Drivel Starved Nation!
Wow. It is really hard to believe that this office is closing at the end of the month. With that in mind, here is an update of our open projects;
1) The KM-2 Kerfmakers will start shipping at the end of next week.
2) The CSK countersinks are all turned, hardened and are at the tool grinder. They will ship this month.
3) The HP-6 soles are at anodizing and the irons are due in the last week of July. They will ship this month.
4) The Awls will go to anodizing the middle of next week. They will ship this month.
5) The HP-10 Cove/Core Kits, the soles are at anodizing, the irons will be shipped to us the last week of this month. We are working our best to get this to you at the end of the month. Latest will be the first week of August.
6) The UG-1 Universal Gages are all at anodizing. They will ship this month.
7) The Scraper Plane, all the parts are made with the exception of the sole, they go under the mill the first of next week. Hopefully this will ship this month, if not the first week of Aug.
8) Pencil Precision will ship in the 4th quarter out of our new LA office.
The Bridge City website will not be operational between August 1st-6th during the move period. If any of these jobs are going to bump into August, we have to collect the second payment no sooner than July 25. Otherwise we will have no way to collect the outstanding balance (this does not include Pencil Precision, we will collect that payment upon shipment). I hope this doesn’t happen but I just wanted to be upfront. It gets complicated because the new owners are using a new shopping cart on the site, and obviously a different bank. Anyay, I hope you understand.
Over the next 3 weeks we are putting the balance of the Tool Zoo up for sale on eBay. There is some cool stuff, and this one is fun story…
Back in the 1980’s we sold the plans to a craftsman’s tool chest. As you might know, plans always have mistakes. So I asked the team in our woodshop to build this chest and document the errors. The chest below is what they made and it is solid Indian rosewood. It has been sitting on the floor of our showroom for almost 30 years! It too will be on eBay in a week or so…
I hope this beautiful chest goes to a good home!
IT’S ANOTHER BLOG BLOW OUT SALE!
I cannot stand the thought of dumping some of our unfinished inventory at a metal recycling center. So I put together another “build-it yourself” tool kit. Below are three versions of a make-it-yourself marking gage kit, all use a 1/4″-28 thread to lock the head to the stem.
In all of these three versions, you design and make the marking gage head with a 3?8″ hole for the stem and a 1/4″-28 thread for the lock knob. Each kit is only $25. In version one below, this is an all brass kit, ;
This version has a rosewood locking knob;
And the last version has knobs you can infill with the wood of your choice (lathe required);
We don’t have a lot of these, maybe 20-40 of each. Should be a fun weekend project! Our version looked like this;
-John
John,
That MG-3 is one beautiful and functional tool; I just put mine through its paces a couple weeeks ago at Marc Adams in his joinery class.
A couple pieces of brass and a good looking chunk of wood and a person could build a similar looking one minus the micro adjust scale setting feature, speaking of, do these beams have scales, or are they just plan?
Rutager
John,
Item #1 on the production list- is that the KM-1 or did you mean KM-2?
Dang, you have been and will be busy!
Fixed! It’s indeed KM-2. Thanks for the eagle eye!
Drowning is what we are doing….
John
I have a couple of imperial beams, and a bunch of metric. If that is your choice, let Consuelo know, no extra charge!
John
Love the chest. Do you still sell the plans?
Unfortunately, no.
Sheesham is very pretty. Unfortunately, no one seems to sell it except as finished product.
I’ve been trying to get a sense of how the scraper plane works. I mean the concept is not complicated but I have to assume this is not just a Bridge City version of a Stanley 112. So what extra goodness (other than the obvious visual appeal) does the scraper plane have?
This is not meant as a criticism – just wondering.
While I am asking, how does the extra weight of the stainless version vs. the aluminum version impact use? I have to assume that at nearly 10″ long the stainless version will be hefty.
I’ve been trying to get a sense of how the scraper plane works. I mean the concept is not complicated but I have to assume this is not just a Bridge City version of a Stanley 112. So what extra goodness (other than the obvious visual appeal) does the scraper plane have?
We don’t do comparisons here, so to answer your question, you DO NOT need to spend what we are asking for a good scraper plane. My view is our tools are not for everybody, they exist to please me. And lucky me, others enjoy my design decisions.
As in any tool, mass dampens vibration, so that is the biggest advantage of the SS version. It is also a bit less prone to damage because it is harder than aluminum.
Scraper planes exist for solid wood problem areas and veneer work. You can adjust the iron to make dust or shavings depending on either the depth of cut or the pitch of the hook at the end of the iron. And obviously, they do not create tear-out, the exist to fix tear-out.
Hope this helps!
John
Thanks for your reply, John. I understand that I can get a “good” scraper plane out there and do have one. Just trying to get a sense of whether yours adjusts in a traditional way, something radically different (which you are known for), or has other goodies.
Works similar to all the others in the world. I played with an adjustor but nixed it because setting up a scraper plane with paper is easy.
John