Woodworking in America, Hand Tool Olympics. What to expect

There are six events in the upcoming Hand Tool Olympics to be held during the WIA Conference in St. Charles. I will explain the events so that you will know what to expect and you can practice if you wish. The tools pictured are not the tools you will use but are representative of them. All of the lumber used will be clear pine, no knots! The lumber in the planing, crosscutting and ripping competitions will be rough, not planed.

Ripping

Here is a photo of the ripping bench

You will be provided a 5 1/2 ppi ripsaw to cut with, you will be ripping a rough 1 inch x 36 inch long piece of white pine clamped solidly to the sawbench. There will be a line drawn on it. You will be timed and you will be scored penalty points for how out of straight and square you are as determined by our highly trained judging staff. Your sawn piece will be checked against an aluminum straight edge and playing cards will be used as feeler gauges to check for the greatest point of deviation from straight and from square. In this event each card is worth 1/3 of a second

here is a photo of the test bench

Crosscutting

Here is a photo of the crosscut bench.

You will be provided an 8 ppi crosscut saw. You will be crosscutting a piece of rough 1×12 white pine clamped to the saw bench. There will be a line squared across it. You will be timed and penalty points will be assessed for being out of square and straight. This will be measured by our judge using a framing square and playing card shims. Each card is worth 1/4 of a second for this event.

Boring

Here is a photo of the boring equipment.

You will be boring a 3/4" hole in a 1 1/2" thick piece of construction lumber. The timber will be clamped to the sawbench and you will drill a hole vertically through the plank using a brace and bit. You will be timed and your result will be checked using a dowel and a square and playing card shims to measure the point of greatest deviation. Each card is worth 1/2 a second in this event.

Planing

Here is a photo of the planing equipment.

You will plane the rough 1" x 12" white pine that you ripped, you will be timed. Straight and square will be tested using an aluminum bar and a square. Playing card shims will be used to measure out of straight and square at point of greatest deviation. Each card is worth 4 seconds penalty.

Tenoning

Here is a photo of the Tenoning Equipment.

You will layout and saw a 1/2" x 3" x 3 " tenon on a 1 1/4" x 3" piece of wood. You will be provided a square, marking gauge, and tenon saw. We are only testing your tenon sawing here. You will not be planing your tenon to fit into a mortise. We will have a mortise there for you to look at if that helps. Your effort will be timed and checked for square shoulders and thickness using highly specialized equipment and playing card shims. Each shim is worth 5 seconds in this event.

Dovetailing

Here is a photo of the dovetailing equipment.

You will cut a dovetail joint in a 3/4" x 3" wide x 4 1/2" long piece of pine. You joint must have either 2 pins or 1 pin and 2 half pins. You will be provided a dovetail template, a 1/2" chisel (yes ONLY a 1/2" chisel) a marking knife and pencil, a mallet, a dovetail saw, a coping saw, and a marking gauge. You will be timed as you cut your dovetail. Penalty points will be assessed by how many playing card shims we can place in the joints of your dovetail, or the splits in the board you made it in. Each playing card is worth 30 seconds.

Please post a comment if you have a question.