Lyptus wood and dovetails

Re: Lyptus wood and dovetails

HC Sakman

>It is a very dense wood, no question about that. I think though you've got a litte denser than average Lyptus board in your hand. I suggest you increase the angle 10 degrees (or little less) on your Stanley chisel for this job.

Chico...

Re: Lyptus wood and dovetails

R.J.Whelan

>Roy .... I, too, am building something with Lyptus right now. I had to regrind my Japanese chisel to 30 degrees and do a bit more touch ups than usual. I would say the relative density/hardness of the material is harder than cherry and slightly softer than hard maple; mine is kind of stringy too. It's a little hard on tools but I don't think it's as bad as some of the tropical and African woods ... rj

Re: Lyptus wood and dovetails

Dan Donaldson

>I had the same experience. It folded over the edges of my chisels that I usually use for DT's. I decided that the wood does not have enough character for me to mess with it in this application. (of course, I could just be a wimp ;-))

Re: Lyptus wood and dovetails

Roy Girolami

>Thank you for your responses. I will probably steepen up the angle on my chisels. It's no fun when your edge just sort of rolls over. Too many dovetails left to do. The folks from Japan Woodworker advised me to put an edge back on the broken chisel and have at it again. I think a combination approach with chiselling and routing will serve me best. Thanks again.

Roy Girolami

Apex, NC

Re: Lyptus wood and dovetails

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Instead of routing, you might want to try using a coping saw to rough out most of the waste. Or even a bandsaw. That strategy leaves you with just paring with the chisel, which is a lot easier.

If I'm chopping instead of sawing out the waste, I don't try to cut it all out in one hunk. I chop a little at a time, maybe taking an eighth inch or so at a chop. Since you only need precision on the last cut, the bulk of it goes pretty quick.

Re: Lyptus wood and dovetails

MikeW

>Hi Roy,

I do what William suggests, even on double tenons as shown in the picture.

All that's left after the coping saw is one to two light cuts with the paring chisel. This is Mahagony, obviously easier than the Lyptus. I did do a Lyptus job (geez it darkens in the sunlight nicely!) recently and I didn't notice unusual dulling--and those are Sorby paring chisels in the pic.

MikeW

Re: Lyptus wood and dovetails

HC Sakman

>Definately endorse the sawing idea. It takes the load of chopping.

Chico...