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We published our woodworking-related wish lists just before Christmas…and perhaps we waited until it was a bit too late. Note to self: next time, provide links. To my mother, a diamond is something that goes on a finger, not on a sharpening plate. She did, however, select a nice book for me, “Wood: Craft, Culture, History,” by Harvey Green. Thanks mom! I also showed her and my stepfather, Jim, our shop, and we picked out a hanging cabinet I’m going to build for them (it might get done in time for her April birthday, but no promises there). And Chris (that would be Editor Christopher Schwarz), kindly gave me one of his several router planes (now I have to goad him into teaching me how to properly sharpen the blade).
Publisher Steve Shanesy writes:
Well, I didn’t get a single thing from my woodworking Christmas List, but in truth, I have no room to complain. No, none at all. That’s because Christmas actually came early this year (like Thanksgiving) and I got something spectacular-a whole new shop space with more room than a woodworker has a right to.
Yes, my puny 400-square-foot basement shop moved to a new location where I now enjoy some 1,300 square feet complete with generous-sized windows, hard maple flooring and all-new electric service with good light and ample 110v and 220v outlets. The new location is in a very old (and largely run-down) part of town less than 15 minutes from home. And while it’s on the second floor of a 140-year-old building, it does have an ancient freight elevator for lifting lumber, machinery and finished projects easily.
But that’s only half of it! I’m sharing the space with my 27-year-old son who has recently taken a much greater interest in the craft. So he gets the benefit of my equipment and experience and I get the pleasure of spending a lot of high quality time with him. It was a wonderful Christmas, indeed.
Editor Christopher Schwarz writes:
My mother surprised me with four pairs of antique dividers , two of them are wing dividers, one is clearly hand-forged and probably made in the early 19th century. And the fourth one is an enigma , I’ve never seen one like it. I’m cleaning them up now to use. Blasphemy, I’m sure.
The best gift I received, however, was getting to spend two full days in the shop with my youngest daughter to build a pine box to hold craft supplies for her fellow students. Katy learned about prepping stock with handplanes and clenching cut nails.
Senior Editor Bob Lang writes:
My son Hunter didn’t come through with the Veritas Low Angle Jack plane, but he did come through with the next-best thing. Considering his budget he did even better. He did some research and headed off to the antique mall. He came up with a Sweetheart era #5C Stanley that will be a good user with a little work, along with a #4 “Made in USA” plane of the same vintage and condition. It did my heart good to see the effort and thought that he put into getting me something I would like and use even if it wasn’t brand new and shiny.
And finally, though Art Director Linda Watts didn’t provide a woodworking-related list, months ago she mentioned that she’d like to start a plumb bob collection , and thanks to Chris’s prodigious memory, she’s now well on her way.
So did you get any new woodworking stuff? Leave a note below and let us know.
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
Set of five Lie Neilson chisels. WOO HOO!! But I got them late because I made my wife take back the chisels she originally bought from Lee Valley. Poor girl. I felt bad until I put one of those LN’s in my hand… soooooo sweet.
My father gave me a Stanley #79 Sweetheart version side rabbet plane. Now I have to figure out what to use it for.
I treated myself with a 2nd hand Lurem Clean 2 dust collector and bought 4 m of new suction hose for it.
By the way. Could we please see some pictures of Steve’s new shop?
My wife and I treated each other with a trip out of town for a few days between Christmas and New Year. On the way home, we simply took our time looking for antique shops, flea markets, etc. In a small shop in a little small town in eastern Tennessee, I found a perfect only Greenlee nail puller. I didn’t even have to clean it up. I put it to use almost as soon as I got home removing nails from some old oak boards that i salvaged several years ago from a church building that was being torn down for a new building. Now to design a project to build from those old boards.
A Millers Falls 2-A hand drill w/ label still on the handle, and a #5 Type 19 Made in Can Stanley Bailey hand plane also in near mint condition.
I want to increase my hand tool collection so I can start using them with my son, he just turned four, and is starting to be curious.
Happy New Year.
My detailed wish list with links was ignored. Instead, a gift card was quickly converted into lumber & casters to create a movable miter saw stand. Fun in the shop.
By far the best present this year was a set of 6 Matsumara chisels from Dieter Schmid,they actually arrived on the 26th of November,the day after my wife left for a 3 week visit to her brother in New Zealand(we made sure to order early to avoid the December insanity).
This was quite excruciating though,knowing that there was a wonderful set of chisels just sitting in the spare room,totally unsupervised.I didn’t peek though,honest to goodness.
Using some of the Christmas cash I received from my Father in law I have ordered a 12" by 9" by 3" granite surface plate to be used as a substrate for the Scary Sharp technique.Unfortunately the festive closing in combination with the wholly inappropriate weather means I still don’t have my plate!!!
I could just play around with these chisels,most are shaving sharp already,but there is something inside me saying,
"These were made by a man who has been making chisels for 20 years longer than you have been on the Earth,he has clearly dedicated his life to producing not only extremely practical but also beautiful tools,show them the appropriate respect."
So,I’m forcing myself to wait until I have all the necessary kit to make these laminated beauties sing as good a song as this enthusiatic conductor can coax from them.
Cheers
Black
Wixey digital protractor. Useful for measuring angles and setting cutting angles. Shop is too full for any more big equipment, until I can upgrade like Steve did. Some day.
More blessings are the six grandchildren (ages nearly one to five), including a set of twin boys, twin girls and two singleton girls. Being a grandparent is a delight.
I got a sweet chunk of purpleheart from my parents and a new Hock "Krenov-style" plane iron assembly from my wonderful fiance to make a Krenov smoother with. I can’t wait to get the iron bedded!
I take it Glen got coal again this year? Or did someone buy him new gloves for his jointer?
I’ve been using inexpensive Japanese saws for most joinery tasks for several years, so I was excited to receive my first western backsaw for Christmas this year – the Lee Valley 14 ppi dovetail saw. I still haven’t had a chance to get it dusty. Also got a 1000x/4000x Norton waterstone and a few woodworking tomes, the best being Glen Huey’s Illustrated Guide to Building Period Furniture. Merry Christmas to you too, Glen 🙂
I usually receive one main present from my wife every year and she is always good about working with me to make sure I get me what I want.
(Conversely, we usually shop for one or two key pieces of antique jewelry together early in the year, so I can keep up my end of the bargain.)
This last year’s present was a custom set of paring chisels from Dave Jeske @ Blue Spruce Toolworks (http://www.bluesprucetoolworks.com/). I ordered them back in July or August when Dave was offering a small discount (my extravagance is often tempered by my frugality). I provided him with blanks of curly Honduran mahogany I’d been hording. The set compliments the custom carbide burnisher he made for me earlier in the year and the custom small marking knife he made for me about two years ago, both with the curly Honduran mahogany handles.
Every year my wife, mother and extended family never know what to get me. I always say tools, but that never seemed to be a good enough answer, because I would get pajamas. A couple of years ago, I started a wishlist on Delicious.com so that they could see what I actually wanted, click on the link and purchase it. Simple, easy, efficient. Well it worked this year! My wife got me 5 things off of the list. The big one was a new Oneida dust collector. I know… WOW! I was banned from the garage for 2 1/2 weeks before Christmas, because that was where she was keeping the seven boxes. I still don’t know how she and her mother managed to move all of them into the garage. Great Christmas! Of course what would a Christmas be without tradition. I told my Mom that about the list, she asked for the link, I sent it to her, and she got me… pajamas 🙂 If you want to see my updated, post-Christmas list, here it is:
http://delicious.com/JPSzcz/wishlist