Finalist speakers, Tower version. Advice needed concerning TL vs Ported

[Paperweight]

One thing I was reading on bracing is that the size of the brace can help to some degree. I think I will stick with the original four braces. It took forever to notch out the two pieces to get a snug fit and not split the wood or stab my hand further with a chisel.

I was tinkering with 13" thickness planar blades to see if I can sharpen them. They really need an angled holder to sharpen them safely. It's not smart to hold them in your hand as you sharpen them. Derp.

[Steve Lee]

LOL!

Its always something . . .

Keep going.

[Paperweight]

Last day of vacation and I haven't advanced much further. I did manage to build a second smaller shooting board and replaced the fences and squared them up to the first very large shooting board a little better this go round. Used some of the rock hard maple for the fences.

The smaller shooting board will make processing the smaller pieces a whole lot easier.

[Steve Lee]

What is a "shooting board" in this ^ situation?

[Paperweight]

Here's the large one that spans my whole 3 foot wide work table. I really need to reinforce the table for planing by hand. I replaced the oak fences for maple and made sure glue and screws were used so it will not budge. It uses a 3/4" ply base with a 1/2" ply top the plane rides against. Unfortunately, I didn't have a shooting board to make this one so the edge of the top 1/2" sheet of ply was a little off. I could only manage to get 3 out of 4 of the chutes and fences perfectly square. I stupidly made it with a chute on either side and a fence at top and bottom. I used 2 cleats on the bottom so I could push or pull the plane against either fence. Who knows, I may wear one side out. Sorry about the glare, Too much shellac and wax.




This is the one I put together over the last few days. Only one chute and I don't have to lean across the table to use it. I was cursed with being left handed so I made the chute on the left side. Now, no one else can use it. It works with 1 foot pieces. It's perfect for the top, bottoms, internal panels and narrow edges of long boards. It was much easier to square up the fence to the single chute. Also, only one cleat on the bottom to keep it against the tables edge.

Rob Cosman has videos on Youtube for how to make them. Warning, you will start talking like a Canadian if you watch them too many times. That might just be me though. What is that about?

[Steve Lee]

Interesting & thanks for the lesson - I learned something new today.

eh?

[Paperweight]

If I was buying just one plane to do shooting and various other things, it would be a low angle jack plane. Both Veritas and Lie-Nielsen offer one for about the same price and the body and sides will be square and flat to each other. Very few other makers I would trust to get that right. Veritas has several blade steel options. I hear the PM-V11 is good. It also has the length and weight advantage at 5 pounds 12 ounces vs. the L-N 4.55 pounds. The weight carries it through a long cut. If I was cleaning up rough cut lumber, I would want the lighter L-N. Your shoulders will thank you.

Either of those two brands are very good and will last you the rest of your life and then some. No motor to wear out and no batteries that won't be available in less than 10 years. Also, it's a good upper body workout.

Sharpening the blade is another investment unless you have stuff for that already.

Edit: If you are lucky, you can find a vintage Stanley plane for a decent price. The better ones were pre WW 2 so there will be time spent getting them in working order. Grinding a plane body is not fun. The old school cast iron has a tendancy to crack if dropped on a concrete floor. The newer ductile cast iron is much more durable.

Some of the cheaper current production planes are very rough around the edges as far as fit and finish and build quality. The soles aren't quite flat and they may or may not be square to the sides. I bought one and put a new blade in it and spent enough time grinding the sole flat and still prefer using my Veratas if I want an accurate cut.

This all started when I was a kid watching The Woodwright's Shop on PBS which is produced here in NC. Many decades pass and I started looking at Lost Art Press for whatever reason. They have many books on hand tools which appeal to me more than power tools. I decided to purchase a copy of the Stanley number 34 reprint catalog and The Anarchist's Tool Chest by Christopher Schwarz, the former editor of Popular Woodworking. Funny enough, the book is dedicated to Roy Underhill, the host of The Woodwright's shop. I ended up buying several more of his books about planes and hand tools.

[Paperweight]

I was rethinking the braces I was working on. As I was trolling the internet for ideas, I found an old post by Bill Fitzmaurice. He mentioned a cross brace shaped like # is more effective than the common window brace with edges and uses less space inside the cabinet. I figured I could make that with 1/2" ply and double it up for sturdiness. I have a lot of that as scrap. The only problem would be getting it reliably glued and pinned in place then clamped while assembling the cabinet.

[Paperweight]

Been dealing with being sick for the last 5 days but I've been tinkering still when I'm not out of commision. I've been wanting a long iron jointer plane for quite some time. All the companies that make a decent one have been dealing with shortages and long delays. I wanted to make a wooden 30 inch long jointer plane for "fun" since the $600 Old Street Tools 30 inch wooden jointer is a long wait to get one. The German made E. C. Emmerich wooden planes are also expensive and spotty on availability for their wooden jointer plane. I accidently ran across the Pinie made wooden planes being sold by Infinity Tools. According to Pinies's site, the ones sold by Infinity are their premium versions with Norris style depth adjustment and a premium blade. They aren't terribly expensive so I took a chance on their 600mm/23.6 inch wooden jointer plane.

Overall, the woodwork is decent with a few rough spots. Finish is good with a couple rough patches in a few places but nothing an abrasive pad can't fix. The blade looks nothing special but sharpens much like an A2 Hock blade. The cap iron/chipbreaker is rough junk sadly. As you tighten it down to the blade, the springy steel shifts the position so you have to keep straightening it out as you tighten it. That's a strange setup. I guess the big hump is to help eject the shavings out of the mouth. I managed to get some of the movement to go away by grinding the chipbreaker edge flatter on some coarse 3M diamond film on plate glass.

Anyway, I used an abrasive pad to smooth the whole body out and contoured the tote with a 25 tpi rasp for a more comfortable grip and waxed everything on the exterior. After adjusting the freshly sharpened blade to depth, it took a wonderful complete shaving. Nice.

Huh, let me try this on the long shooting board. Wow, now this is where it shines. It is a high value champ for straightening out big plywood panels. I don't have any MDF to try this with but this might be a good tool for general speaker building. At a hair under 24 inches, it does really well at squaring up big panels. I'm actually impressed with a Czech made inexpensive, but decent quality, wooden plane. Then again, I've been using Czech made chisels as well.

[Steve Lee]

Very nice!

I think all the silica (sand) in the MDF is going to wear your blade -edge quickly and unevenly but it is your call.

[Paperweight]

Very nice!

I think all the silica (sand) in the MDF is going to wear your blade -edge quickly and unevenly but it is your call.

Well, I think the glue in the baltic birch starts making serrations in the blade the longer I use it between sharpenings. That is with A2 steel which is a tad bit tougher than normal O1 steel. Still works fine, looks weird. I can run it over 120 grit diamond film on plate glass and that takes care of it pretty fast. Then over to the 8k grit diamond plate, across the strop and back in business.

I bought a honing guide which makes pretty quick work of sharpening. I end up taking too long on the strop polishing it and getting the edge super keen. Sometimes I get the angle off doing it by hand and have to put it back in the honing guide and a few passes on the 8k to straighten it back out.

I enjoy sharpening too much but it keeps my shoulders from getting wore out using the shooting board too long.

[Brighe98]

nowadays I'm looking for the Jigsaw for basic woodworking, I haven't any ideas as to which one should be the best. I got some good reviews about the Bosch JS470E. Is there anyone who uses this jigsaw then helps me to decide the right jigsaw.

[Paperweight]

Well things went and got crazy in early November and it didn't stop from there. I spent 3 days in the hospital and got released on Christmas day. I'm on the mend thankfully. Maybe these speakers are cursed lol. The guy Paul K. designed this ML-TL for ended up with damage to his house.

As soon as it warms up enough to work in my shed/shop again, I want to get these done. I got stuck on how to make the 4 internal braces. I have a tendancy to overthink everything.

In the meantime, I rebuilt and modded a TOTL for 1990 Technics RS-B965 cassette deck that features direct drive, dual capstans and amorphous heads. Cassettes were never what you would call hi-fi but it is interesting how close they can come to it. I forgot how much I enjoyed some of these tapes when I was younger and still had hair. Listening to them through a pair of TriTrix towers that started this whole speaker building mess.

[Steve Lee]

Had a similar Christmas myself so I understand - take care, get well and carry-on, Sir.

Keep us posted of your progress.

I just got a big 14" Rikon bandsaw delivered and then reconfigured some speakers in the recording room today.

Gotta keep going!

[Paperweight]

Okay, I think I have a brace scheme I believe will work with minimal fuss. I did end up going with a # shaped brace. I used 3/4" BB ply and cut the outside pieces with a bandsaw. It went well. I punched out most of the center with a 3/4" drill bit in a drill press. The leftover bits were chopped out with a sharp chisel. I'm going over all of them with a 16 TPI rasp to round over all the edges.

So far, I like how they are turning out. I'll post pictures Wednesday on my day off when I get at least one fully completed.