Drivel Starved Nation;
I have experienced several crazy and memorable years here at the helm of Bridge City Tool Works, but this year tops them all. After 35 years, I have found a part of life that is way more fun than tool making, and that is being a Grandpa. It is just the coolest thing.
Before I embark on my holiday break, here is the update of all of the open pre-orders since August I have filled;
1) KM-2 Kerfmakers have all shipped.
2) Scratch Awls pre-orders have all shipped.
3) The HP-10 Cove/Core Kits have all shipped.
4) The HP-6 mixed bag of pre-orders have all shipped.
5) HP-14 Scraper Planes have all shipped.
6) The countersinks have all shipped except for the following 4 customers;
J. Sc
A. Wa
K. Wu
R. Ne
Two weeks ago, I begged a new supplier to make the small 82 degree countersinks because we ultimately were short 4 pieces to fill all of our orders. I have since learned that the shortage was caused by the grinder, they ground about 50 82-degree blanks at 90-degrees. UGH! I had to order 100, but these four customers will have their order filled in Jan.
7) The Universal Tools are now all at the laser house. They are closed until Jan 2, but we are scheduled for the first week or so in January. Right now I am forecasting January delivery. It is actually a small miracle that I managed to get these all together, as I have really been impeded with my arthritic right hand. And speaking of arthritis, THANK YOU to all DSN members who shared their coping skills with the same annoying condition, it was much appreciated!
8) Pencil Precision was scheduled for 4th quarter 2018. I am now moving this to Q1 2019.
Considering I was in Texas for six weeks, this is a remarkable amount of work. After I post this blog entry, I’m will not be back in the shop until Jan 2nd.
Lastly, I want to thank you, and all of the BCTW faithful for helping make my transition into private life an accepted reality. I am still going to be designing cools stuff for the next two years so I am not dead yet.
Happy Holidays everybody and I am proposing a virtual toast to a healthy and productive 2019!
-Still Your Favorite Tool Potentate
dude,
happy, healthy and productive to you and yours as well
Thanks!
Back to work, slacker!
Now we are talking!
Back at ya!
John, I have a request as you transfer Bridge City to new owners. Would you please consider posting PDFs of the tool manuals to the Bridge City web-site? It’s easy to lose them and the paper will wear out long before the tools do. I suppose I could scan the ones I received with the tools, but I’m guessing you probably have soft-copies of all of the recent manuals that could easily be exported to PDFs which would be much higher quality. Similarly, it would be very helpful if you could make the video files of certain tools like the sliding dovetail system available for download. With a bit of work I can download it from YouTube, but they sure don’t make it easy.
I’ll put in the request as they are building a brand new website.
John
Congrats on “grandpa-dom” and here’s to a healthy, happy new year! My wife and I had our first born earlier this year and as excited as we both are I think our parents are enjoying it even more.
I have a completely random question for you. I purchased a JS7 and JS8 japanese saws from you years ago. I love them but have started using them less and less because I know the blade life is nearing the end and I realize blades aren’t available any longer from BCT. I’m assuming you guys worked with one of the major japanese manufactures for these. Do you have any idea where I could come by replacement blades?
Thank you!!
Congrats Dad (Mom too)!
I may have spare blades, I just need to unearth them.
Contact me direct; john@bridgecitytools.com so I can get back to you directly.
I think your parents are so excited to be grandparents so they can observe you experience the good and the BAD of parenting! That’s my theory anyway…
John