Only few days left to finish...

  Attempted to remake the spring today. I'm going about it a more systematic way so I left the spring to cool slowly in some wood ash.  Tomorrow, I will first harden it then temper it a small amount to hopefully get to that springy tension I need.

  I also started fitting the hinges to the chest.  This went a little better than I expected.  I was thinking it might take me a few hours.  But after only one heating of the steel, this is what one of the hinges looks like on the lid.  Notice how the hinge is shaped to the lid.

"Nobody makes me bleed my own blood...  Nobody!!!" - White Goodman

Ah, the joys of woodworking.  One of the little "perks" I had forgot about is how torn up your hands can get from woodworking.  Now, you might be thinking that blacksmithing is rough on the hands and it is.  But its not nearly as hard for bleeding as woodworking.  This little story might help to explain why...

  About five years ago, I attended my first woodworking convention.  At a demonstration of tool sharpening techniques, the instructor passed around a chisel with the warning, "Be careful, this is surgically sharp."  Not razor sharp, surgically sharp.  While feeling the blade, I did not cut myself enough to bleed, it was very capable of slicing off thin layers of skin.  I taught myself how to sharpen properly and now my chisels are often that sharp.  Put 3 or 4 chisels, a draw knife and other tools on a table and watch me grabbing for them...  Explains the blood.

  As a comparison, you very rarely want sharp tools in blacksmithing.  The thin edge of the blade would simple be destroyed the moment it came in contact with hot metal.  Most blacksmithing chisels could only cut skin if they were struck with a 2 pound hammer.  Then again, a butter knife could cut skin if hit hard enough.

  Well, last night I managed to finish the woodworking on the chest other than the glue up.  The last part for the lock is a spring mechanism.  I could not get the tool steel I have to become very springy despite using a technique described by a smith from Williamsburg.  I'm sure I'm doing it wrong.  So, will give it another try this evening.  I just have to say, that part of the process involves molten lead.  No, nothing bad can happen when playing with molten lead.

 

In the home stretch...

  More sawdust and the wooden part of the chest is nearly complete.  I finished the bottom today and worked on the lid.  The lid is taking a fair amount of work as it is hollowed out on the inside and domed on the outside.  Tomorrow, I hope to begin attaching hardware and finishing the last of the blacksmithing.  Here is a pic of the chest.  It is not pinned or glued together yet so there are some gaps.  Also, the hole in the front is where the lock goes.  I will trim that up when I'm sure how everything fits.

A lot of sawdust...

  The worst part of living in Florida is what it does to my tools.  For this project, I wanted to focus on the blacksmithing.  For the woodworking, I'm using my table saw, band saw, etc...  Although I do also use a fair amount of hand tools such as chisels, coping saw, draw knife and more.  Even though I use a rust protecting clear coat on the tools, the humidity in the garage is always high so the first thing I had to do was clean for about an hour all of the surfaces that would contact the wood.  Still, was nice to do some woodworking.  I haven't done much in a while so the smell of sawdust was a nice change of pace.

  Anyway, I picked up lumber this morning.  Unfortunately, I had difficulty locating white oak for the project so I am using red oak.  Pretty much the same properties of the white oak just has a bit of a red tinge(imaging that...)  Also, I wasn't able to find lumber thick enough for the lid so I had to buy enough lumber to glue two pieces together for the lid.  I did that first to let the glue setup.

  The first real cutting was for the ends of the chest.  The Mastermyr chest's unique shape makes the woodworking a little challenging.  The chest's sides all slant inward so there are some funky angles.  I cut the ends of the chest and the front and back.  At that point, I couldn't resist it, I went ahead and cut the hole for the lock plate.  It was the first time the lock plate was actually on a piece of wood.  It gave me a good idea of how the chest will look and I must saw that I like the look.  I left some excess wood on the front of the chest.  Its a lot easier to cut away wood then add it back in.

  After cutting the basic shapes of the pieces, I needed to do some chisel work for the ends of the chest.  I was cutting a mortise in the ends that will support the bottom of the chest.  This is the first time I've done mortise work in wood since I started blacksmithing.  The years of learning blacksmithing benefited me.  I was able to do the mortise very quickly with just a chisel and mallet.  My hand/eye coordination is much better and I was able to go for several hours with no problems.

  So, at the end of the day the ends and front and back of the chest are nearly complete.  The only bit left on them is a small amount of cleanup.  The bottom has been planed down to the proper thickness and I should be able to do that in about an hour tomorrow.  My only concern is the lid.  When I was cleaning up shop, I noticed the two pieces I used for the lid did not glue together properly.  I may have to go get more lumber to try the lid again.  Still, I should be done with the woodworking tomorrow.

Quick work...

  I was able to do more work on the front hinges tonight.  Since I wasn't able to get started until 6:30, I was only able to work 2 hours.  Still, was able to get a fair amount done.  I should be able to get done with the blacksmithing tomorrow.

Productive few hours...

  Because of the time change and the lenghtening days, I was able to get on the forge after work for a few hours.  I was able to get the front hinges on the chest off to a good start.  These are really the last major thing I need for the lock.  Although I still need the spring, that shouldn't be too tough.  I did discover a minor mistake that is related to the placement of one of the nails and the hinge.  I can work around it.  Not a real big deal...

Work interferes...

  I've been on the road a lot recently which has impacted my ability and energy to get to the forge.  However, I did manage to spend some of this evening drafting out the clock for the woodworking.  Imagine my surprise when I finally realized how small the chest will be.  The actual chest will be about 12 inches tall, 34 inches wide.  I've always kind of known this but since the original docs give the size in centimeters, it was easy to forget.  Anyway, I pretty much have a working blueprint for the woodworking.  I still expect that part to take one or two days.  It will be one day if I start early and stick to it.