Author: John

Bridge City Updates and News…

July, 29th, 2014

When men get together they insult each other but don't really mean it. When women get together they compliment each other but don't really mean it either.— Unknown

Drivel Starve Nation;

Guilty I am for ignoring this totally awesome and worthless blog for so long. All I can say is I have been busy.

Here is a production update for the end of July;

CT-18: 95% of the orders on record have been filled. This tool came out absolutely fantastic. It was an ordeal as you all know, but the results are stunning. It is the first Bridge City tool that my wife said; “This is going on display in our living room!” I will fill you in later on all the headaches. By the way, if you would like one of these get on our wait list because as soon as we fill the wait list orders, if there are any remaining, the price will bump up to $2700. Everybody who got one got a great deal or made a great investment.

JMPv2 Jointmaker Pro, Stands, Precision Fence and Accessories: While metric versions will ship in mid-August, the rest are boxed and will be out of our warehouse within the next 7-14 business days.

Table Saw Sled Kits:: All components are in house, and will ship in the middle of August.

SP-26 Sliding Parallel: All orders have been filled and we have a small inventory. As you know, I despise inventory. As of this writing, it looks like we will make these every 24-36 months.

HP6v2 Tapered Sliding Dovetail Kits: All orders have been filled and I believe there are a couple available on our website.

HP6 FX Body:, Profiles (Tongue and 60 Degree V Groove) and Accessories: The stainless version is completed and there are a few left available to purchase here. If you are still waiting it is because one of our suppliers for the HP-6v2 Fence System tapped the wrong size hole in the brass locking knobs. Replacements will be here within the next two week and they will ship immediately as all the other parts are in our warehouse.

TS1v2: We are looking at an end of September ship date at this time.

HP11FW: This is a limited edition of 50, tapered shoulder plane that is not on our website yet, but will be shortly. It looks like delivery will occur sometime in October.

Tools in for Repair: We are seriously behind. I am training young lad Adam Thompson to do repairs and it is slow going for a number of reasons, not the least of which some of these tools are three decades old. In addition, we receive some tools that are not repairable and they will be returned. We should be caught up by the end of September.

Last week, Rutager West, the Bridge City customer expert on the DJ-1 & 2 Drilling Jigs and the JMP came to Portland for a week of slave labor. He primarily assembled Jointmaker Pro Precision Fences. We enjoyed his visit and contribution during a hectic week. When he left he commented that he is “keeping his day job.”

Tomorrow I leave for the 2014 International Emma Lake Collaboration. Every two years, 100 artists/craftspeople from around the world are invited to spend a week together to collaborate/share/invigorate with each other. No cell service, no wireless, no internet. The location is approximately 2-1/2 hours north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I am really honored to have been invited and I am taking my camera so I can share this experience with you.

Lastly, for those of you who missed the opening of Quality is Contagious last year in Portland it is traveling to the Bellevue Art Museum. In looking at this schedule this might be trip worth considering towards the end of October. Seattle is always a fun place but opening several weeks after Quality is Contagious is; BAM Biennial 2014: Knock on Wood, also at the Bellevue Art Museum. And for those of you on the east coast, efforts are underway for Quality is Contagious to visit Boston in 2015.

I will be back after August 8!

–John

Bridge City Updates and News

First Pics of the CT-18 Dual Angle Smoothing Plane…

June, 6th, 2014

"You'll never find a better sparring partner than adversity." — Golda Meir

Drivel Starved Nation; It’s Friday and I am about to take the afternoon off to meet some old friends. But, I thought you might like to see the first pics of the CT-18 Dual Angle Smoothing plane…

We still have about 4-5 weeks of work before we ship. All the bodies get their soles ground beginning next week, and this is slow, each has to be put into a special fixture. Stainless steel does not like heat so in order to flatten the soles, the grinder is set to cut 0.0002″ per pass. That’s two ten thousands of an inch.

The irons are all out being sharpened and the scrub irons have yet to arrive, but beginning next week, we will start assembly of the bodies as they trickle in from the grinding house.

Oh, all of the aluminum TB-2v2’s are done and are being shipped starting Monday. And so are the stainless versions. These are crummy cell phone pics, but you get the idea;

photo
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New Habits Sometimes Are not Good Habits…

May, 21st, 2014

Drivel Starved Nation!

I just returned from my annual teaching gig at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking – two solid weeks on the Jointmaker Pro. Week one students built their version of my “Fog of War”. Week two you ask? Well… I will share the intimate details in July when I receive pics of what everybody started. I also informed Marc that I will not return as I am hanging up my teaching hat for good. Moving forward, if I feel I have anything to contribute to the community I will post here in the totally awesome and worthless blog.

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Bridge City Updates…

March, 19th, 2014

Drivel Starved Nation!

Lots of stuff to report!

First, my blog has been silenced for almost 3 months because I had some work done to it, and it started acting screwy. So I moved on to some other, more pressing activities, although we all know there is nothing more important than the DSN! I think it is fixed now. (Fingers crossed)

Right about Xmas, Michael Berg, who has been running this place for the past nine years took a new position at another PDX company. That left me a long week to find a replacement prior to my annual work retreat. In addition, I had scheduled a mini-sabbatical for the month of February – so I decided to wait until I returned. As soon as I find a replacement, you will know too! And, we wish Michael the best in his new endeavors.

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Tapered Sliding Dovetails: Setting and Sharpening the Irons…

January, 9th, 2014

Drivel Starved Nation-

As mentioned earlier, we are short-staffed here until sometime in March due to my travel schedule. Tomorrow I leave for my annual work retreat and I have so many ideas to persue…can’t wait to get started!

First, we are shipping the final 25% of the TS-2v2 Try Squares and here are a couple of answers to the most asked questions;

1) The inserts (either orange or black) float in the handle, they wiggle by design. Besides the cool decorative element, they serve as a flange to help in dis-assembly.

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Tapered Sliding Dovetail by Hand Video and other News…

December, 24th, 2013

“People forget how fast you did a job – but they remember how well you did it.” — Howard Newton

Drivel Starved Nation!

I know all of you out there in DSN land are wondering, why has John’s Blog been one big void for the past six weeks?

Well, I had a doctor’s appointment and it has taken me this long to chew through the leather straps… Actually, we did a little blog makeover and it took longer than we thought.

Bridge City News Dept.:
Michael Berg, who has basically been running this place for the past nine years has moved on. We wish him well. Because of my travel schedule in early 2014, I will not be seeking a replacement until March. Until then you are stuck with me for production updates.

Production Update Dept.:
I will see the first milled body of the CT-18 Plane within the next week or so. What a complex process.

We have begun shipping the TS-2v2 in both aluminum and stainless. The metric versions will ship last. I anticipate all will be shipped no later than the first week of Jan.

The FC-1v2 Flushing Chisels will also ship in Jan.

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BCTW Tapered Sliding Dovetails: Step-by-Step Pictorial

October, 11th, 2013

"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."— Marthe Troly-Curtin

Drivel Starved Nation;

Our Skunk Lab is full of tool parts that are being boxed and will soon be on their way to our fulfillment facility. Soon, you will be able to make sliding dovetails completely by hand. Bunch of other stuff too!

I spent last week and four days this week putting our HP-6 Tapered Sliding Dovetail Kit through its paces. The results are stunning – the image below is 3/4″ thick Ash and the joint is 7″ long.

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How to Build the Economaki Nutcracker …

September, 18th, 2013

Normal perception depends on ignoring, but the appreciation of beauty and the creation, so called, of art, depends not on ignoring. It depends on looking, and the more you look, the more you see. What you see, in anything beautiful, is not only all the features of it but also the visible relations between them. — David Pye

The nutcracker pictured below is currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. I designed it in the winter of 1975 and made several to give away as holiday gifts – we had no money to buy anything. In 1977 it was photographed by Joe Felzman and was ultimately acquired by the Renwick Gallery in Washington DC. I have made several hundred over the decades and it is a fun project. Since the holidays are quickly approaching, I thought it would be fun to take you through this project so you can make it yourself.

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“The Force” Behind the Jointmaker Pro!

September, 16th, 2013

Conformity Breeds Mediocrity — Unknown

This weekend Michael and I attended Maker Faire in Portland. What a blast that thing is. I am going to the big Kahuna next year in San Francisco, it is that cool. I think it should be a DSN field trip of epic proportions. And I can tell you this, this was way more fun than any woodworking show I have ever attended. Virtually every single booth had something in it that was of interest to me. Way cool.
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