Beating the Wind

[jlloydparks]

Back in October I had the opportunity to take a class with Chris Schwarz. It was a great class, and the one thing I wished I had taken away from the class was Chris's winding sticks. I came home and purposed that I would make a set. I had some off cuts of some dense Honduran Mahogany that was perfect. I inlayed one with a strip of maple along the length and the other has been inlayed on the corners with ebony. The inlays are used to give maximum contrast when sighting down the work. In addition, to being able to tell if a piece is in wind the bottoms of the sticks are flat and square and can be used to test if a board is bowed or cupped.

Here is a close up of the sticks:

How you use the winding sticks - Place one on a board near you and the end of a bench and place the other on the other end of the board or at least father down the boards. If your boards are now in wind the sticks will not be parallel as you sight down them. Here is an example using my awesome saw benches as an example. The benches are not in wind so the tops of the sticks line up in parallel. You can also notice that the top of my saw bench has cupped a little since they were built if you look at the gap under the first stick.

So you ask - What does it look like if a board is in wind? Well I am glad you asked. I shimmed the back winding stick on the right side with a single piece of 1/32" veneer and here is what you see:

If I saw the picture above while preparing stock I would take my plane and work on the left corner closest to me and the far right corner in order to bring the sticks into alignment.

Making a set of homemade winding sticks is an easy afternoon using up some scrap material. The inlay took extra time and a few more tools, but it was worth the effort. It is a great practice on how to square and flatten stock with hand planes. However, for those that just like the easy button route then Lee Valley makes a nice aluminum set. I hope this was of some value.

[petersb]

Thank you Josh for sharing this. You have made a nice set of winding sticks. Did you finish them or are they bare wood?

I really like the B&W photos, it adds a touch of class to the post, if that is possible.

[jlloydparks]

The pictures above were in white (with no finish). I took the shots yesterday before applying a coat of oil-varnish blend. I think I will apply one more coat of the oil-varnish blend today, put on some past wax with steel wool tomorrow and call it done. These are shop tools and that should be more than enough for protection.