrilled to hear it - and decided to join the Festool army with Dan at the helm. There is a Festool distributor much closer to me – but I have never seen them at a show (or knew about them until a year ago) and will support Dan because he taken the time to be active within the woodworking community.

Jill and I have been slowly planning the next phase of our renovation project –the living room. Among other things – we are looking to install a quarter-sawn white oak herring bone floor, inlay in the border – the whole nine yards. My recent Festool purchases are a combination of tools that I know I need – and ones that I know I will need for this next job. I can’t wait to get started... and dare I say... sand something?

Anyone want a dusty, lightly used ROS?

27 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Welcome to Camp Festool, Private Konrad!

As someone with asthma and a small shop, the TS55 hooked me into the Festool system three or four years ago. I won't go into detail here about how far I'm hooked, but I will say that I sold off almost all of my other powered hand tools. And I have two vacuums. I'm sorry, I mean extractors.

And remember, it's not a container. It's a SYStainer!

5 March 2009 at 11:45  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Festool seems to be one of the few companies that actually designs good dust collection into their small power tools. Given how much I hate dust, I look to them first whenever I have a small power tool purchase. However, I have been underwhelmed by their dust extractor (CT22 is what I have). So I recently bought an Oneida Dust Cobra. Haven't tried on a Festool tool yet but given the amount of suction it creates I can't imagine it wouldn't work many times better than the CT22. I am a big fan of cyclones.

5 March 2009 at 15:16  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hi Narayan,

Yeah - I am in pretty deep too. Riley was in the shop helping me unpack things and checking them out. He was pretty captured by the whole thing.. which kinda makes sense. These tools are on a much smaller scale compared to 16" jointers. I know a few people with two (or more) extractors. SYStainers - that one makes me smile too.

See you in August!
Konrad

5 March 2009 at 18:38  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hey Jeff,

Thanks for the heads up. Any insight into what might be the issue... was there not enough suction? I am just curious really. My experience has been very positive so far - but I appreaciate your comments.

Thanks,
Konrad

5 March 2009 at 18:40  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am a huge fan of the Domino. Its a perfect case of innovative tool design, and a complete success as well. Floating tennon design seems so useless to set up for with a router (especially with offsets and compound joints). This tool is easier to use than a biscuit jointer, not to mention cleaner and stronger. If you can justify buying one, or if you just have $1000 burning a hole in your shop coat, than you should have one. i havnt had any experience with any other festool products, but if their whole line is as sweet as the domino, than im enlisted.

5 March 2009 at 21:44  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Word.

As much as I try to use handtools wherever possible in my guitars, the reality is that you cant handplane the curved and domed surfaces of a completed instrument. So wicked sharp scrapers are definatley in, but sanding - and efficent sanding are a fact of life if you want to make a living at this.

I promised myself I would never sell old world craftsmanship for new world technology - but after breathing dust for 3 years (and serious health concerns), I gave up and sold one of my favorite vintage guitars and purchased a few festool tools including the CT22 and ROS - it was the only way I could afford them.

But im happy. The complete lack of dust and incredible surface quality they leave (I could never use a ROS to finish sand before - too many squiggles would appear during finish) makes work much more healty and productive. But I still wish I had that old guitar. DAMHIKT!

5 March 2009 at 21:45  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Konrad, the main issue was suction. The CT22 just doesn't seem that powerful and then when the bag clogs up it gets even worse -- this is the case for any non-cyclone vac really.

My first shop vacuum was a Shop Vac brand. It had a nice big 2 1/4" hose and lots of suction. But the build quality was seriously lacking (completely fried the motor after only a couple years) and it was so loud your ears would bleed when you turned it on. When I bought a TS55 I bought the CT22 as well and was generally happy with it. Great build quality and low noise but the suction wasn't as good and it has a tiny hose which restricts its use as an overall shop vacuum. I replaced the hose with something bigger but it still didn't seem to work as well for cleaning floors and all the other stuff I expect a vacuum to do in the shop.

Based upon that I decided to spring for the Dust Cobra and it seems the best of all worlds. Built like a tank, low noise, great big hose, really high suction and since it is a cyclone I never have to worry about lost suction or buying/changing bags. If I had the space I would probably keep the CT22 as a dedicated vac for sanders since it works really well for that. But I don't have the space so it probably will go up for sale soon.

5 March 2009 at 23:20  
Blogger Ethan said...

Jeff,

I think both have a place in the shop. I own a CT22, but as soon as my next project is done (which is building the shop...), the first big purchase is going to be the Dust Cobra (for the exact reasons you gave). I'm only one guy, so I don't need dust extraction on more than one large machine at a time. The Dust Cobra seems like an obvious choice.

On the other hand... it seems like overkill for a smaller power tool like the ROS or jig saw or TS55. I've had nary an issue with my CT22 in those situations.

For a smaller basement shop guy giving a serious attempt at being a blended tool shop, Festool brings a lot to the table... or MFT.

Konrad, welcome to the swarm.

Ethan

6 March 2009 at 10:58  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ethan,

I do think both have a place in the shop. But when you are as crunched for space as I am you have to make a choice and I would rather have the more powerul vacuum any day. I am a little concerned that it will be too powerful (for tasks like sanding) but I figure I can always put holes in the coupling I have to use anyway to step down the hose size. I just got the Cobra so I haven't walked that path yet so we will see.

A couple things I will miss will be the variable suction and the tool activation (vacuum goes on when the tool goes on). I never used the variable suction because I didn't think the CT22 was powerful enough to begin with but it would be nice for the Cobra. I am dealing with the tool activation issue by installing a remote start on the Cobra.

In the best of all worlds you would have enough space for multiples vacuums, each dedicated to its own tool ;-)

6 March 2009 at 14:27  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ethan, Jeff,

Keep in mind that one of the reasons that the CT22 pairs very well with the sanders is because it has variable speed. When I sand using my Festool sanders, I turn the speed down to 1/2 power or less. More suction will not help you sand. In fact, it will impair your sander's performance. At full power, the sander will "stick" to the surface, which limits the effectiveness RO motion and makes it more difficult to move the sander around. You'll get worse results at full power with the CT22, and probably worse yet with a more powerful vac.

Dial down the suction. It should improve both the dust collection and the sanding perfomance. The sander should move (and work) more like an air hockey puck than a suction cup.

6 March 2009 at 17:30  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hey Tom,

I intentionally resisted try the Domino - I know it would have resulted in a purchase. I have not heard any complaints about it at all - and everyone is very impressed. It is on “the list” though.

Cheers,
Konrad

7 March 2009 at 10:29  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hi Tony,

That is a pretty compelling story and endorsement. I have never sanded that much with furniture making but planemaking does require a fair amount of it. The infills are all sanded to 600 grit. I use files and rasps as far as I can - a No.6 is the last file. dust is serious concern for me as well - one of the reasons I do not work with Cocobolo - it is a serious trigger wood.

Old world craftsmanship is still being honoured with the use of a sander I think - you need to apply the same level of sensitivity to your work, and at the end of the day - if you can get there faster, safer and with the same results - it is a good solution. No need to apologize for using modern tools.

Best wishes,
Konrad

7 March 2009 at 10:35  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the clarification on the CT22. I have read some of the other comments and there may be a solution in some of them. I will keep an eye on it as I go.

Cheers,
Konrad

7 March 2009 at 10:37  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hey Ethan,

Yeah - the MFT. It struck me as the perfect portable bench. I have 4 traditional workbenches in the shop - one left handed one (my main bench) my first bench - a right handed one (I did not even have enough experience to know I had to build a left handed bench), the monster shaker style bench with the Emmert vice and a small short bench for the kids. Now I have a fifth - the MFT - which folds up nicely and tucks behind the jointer. It should be perfect for bringing in the house for renovations. I am going to contact Festool and suggest that a face vice attachment might be well received.

Cheers,
Konrad

7 March 2009 at 10:43  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hey Narayan,

Thanks for the tip/reminder to dial down the suction - the air hockey table reference was perfect.

Cheers,
Konrad

7 March 2009 at 10:44  
Blogger Unknown said...

Please be aware that I am a Canadian Festool "Crack" Dealer so consider that when you read my comments

The suction on the CT 22 is 134CFM which should be similar to the Ridgid and Shop Vac brand vacs. I believe the reason why the Festool vacs don't seem to pull as much air is the smaller hoses diameter. When mine arrives back from the show in Toronto I'll test it with a 50mm (2") hose to see what the suction is like compared to the small hose

Jeff,

I am curious as to why the bag is getting clogged? I've had issues when sucking up plane shavings with the CT 22 and smaller hose. Besides the tub isn't large enough to hold a large quantity of shavings and I tend to use a long life filter bag (re-useable bag) if I am going to do a serious shop cleanup where everything gets sucked up. You can purchase 36mm and 50mm hoses for the Festool CT's and if you went to a larger hose size it would reduce clogging and improve suction.

When buying Festool hoses it is cheaper to buy a cleaning set which includes the larger hose compared to buying a hose outright.

My old Ridgid rarely clogged due to the larger hose diameter. The trade off was the size, noise, variable suction and they do not turn on and off when you power up your tool. I actually miss this vac as it had an incredible leaf blower.

Variable suction is key when using a finishing sander. If the sander gets sucked down onto the work piece it will create swirl marks.

When using the sander start with the sander turned on and the suction set to max. Turn down the suction until you hear the pitch of the sander change. This is the "floating point". If you can't hear the change in pitch go with 1/2 suction.

For you guys using a shop vac or cyclone perhaps adjust the opening on the blast gate to create variable suction.

For what it is worth, I used my Ridgid shop vac for a year before buying the Festool CT Vac. I bought the Festool vac because it fit my small shop space better then the old Ridgid, was quieter and I got tired of turning my vac on and off everytime I used my router, domino or saw.

Dan

7 March 2009 at 14:40  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post. I was thinking of resanding by oak kitchen floor. I just might give it a shot with an orbital sander.

Swanz

7 March 2009 at 16:33  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dan,

All vacuum bags clog up, that is just the nature of the game. Throw lots of dust and dirt at a vacuum with a bag and suction will steadily decline. Switch to a brand new bag and you will have a brand new vacuum cleaner until it starts to clog up, rinse and repeat. By clog I don't mean that there is a blockage in the hose, simply that the "pores" of the filtering element (bag or filter) become filled with material and thereby lessen the ability of the vacuum to pull air through the system.

The only type of system that doesn't have this problem is a proper cyclone. That is because the cyclone spins out most of the dust/dirt before the air ever encounters the filtering element. Now technically, a cyclone would eventually clog as well since it can't possibly spin out 100% of the dirt but the time it would take to clog is so long it generally isn't worth mentioning.

With the CT22 I used the disposable bags that Festool sells. I did look at the reusable bag but decided against it for cost reasons and because swapping out the bag is simply easier than trying to clean out and re-use one. After I bought the CT22, one of the first things I did was buy a new larger hose (this one: http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=3&p=47161&cat=2,42194,40727). I still used the Festool supplied hose for connecting Festool tools but used the larger hose for all other tasks. It seemed to help but it still didn't seem to have the same suction as my old Shop Vac. I never objectively tested things so I simply could have misremembered how much the Shop Vac pulled (couldn't test side by side because my Shop Vac was dead when I bought the CT22). However I can now test the CT22 with the Dust Cobra side-by-side and there is no comparison, and I don't have to worry about clogging. I am worried about sanding performance since, as others have noted, you don't actually want full power. I am hopeful that by reducing hose size and by putting holes in the line I will be able to reach the appropriate level of suction.

7 March 2009 at 18:39  
Blogger JW said...

I've been using festool for a few years now, couldn't be happier. But for bulk waste, I use a CT 33 with an oneida dust deputy. It's remarkable how much waste gets filtered out that way, saving a lto of $$ on bags. I couldn't be happier.

I'm surprised to hear of the lack of suction from the 22. One thing I have heard... the stock hoses, which are small, do tend to choke off a lot of the power of the vacs. The aperture at the fitting at the end of the hose is something like a 1" hole? Some of the issue may be sucking power, which I've never felt to be lacking. Other issue is air volume... more mass means more inertia, and more moving air means more things being dragged into the hose.

On a separate note... the gallery of pictures on the shaker bench is great, but they stop, right as it looks like things are coming to a loose, and there's no picture of the completed project. I'm hereby filing my protest. : P

7 March 2009 at 21:16  
Blogger Konrad said...

hey James,

Thanks for your thoughts on the Festool dust extractor.

Your protest has been heard... and noted:) It is on the list of things to do... I just need to find a week to finish it. In a nutshell - the vice and top need to be restored and I am really wrestling with just how far to take the top. It is in ok shape, but a lot of work to reuse the maple because of all the metal bits that are stuck in it. I am still pondering how to do it. When it happens - I will certainly post about it.

Cheers,
Konrad

7 March 2009 at 21:24  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oustanding tools, no doubts about it, I had the OF1400 medium size router that I was forced to sale when I lost my Job, but that's another good factor about Feestol (investment) Paid $405+tax and sold it for $390 with one entire year of Heavy Duty use.

7 March 2009 at 22:17  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hey Jeff

I understand now!

The CT 22 and 33 are HEPA rated vacs. The vac bags do act as a pre-filter to help prevent the HEPA filters from clogging.

If I recall correctly most Shop Vac's are not HEPA rated the the dust bags most likely do not filter the dust like the CT's.

A friend of mine is really, really into dust collection and has spent years doing research. Perhaps it is time to do some tests between the CT's vs the Shop vacs / Dust Collectors / Cyclones

For what it is worth, the CT's will never pull anything near the CFM's of a Cyclone. They are just not designed to work in that manner. You could use a CT on a Bandsaw / jointer / planer / tablesaw but it won't be as efficient.

Some use dust deputies as a cyclone on the CT's but I have no experience with them

Dan Clermont

8 March 2009 at 00:05  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oddly, one of my 22s dropped way down in suction while using it tonight. Took me a couple of minutes to figure it out.

Facing the CT22 controls, there's an exhaust port on the left side of the vacuum towards the bottom. You can hook your hose to this port if you want to use the vacuum as a blower. But if the gate on that port gets propped open, suction drops significantly (which makes sense). So make sure nothing is obstructing that gate.

The larger hose is not always the better hose. It works better on tools like the Kapex, but will work worse on tools like the Domino or the sanders. And as far as I know, only the Festool hoses with the green band are antistatic. Without an antistatic hose, the tool itself is not antistatic.

8 March 2009 at 01:37  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dan,

You are right in that a proper comparison does need to take into account how much fine dust the vacuum throws back into the air.

The Dust Cobra uses a HEPA rated filter so that is an apples to apples comparison. My Shop vac did not have a HEPA filter (which I believe is pretty typical for most shop vacs). I did use a bag in it that was rated for fine dust (i.e., drywall dust) but I have no idea if the combination of this bag plus the stock filter was the equivalent of HEPA -- I would guess not. It is possible that the combination of the lower filtration level plus the larger hose gave the impression of more suction.

If you do end up doing some tests, be sure to take readings with an empty bag/clean filter as well as after the vacuum has sucked up a good amount of dust and other debris. I have a feeling that most vac makers (including Festool) report numbers that assume an empty (or no) bag and clean filters (i.e., ideal scenario) and therefore come nowhere near the performance a user will typically see.

8 March 2009 at 19:35  
Blogger JW said...

Re: metal bits...

I'm not sure if you mean that there are nails and screws jammed into the surface, or dust and swarf from plane making. Dust and swarf are easy... one of those festool rotex sanders would be close to perfect for the job. It's like riding a floor buffer sometimes, but they're pretty good at sanding away a lot of material.

Or, you can go to work with a rough jack plane, and content yourself with the knowledge that the iron isn't going to be as sharp, that the work is just going to be a little rough, but will get smoothed out later.

nails and screws are another matter...

But I will be curious to see the journey into the Emmert. I bought one recently, and I'm debating just how far I want to go with it.

11 March 2009 at 09:10  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Konrad,
I am amazed by your blog. I have never been a follower of any but am loving reading your posts and seeing the transformation of your home. You are amazingly skilled!
We are installing walnut floors in our kitchen remodel and I am very interested in knowing more about your sunroom floor.
We are getting the flooring from a local mill - a premium grade with no sapwood. What I am dying to know is the best way to finish the floor.
Please provide details of your finishing method, if you are able...
Thank you!
Jennifer

30 January 2011 at 09:09  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hi Jenifer,

Thanks for the note and the very kind comments. I am glad you have been enjoying the blog.

We applied a coat of double boiled linseed oil on the raw walnut. We let it sit for about half an hour and then wiped it off. It took about a week to dry and then we applied 3 coats of Fabulon satin finish. This was applied with a sheepskin applicator and worked very well. That was it. Good luck with your kitchen floor - I am sure it will be stunning.

Best wishes,
Konrad

30 January 2011 at 10:05  

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