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“Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” – Douglas Adams
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We are ramping up our effort to divorce you from your tax return–here is our very first clue for the 2010 Commemorative Tool (yes, we are behind).
All of these components, most of which pictured above are “off the shelf”, help hold together what we believe may be our best Commemorative Tool. Ultimately, that is for others to decide, but right now, I do believe myself, without a doubt, for sure. You bet.
One thing is for certain–I hope–there is not enough information in this clue to begin the chorus of internet forum boos that is sure to come…if you thought last year was bad, hang on!
–John
John,
Judging from all the misc. hardware, my guess for the CT-18 is: a empty coffee can. Off course the hardware will need a good coat of rust before it is shipped.
Best,
Rutager
I’m guessing it’s a tiny little go-cart. The orange things are the wheels.
Close?
– Peter
Let’s count the total number of neurons between Rutager a Peter based on their guesses…first time I couldn’t count past two…anybody else get higher?
-John
A block plane!!!
“A block plane!!!”. ..
We are now up to a whopping 3 collective neurons.
If this wasn’t so much fun it would be painful. 🙂
-John
Pins and bushings galore! It has to pivot…maybe we should ask what toys you got for Christmas John. Last year you had the Helicopter to steal ideas from…
Pivot? Immediately add 100 neurons! AND, forevermore, you can address both Peter and Rutager in this Totally Awesome and Worthless blog approved greeting: “Who’s your Daddy?”
-John
Hmm. Does it involve a parallelogram?
Chris
Oh Yea….We bad…..
DJ
Negative to the parallelogram.
John
I don’t see what everyone is in the fog about.
It’s quite clear as to the intent of the parts above. 🙂
It’s an updated version of John’s wildly successful nutcracker from years past.
John,
Jokes on Peter; he spent all that time and money on school and he turned out just as dumb as me, a kindergarten drop-out.
Next guess: the hardware is all of the piercings of some urban hipster and the CT-18 is used to attach them to various body parts?
Now I got you thinking, probably be CT-19 if it isn’t 18.
Best,
Rutager
I cannot discount the nefarious mind that John has when putting these clues together, looking at the “CT-18” in the background to see if it looks like any of them could be parts of the next tool hidden in plain sight.
Something in the back of my mind screamed “ellipse jig”, I don’t have much information to back that up except for there being lots of pivots. Probably way off.
I’d love for it to be a gear-cutting jig but I don’t think John would limit that to be a CT tool run.
Of course it is an extended / adjustable sole bench plane where you can release the cam lock in the back (The tote) and pull the back of the sole that is sliding on the milled dovetailed tracks and wholla ! A jointer :0)
And the skeleton stainless body 17th CT’s style with a cocobolo tote and front mushroom. Pre order please.
Commemorative version of the JM-1:
-replaces the wooden guide blocks with a 2-axis, cam locked, pivoting guide head (so you can cut compound mitres).
recessed magnets inside the guide whose distance from the guide surface can be controlled with screws. This let’s user dial in their preferred about of magnet induced friction with the guide surface.
Think of it as a JMP you can put in your pocket (or use on large stock unsuited to the JMP)
That sounds CT worthy to me.
This is going to the be jig to cut wooden gears. Nuts, someone already guessed that.
Looks like we finally made it to the ripping machine. I just didn’t realize that it could cut curves aswell….
John,
I mis-read Galor’s post and though he meant the sole would raise up or down to get an offset like on a power jointer, instead he meant that the plane would stretch in length. Well anyways, it got me thinking about the jointer offset and since you’re the smartest guy I know, (best looking too, but I didn’t want this to get weird!) I thought you might be able to explain why on a power jointer the front table is lower than the back which is the same height as the cutter, but a hand plane’s sole is even and the blade projects?
Thanks,
Rutager
P.S. Cool idea Galor.
Ya, John. You were supposed to explain to me some time why a plane doesn’t work like a jointer, but then you drank too much wine, and never got around to it. If you happen to be sober, now would be a good time!
.
Okay – another guess. Let’s see. The screws clearly go into something, and the orange thingies look like bushings, so let’s go with … hmmm … … how ’bout a parallel square that mates with the AMPv-2 to give NASA-accurate parallel lines?
.
— Peter
Peter, it wasn’t wine. It was the margarita your wife tried to kill us with. You probably don’t remember….
The short answer is you cannot keep the blade engaged. The flush rear sole becomes problematic.
You cannot start a cut anywhere but at the end of the stock, and if there is a “bump” in the pass, the blade follows the rear sole–off the stock.
We built a mock-up of said plane here…and the only way to get it to work for longer than an inch or two was to protrude the blade past the rear sole….
If the rear table of a jointer is not set to top dead center of the cutter arc, it is almost immpossible to get a straight cut. Won’t work at all if it is too high, too low and your stock will rock.
Margarita would be great right now….
John
I would think the price for this year’s installment would be a little lower than last year’s, but the part count is already too high. So, with the pins, bushings, screws and such, my take would be a flexible sole plane (compass plane). That might be a touch of compass plane overload since Lie-Nielsen is planning one for their 30th anniversary, but stranger things have happened (have you been to one of John’s creativity classes?).
Mike Morris
I thought this was supposed to be a worthless blog! you know about 2,000 years ago (check the roman ruins artifacts) a hand plane was built and the design didn’t change substantially since then. Rutager had me going there for a second until you got my brain un-stuck again. I’m going to check my jointer blade tomorrow – I think it might be off slightly…
Have you ever read Moby Dick? Why is a sperm whale’s head filled with oil?
hmmm, ok.
a 2.30 am stab at it,,,,,,,,
It’s an arc measurement / tansfer device.
Bridge city has all sorts of tools for the measurement and transfer of angles, but seems to be lacking in the curve department.
This tool would address that.
well,
after reading thru the posts above I see this would be on the same shelf as the ellipse jig.
roger