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Hand Tools Archives - The Year of Mud

sugita kogyo jigane trowel

Making a Forged Plaster Trowel with Sugita-san

By Japan, Clay Plaster, Lime Plaster

Now that the episode of “Who Wants to Come to Japan?” (世界ニッポン行きたい人応援団) has aired, I can talk about my experience during the filming week. The first thing I want to share about is my visit to the Sugita family, a very generous family who run a top quality trowel business. Started by Sugita-san senior, the business (Sugita Kogyo) is a small operation and is now mostly handled by the son. During my two day visit, I had the privilege of observing Sugita-san’s process for making a hand-forged jigane trowel.

Plaster, trowel, and tool geeks — read on.

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japanese timber log saw

2 Useful Timber Framing Saws

By Carpentry, Timber Framing, Hand Tools

z saw 333

If you’re building a timber frame with hand tools, it’s helpful to have a few types of hand saws in your arsenal. There are many many types of saws that you could use, and at the end of the day it boils down to personal preference. Me? I like to try new tools from time to time, and these are two that I find very effective in the cutting process — a Japanese anahiki saw (or timber saw), and a Japanese ryoba saw (or two sided saw).

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toronto blacksmith axes

(More) Axes We Love

By Hand Tools, Carpentry, Woodworking, Wood Carving

toronoto blacksmith custom forged axes

Tools are what make any craft or trade physically possible. You cannot make a house, spoon, basket, or sweater without certain essential tools. And a quality tool makes the experience more efficient, enjoyable, accurate, and safer. As I’ve stated before, I have a particular fondness for using axes, for whatever reason. A few years ago, I wrote Axes We Love to highlight some of the high quality hand-forged axes being made out there in the world. In my second entry in the Axes We Love series, I want to highlight a few more of the talented blacksmiths who are hard at work producing custom forged axes and other tools we need to do our best work.

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large-dutch-tool-chest

A Simple Dutch Tool Chest for Hand Tool Storage

By Hand Tools, Woodworking
Large Dutch Tool Chest Plans

The finished Dutch tool chest. No Netherlanders were harmed in this process.

I’m not gonna lie. I don’t think I’ve ever had proper hand tool storage. At Dancing Rabbit we had a nice tool shed for a while, which was great, actually. But things never had a proper place in there… and then we moved. And before that shed… well, don’t even ask.

In our current transitional living space, we finally have a makeshift workshop space. (That’s where our new workbench lives.) Which means we can do more woodworking projects. Which means some solid tool storage is even more important than before. Finally, some of my tools have some proper storage. I built a so-called Dutch tool chest recently, and it’s doing a fine job of enabling some order amongst my slowly growing hand tool kit. Check it out…

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Video: Making a Timber Frame Peg

By Wabi-sabi Kitchen, Timber Framing, Hand Tools

Thomas recently had this awesome little peg-making setup made by a friend, and we had the opportunity to try it out last weekend during our timber frame workshop.

It’s super simple and results in very uniform pegs, as long as you have straight grain wood to use. In this case, we were hitting white oak splits through the bench.

It’s essentially a bench with a sharpened rod projecting through the top that cuts through the wood as it is driven through from above with a mallet. Once the wood is hit all the way through, you have a 1″ peg at your disposal!

Check it out!

 

Finish Earthen Plaster: Part 2: Applying Earth Plaster

By Hand Tools, Clay Plaster

finalplaster-01

Once you have mixed your deliciously smooth finish earthen plaster, it’s time to apply it to make your cob walls shine. It’s a seemingly simple process, but there is a certain hidden finesse that will make the job easier with time and practice. I’m no expert, but here’s how I went about plastering the interior of my cob house.

(This entry is a continuation from Finish Earthen Plaster: Part 1: Materials and Recipe.)

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Building a lean-to trestle

By Hand Tools

trestle00

Over the weekend, I built a lean-to trestle. The cob walls are getting too tall in some spots to work from the ground. I’ve been using a long bench that Thomas kindly lent to me, but I needed at least one other (and taller) option to reach high up.

I based this trestle off of a design in The Hand-Sculpted House, but I made it a bit more simplistic, since I didn’t need this trestle to be super-tall (and because my carpentry skills are pretty marginal). I used some old 2x4s and some 1x lumber. The trestle is about five feet wide and leans against the cob wall for support, and gives me an extra three feet to my standing height. It works just lovely.

Cobbers thumbs

By Hand Tools

cobbersthumbs

The great thing about cob is its low-tech nature. You don’t need many fancy tools to work with the medium. Cobbers thumbs are useful wooden hand tools for pounding cob into place on walls, and “stitching” the material together. The fat, blunt ends are good for the pounding, and the pointed ends are useful for weaving different layers together.

You can make these with any old scrap wood. I made these from a downed black locust branch, using just a utility knife and a bow saw.