This crazy-looking saw till was on sale at the American College of the Building Arts yesterday, and I really want to build one without the wild paint job.
The tool dealer who was selling the till said he found it in Kentucky. The sides of the case tops are made from old cheese boxes. The back, he said, might have been salvaged from some leftover circus or carnival scrap, which could explain the paint.
The functional aspect of the till is an old idea: You slide the toe of the sawblade into the slot. A rubber-covered ring gets pushed to the side. As you let go of the saw, the ring drops down and wedges the saw plate in place. To remove the saw you push the blade up and pull it toward you. Nifty.
The world needs more wooden planemakers – it can be difficult to find vintage hollows and rounds and complex moulders that don’t need serious work (or are hopeless). Matt Bickford has his hands full; Old Street Tool isn’t taking new orders while they try to reduce their order backlog.
So today I was quite eager to try the planes from Caleb James, a planemaker and chairmaker in Greenville, S.C. Caleb makes a full range of wooden planes from quartersawn American beech that he personally cuts and dries.
I took his planes for a test drive during the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event at the American College of the Building Arts today and was impressed. Very impressed. His planes work as well as the planes from Matt Bickford and Old Street. They are responsive, have tight mouths and eject shavings smoothly.
If I didn’t have all the hollows and rounds I need, I would have placed an order on the spot. I might ask him to build me a couple of beading planes I want to add to my tool chest. So if you are thinking about wooden moulding planes, you now have another option – and a very good one at that.
Here are some of his prices from his 2014 price list:
• Matched pair of hollows and rounds: $450-$465
• Rabbet plane (5/8”, 3/4” or 7/8”, with or without persimmon boxing): $250-$285
• Try plane (2” iron, 24” long): $485
• Snipe bills (1/2” radius): $545/pair
• Coffin smoother: $365
Check out Caleb’s blog and web site here. In addition to being an accomplished toolmaker, Caleb makes Windsor chairs and is whip-smart. Check him out.
I am always surprised how many people have never been to Charleston, S.C. – especially woodworkers. The city is a living and breathing design document; it’s like the pages of “By Hand & Eye” brought to life.
The houses, furniture and even the layout of the city are all textbook examples of the pre-Industrial design aesthetic. And you get this education by simply walking around the streets and alleys of this sizable city.
And the food. (Eyes roll back in head. Stomach grumbles.)
One of the hundreds of secret gardens you can spy while walking around the city.
This weekend (March 28-29), Lie-Nielsen Toolworks is holding a Hand Tool Event at the American College of the Building Arts in the old city jail, an awesome structure. I’ll be there demonstrating both days with several pieces of campaign furniture in tow and my Dutch tool chest.
And Thomas Lie-Nielsen himself will be at this show. If you haven’t met Tom – one of the leaders of the hand-tool renaissance – this is your chance. I hope the Lie-Nielsen folks will be bringing along the new plow plane, too.
Other demonstrators are carver Mary May and Caleb James, a planemaker and chairmaker. Plus the always-capable Lie-Nielsen road crew, including Deneb Puchalski. Get full details on the event here.
And the reason my father won’t like this blog entry? He lives in downtown Charleston and would rather the streets remain as quiet as possible. Sorry dad.
A common question when I am on the road: “So when you aren’t woodworking, do have any other hobbies? Sports? Guns?”
Answer: “I enjoy woodworking, writing about woodworking, listening to loud music when woodworking, reading about woodworking, drinking a beer while talking about woodworking and cooking.”
So I am always the quietest person at a regular-person party.
I know I’m weird. But I feel less alone when students send me photos like the one above. Yup, after we finished up a brutal weekend class on building a Dutch tool chest at William Ng Woodworking School, Nathan went back to his Best Western to finish the job.
I did the same thing. On my day off I sneaked back into the school and finished detailing out the chest I built during the class. I had to go back to the school because my bed at the Extended Stay America was 38” high – too high to plane against.
We’ve had several confused and irate people contact us about why we are selling “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” on Amazon for crazy prices – more than $92 today. The Amazon page uses our photos and our description of the book.
That is not us. We do not sell through Amazon. Never will.
We have asked Amazon to take down our photos and description of the book, but I have little hope we’ll get a reply.
Our books are available only through our Lost Art Press store and a handful of independent woodworking companies. The complete list is here. These sellers will not gouge you.
