“A Potpourri of Diospyros Insularis”… has to be one of the most interesting assembly of consonants and vowels I have ever strung together. I just love this job…
Last week we unleashed our three decade old accumulation of cocobolo shorts (I know, not the best syntax…) upon you, the DSN. (drivel starved nation). I am pleased to announce this material will all be gone tomorrow! How cool is that?
This is cooler…
Today, underneath a 300 pound flat of cocobolo trims, I unearthed a sealed box of Diospyros Insularis, aka; Macassar Ebony. These are child pieces from vacuum dried parent stock and honestly, I don’t remember what we made out of this material. The pic below is what five pounds looks like and is representative of what you will receive. Maybe we have 100 pounds of the stuff.
Details:
Five pounds.
$35
Freight included (USA ground only)
First come, first served.
sales@bridgecitytools.com
800-253-3332
This material is likely best suited for turned knobs or other small turnings. Then again, maybe you have a better idea. (No, this is not a bunch of end-checked worthless (s)crap. FYI.)
So, are you wondering what we are going to do with our new found warehouse space? The new BCTW video studio will call this space home.
There are too many windows to make the kind of videos I would like to make but it should work well for tool shoots.
–John
FROM MY 4TH GRADE REPORT CARD:
“John doesn’t seem to apply himself and when he does, he is almost always inappropriately amused by his misguided sense of humor.”
John – it’s nice that your 4th grade teacher had such insights into your inner workings. Perhaps it’s time for a visit, to show him/her how much you’ve achieved. You could bring a box of wood scraps as a thank-you gift.
I’m presuming the problem with the windows in the nascent BCTW video studio is not that they let too much light in. Probably more to do with the same things that would require you to soundproof the studio too? Fortunately tools are pretty quiet, and respond well to artificial light.
Cocobolo shorts sound really uncomfortable.
– Peter
P.S. Is the pencil in the picture to give a sense of scale? The ruler just wasn’t enough of a clue?
Peter;
Michael threw out the ruler.
I threw out the pencil.
Do the math.
Best–
John
Sold out (awesome): You should take another shot with just the pencil, the ruler, and some of the dust with drop shadows added 🙂
-Niels
John,
It appears that as an adult you’ve halved your 4th grade teacher’s comments. We only have to look at your long list of remarkable and ingenious tools to see that you now apply yourself behond belief and I only had to attend one of your classes to hear the jokes that prove the second part of the comment to still ring true!
Thanks for making all this wood available to us. Anyone care to guess what I’m going to be making this years Christmas gifts out of?
-Rutager
John, Sharon told me to tell you about what her first-grade teacher – Mrs. Lerner (get the irony?) – wrote in her report card. There were a bunch of statements on this pre-printed page – things like “Does work on time” and drivel like that. One of them was,
“Respects authority”.
Mrs. Lerner wrote, “NO!!!”
Really. With three (3) exclamation marks.
In first grade.
I saw it.
– Peter
P.S. She was right.
John,
Besides the excitment of having a bunch of boxes of cool wood showing up; the side benefit, is that it’s making me think about what I could make with it. Well, just a little while ago I bent down to pick up something by my bench and I ended up eye to “eye” with a HP-6 wooden fence that was on my bench. It got me thinking that a couple of the pieces should be large enough to make some custom fences, maybe at a different angle or width, or thickness. So my question is: Where can I order the small threaded brass inserts from, and are there any tricks to installing them?
Thanks, Rutager
Rutager;
Your shorts showed up? How often does this happen to you?
Do you really want to elaborate?
Oh, the inserts. How many do you want?
Is “free” a good answer?
That said, we are switching to maple for HP-6 fences–as an afterthought, the tool deserves better. Rosewood is for something really special.
And yes, “free” is still an option.
Best-
John
John,
I don’t have any shorts yet, I guess that means I’m going Cocobolo commando!
If possible, I think I could use up to a dozen of the inserts. I was thinking of making a 30/60 degree angle pair, and a couple different straight ones, and a few weird ones that I think may make for some cool applications if they work!
If you were to choose the fence material based on what the tool deserves, it would need to be made of gold, the HP-6 is one sweet tool! Like I told Fred, making moldings with a plane is hand tool nirvana!
Thanks for the inserts, Rutager
Ahh, the sweet smell of Cocobolo shorts…
(I am currently reveling in my newly arrived shorts.)
-Steve
I just received my shorts; very roomy, and comfortable!
Besides the obvious benefit of some very nice wood, there is the side benefit of anticipating what I might make with the various pieces. I’m very much enjoying sorting through the different pieces and imaging what they could be used for. I ended up with 5 long 3/4 inch square pieces that I think would look nice as spindles on the side of a small table or perhaps splats on a contemporary chair. I have several thick pieces that I will make into custom HP-6 fences, there are some very thin pieces that could be made into a box lid or an inner tray, and so on.
Here’s a tag line for next time: “You’re not buying a box of wood, your’re buying a box of dreams!”
-Rutager
It is nice to have options!
–John
Your 4th Grade Teacher was correct. ‘Potpourri’ refers to a combination of somewhat related but dissimilar objects, such as a bag of spices or the contents of the stuff behind your average workbench. While these mini-hunks of wood are of different sizes, they are all of the same species, hence the use of the term ‘potpourri’ stretches the application of the definition to it’s utmost. Possibly, a ‘flock of blocks’ would have been more appropriate.
John,
I like the idea of getting some of the inserts also. I can’t get myself to modify the rosewood ones. Of course I would be willing to compensate you for them (not trying to get something for nothing)I (also) could use a dozen or so – this would make 3 sets of custom guides. I also have to say that the more I use the HP-6 the more I love the little bugger. I haven’t used all of the profiles yet, but I buy every one of them! I like to dream up something and be able to just go get the sole that works. If YOU dream up some more of these gems you have a definite buyer! Just at thought, but what if you made up some square fences that could be ripped to the appropriate angle by the user? That would be cool – one rip and you are back in business!
Dennis
Dennis-thanks to the mooch known as Rutager, inserts on the way!
I am paying for them out of my 401K… FYI
-John
🙂
Geez,
With no 401K you will never be able to retire….I guess you will have to just keep making tools…..I’ll take 500 inserts in that case!
Thanks much!
I got my big box of wood yesterday – I didn’t open it yet – its on todays “must do” list. Fun.
Dennis
To: 4th grade John,
I just received my Ebony shorts and some of them had brown streaks!!!!!
To: Adult John and everyone else,
SORRY, SORRY, SORRY!
I just opened my box and it was filled(over filled, Michael!) with some very nice pieces. It should be fun to put them to use.
Thanks, Rutager
Hey Rutager,
You can get THREE more days out of those shorts…Don’t forget you can turn them inside out and backwards. I got my box today and it had pieces of wood in it….
DJ
Skid marks on your ebony shorts? Sounds like someone forgot to wipe them down…
– Peter
Now this is the Rutager we have all come to love…
By the way, care to elaborate on the meaning of Rut-a-ger?
XXXOOO
–John
I have to thank Rutager for ensuring that, from now until I die, every time I look at my ebony shorts (which arrived today, by the way), I will become slightly queasy.
-Steve
And unfortunately it doesn’t help if you call them “cutoffs” either.
– Peter
Hi,
Well, I guess I’m not the only one who enjoys the bathroom humor. I really hesitated to write it, but I couldn’t resist. I’m pretty sure that as a 42 year old I shouldn’t think potty talk is funny, I’m also pretty sure that a shrink would say it’s because of some incident that occured during potty training, but I think I would remember if there was anything strange about it since I just recently completed it.
John,
Rutager is a German name that is usually pronounced Root-a-ger, but I will answer to either, and I’m also quick to answer to “idiot”(and without offense!)
-Rutager
Rutager, it would have been so much easier if your parents had named you “Fred”, or something simple like that.
Oh – wait. We already have a Fred West. Bummer. Guess you’ll have to stick with Rutager.
Perhaps that’s the root of your potty-talk problems?
– Peter