During my 25 years in the woodworking business, I’ve seen a lot of toolmakers both big and small disappear suddenly and unexpectedly. In the 1990s, I could not have guessed that Record Tools would self-implode and become a shadow brand of Rubbermaid.
I’m 53, and I hope to have at least another 25 years at the bench. A couple years ago, I started thinking about what I would do if I lost my Tite-Mark marking gauge and if Kevin Drake stopped making them for some reason.
So I immediately ordered a back-up Tite-Mark.
Since then, I’ve slowly acquired doubles of the tools that I would be lost without. It’s not a big list. I know I’ll always be able to get a Starrett 12” combination square or an old Stanley No. 5 at auction or at a tool swap. But if Lie-Nielsen disappeared because a flying saucer stole the factory, I think it would be tough to find replacements. Note that I don’t think of any of these toolmakers as particularly vulnerable to disappearing anytime soon. I just know that if they did disappear, getting a replacement would be difficult.
Here’s the list:
Tite-Mark Cutting Gauge. This tool is an extension of my hand, much like a marking knife. I am so attuned to it that I make micro adjustments almost unconsciously. Don’t accept imitations.
Lie-Nielsen 60-1/2 Block Plane. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: The Lie-Nielsen 60-1/2 is the best block plane I’ve ever used. Full stop. No qualifiers. I’ve worn off all the paint on the top of the sidewalls. I wore out the blade it came with and am well into the second blade.
Lie-Nielsen No. 3 Bench Plane: The No. 3 fits my hand better than the ubiquitous No. 4. I have tuned up my bronze one to the point where I don’t even look at other smoothing planes on the internet or at tool stores.
Veritas Standard Reamer: It’s easy to make a tapered tenon cutter, so I’d hate to lose my standard reamer, which I use on most of my chairs. I have such a good feel for how it cuts that I rarely ever stray from my desired angle. In fact, I have to deliberately go off-angle when I teach others how to correct a hole that has gone astray.
Blue Spruce 16 oz. Mallet: The resin-infused mallet is another one of those tools that feels like I was born with it in my hand. I’m told the round mallet is for carvers, not joinery. Hogwash. This small tool packs an impressive punch and is incredibly durable. Blue Spruce is now owned by Woodpeckers, which is too bad because I like Dave Jeske so much, but it is still an excellent mallet.
Chris Vesper 4” Sliding Bevel: No surprises here. I have Vesper Fever. And the only known cure is to buy all of his tools. I have a full set of the sliding bevels and doubles of the 4” bevel.
You know what comes next: This is not a sponsored post. I bought these tools with my own money. And we don’t do affiliate programs or anything slimebally.
— Christopher Schwarz
I’ve been trying to get a 4-in sliding bevel from Vesper Tools for years now. Maybe someday.
Me too. The 4 inch model from Blue Spruce is excellent, and the only other one I know of in that size.
Joseph marples makes a 4 inch bevel. It takes a screwdriver to adjust, but holds well.
https://taytools.com/products/joseph-marples-miniature-4-1-2-sliding-bevel-gauge?variant=39331740090455
Chris, you’ll be glad to know that Dave Jeske is still involved in Blue Spruce Tool Works. He is busy out west designing the next new tool.
Please, please put your 2 cents worth in with Lie Nielsen and ask them to make #3s again.
I agree on all the above tools. Each is near perfection.
I have the regular and smaller diameter versions of the Titemark. If I’m using both at once, I won’t grab the wrong one by mistake. Don’t forget spare cutting wheels, just in case.
If Blue Spruce ever makes a larger version of that mallet, I will be first in line to get my 16 ouncer a big brother.
It would seem that the #3 simply isn’t as popular as we think it should be. If there’s more demand for bronze #4s, they shouldn’t “waste” the material on #3s.
I totally agree with the idea of having backups of important tools, even though doing so can be expensive.For example, I was shocked when Jorgensen Clamps went out of business. Still waiting for the buyer to resurrect the company. I knew I should have bought more clamps from them when I could. Patronize companies you want to stay in business.
Ralph, the company was resurrected a couple of years ago. You can buy your Jorgensen clamps again. Look at the website: https://ponyjorgensen.com/. I got a couple of Cabinet Masters (parallel clamps) last fall.
Two serious questions – why is the Lie-Nielsen 60-1/2 better than a Vintage Stanley 60 1/2? (or isn’t it? Is it just easier to purchase a GREAT tool, ready to go out of the box rather than one to tune-up?) Second, why the 4-in sliding bevel from Vesper Tools rather than a Stanley #18?
Hi Hank,
Usually these questions drive the conversation into an argument. I’ll say my bit and then go for a long walk.
The LN is ductile iron and will not crack. The Stanley 60-1/2 is grey iron and fragile.
The LN has enormous bedding surface for the iron, resulting in a stable cut. The Stanley has comparatively little.
The LN’s controls move smoothly and precisely. The Stanley’s are all over the place depending on when it was made.
The LN’s overall build quality is far superior to any 60-1/2 I’ve seen.
The Vesper locks better than any bevel I’ve used, including the Stanley 18.
I can drop the Vesper on the floor and it will hold its setting. The Stanley will not.
The Vesper’s 4″ blade is good for my chairmaking. The much longer blade of the 18 is not.
The build quality of the Vesper is far far superior.
I’m not saying that the Stanley tools are trash. They aren’t. They work great. But I prefer the LN and Vesper.
Here’s hoping that this in not a prophesy.
I was vaccinated for Vesper Fever not long ago but might need a booster after seeing these pictures.
What scares me is the lack of quality steel and brass for these tool makers to make there fine products. Since the pandemic (excuse me, attack of the mole people) I have found it difficult to get various tools such due to the shortages and the manufacturers showing the items no longer in production. It has made me very vigilant when looking fo a tool and I do not hesitate to purchase when I see one, because tomorrow they may be googled up by the mole people.
The Blue Spruce chisels and coping saw are really good.
I got to meet Kevin Drake at a Lie Nielsen event here one year. He actually spent time to show me how to use all of his tools and actually improved the quality of my dovetails using my Lie Nielsen DT saw! I can’t say enough good things about him or his tools. ALL top notch!
I’ve had the same experience with Kevin Drake at Lie Nielsen events. Freely shares info. He’s a top notch person. I’ve learned more how to saw from him than anyone else from these events. I’ve appreciated his advice so much that every year at the events I always buy something from him.
Since I work alone in one workshop, I am not as worried about “losing” tools. However, I have bought near duplicates for some tools, like low-angle and regular-angle block planes. I also have “backup” blades. I keep these tools and blades in regular rotation, not in long-term storage. The similar tools and extra blades allow me to sharpen a few blades at a time instead of just one. That results in fewer interruptions and saves a little bit of time in setup costs. Any excuse for more tools …
I am also a one man shop. However, I am currently making a dutch tool chest which I plan to fill with a full kit from ATC. So I am slowly accruing 2 or 3 of everything. Hopefully by year end I will have my “travel tool chest” fully stocked so when I go make things for family elsewhere i can just bring the dutch chest along. But sometimes it is nice to have a few of certain things, like marking tools, to save multiple settings on a project etc
Kevin Drake’s TiteMark’s are great marking gauges. I have two. When LieNielsen starts doing it’s annual tool shows, I plan to buy another one with the bevel on the wheel in the opposite direction. Kevin is close to where I live on the West Coast so he is almost always there. Or, my wife and I will make a long weekend out in Fort Bragg (beautiful area) and I will get one in person.
Based on your coarse, medium, fine thoughts, I use an old Craftsman No. 4 for the coarse work as a scrub lite plane (my favorite plane by far), a Lie Nielsen No 5 for most of the work, and and Lie Nielsen No. 3 for the fine smoothing work. I really like my No 3 LN. For Christmas, I have on my list the 55 degree frog for it. That way it will also be set up to minimize tear out.
Long Tite-Marks are out of stock (I shouldn’t have waited), and the Glen-Drake website has been effectively shut down all year. I hope everything works out.
I agree with most of Chris’ list, but I must admit that I have a love of my small Veritas block plane (the one that looks like a swoopy sports car.) just ‘fits my hand’ right and fits better than the LN block that I have that I never seem to use.
Its funny the things that one misses: I never heard that Blue Spruce was assimilated by WoodPeckers. I suppose I should have figured that out from the change in ‘tone’ of emails I started getting. The blue spruce mallets are magnificent as are the chisels and square. Back when I ordered them, exchanging emails with Dave was brilliant.
I’m going to put one more on the list: but its hard to justify having ‘a spare’ at the price:
my two Konrad Sauer planes. “the only way you get them is from my cold dead hands”
(and when they do have to get pulled from my cold dead hands, I do hope my wife doesn’t find out how much I ‘invested’ in them: she’d likely resurrect me just to kill me again LOL )
I didn’t know about Blue Spruce/Woodpeckers–interesting. I hope to not get a lot of “one time tool” offers for Blue Spruce type stuff. I have enough anodized aluminum stuff in my shop for now.
I have been using a round mallet for joinery for ~35 years now–its a lignum vitae 16 oz. and I find it greatly superior to the hammer style. You can hold the end of the handle and whack the snot out of stuff or you can wrap your hand up close around the bottom of the larger diameter and “tappy-tap-tap”. You just have to get used to putting it down “on end” since it can roll away on its side. When I want a more hammer-shaped thunker, I have a deadblow mallet that I use (but I’m sure a Crucible lump of 4140 would work great too).
I bought the LN 140 from the used tools bench at your recent open house (took all the cash I bought to buy blemished books with 😅). I’m sure you had your reasons for parting with it, but it is truly the most magnificent plane I’ve ever held and used! Most of my tools are cheaply acquired antiques that I refurbished/brought back from the dead, so I completely understand now how the LN planes are a level above even the most pristine golden-era Stanley’s.
I do try to patronize independent tool suppliers whenever possible. One of the few factory-fresh tools I acquired is my dovetail saw, bought directly from Lie-Nielson.
In case anybody doesn’t know, Jim Bode and Patrick Leach frequently list Lie Nielsen tools for sale. Discontinued and out of stock usually at a premium price…
And then there’s Bad Axe handsaws. Whenever I’ve found a really nice vintage handsaw, they seem to be priced for collectors. Bad Axe is badass. And I completely agree about #3 planes, though my two #3’s are Stanley’s and have been in the family for about a century. Other woodworkers seem to think the #3 too small for real men’s hands, but my mitts are huge, and I have no trouble. And then there are those Luddites among us who insist on making our own tools. I especially like making cam clamps and wood-bodied planes, for some uses. But that’s a totally different blog thread.
I have the Vesper Sliding Bevel and it is a piece of art! Love the weight of it. I ordered one of his 7″ try-squares back in January of 2019 but never received. Is he still making tools?
Have a ton of Blue Spruce tools and my favorite is the 2″ x 3″ square as it easily fits in apron pocket.
Interesting that Woodpeckers now owns it as I was watching a video and noticed it was the guy that does all the Woodpecker videos so now that makes sense
I think most know this but wanted to point it out. The “discontinued” tools at LieNielsen are due to Covid 19 and they are focused right now on the most core of their tools. When things eventually get back to normal, I suspect we will see things that disappeared from their list of items reappear. i spoke to Deneb in late 2020 and that is the essence of what he told me.
I was lucky to get a 4″ Veritas bevel off Ebay a few years ago,,, brand new.. love that thing
Walt Quadrato of Brass City Tools passed away a few years back. Sandy Moss was still active last I checked but his website stopped updating in 2019. Mike Wenzloff saws out of business for years, Isaac Smith/Blackburn Tools not taking orders, Old Street Tools back-ordered or not taking I think. Nic Westermann has a waitlist stretching out past two years and no longer makes his superlative carving axe. Good luck getting your hands on any of Svante Djarv or Hans Karlssen’s fine Swedish smithing, and Drew Langsner’s Country Workshops has closed (though the Kortemeiers in Maine have picked up where he left off). Traditional Woodworker was a smaller catalog with some hard to find log and timber framing tools, until they vanished unexpectedly. Stu (“Schtoo”) of Japan Tool shuttered his interesting site and a fellow named So with amazing access and expertise in Japanese tools seems to be permanently waitlisted to forever. There are new makers and sites for some (but not all) these—but it hit me that many of the bookmarks I have from a certain vintage are defunct.
You’re dang right Chris Schwarz, don’t wait forever because apparently the world doesn’t stand still, not even for insanely perfect hand tools. Who knew?
Thank goodness for Rob Lee at Veritas and Thomas Lie-Nielsen, both of whom will hopefully emerge stronger than ever from the current shortages, and a shout out to Lost Art Press for having the moxie to prosper in weird times. Thanks for the reminder. I’m gonna go check my Titemark blade supply right now.
David