Drivel Starved Nation,

As mentioned in a post several weeks ago, I’ve been in Dallas, TX for the past month on a non-health related family matter. Next Thursday, the 15th, I will be back in the shop.

While away, the countersinks arrived in Portland and I asked my daughter Ashley, and Consuelo to ship them. As of this writing, the majority of orders have been shipped with the exception of 24 or so where it looks like we are short a single countersink. I’ll deal with this when I get back on the 15th. I suspect it is a shipping error, but I don’t know. If we are short (which makes no sense to me at the moment) we will send a partial and remake what we need to remake. We will fill every order.

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Drivel Starved Nation;

This week, the new owner’s of Bridge City Tool Works are opening their doors to customers old and new in Montclair, CA.

My good friend, Jack Xu, is flying in from Nanjing, China, Consuelo is flying down with her new baby, and there are quite a few DSN members showing up for the free food. No surprise there. The new BCTW team will all be on hand for the meet and greet. You can read more about it here.

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Drivel Starved Nation,

Since I am going to be out of the office for the next six weeks on a personal family matter, I just made arrangements for my daughter Ashley to help with partial assembly of the Universal Gauges while I am away. The first assembled UG-1 is pictured below (this is what they look like BEFORE they go our laser house for etching); Continue reading →

Drivel Starved Nation;

It’s another Sunday in the shop for me–I like days like this because of the lack of phone calls and emails. Ten minutes ago, I just boxed up the last of the HP-14 Scraper Planes and there are two different sole treatments in this run. Here’s a pic;

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Drivel Starved Nation;

On a personal note, Mia Jo Economaki arrived in this world yesterday. She was born in Mexico City where my ex-pat son is working. This is grandchild #3 and the first girl. I am a lucky grandpa! Both Mom and baby are doing terrific. Continue reading →

Drivel Starved Nation!

After moving all the crap from the office into the shop, I’ve been swimming in garbage important stuff. It’s tough to navigate. Here is an update regarding our pre-order commitments; Continue reading →

Drivel Starved Nation;

As many of you know, I spent 10-12 years teaching summer classes at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. If you have never been there, it is literally in the middle of an Indiana corn field, and it is a true American business success story.

Success stories are invariably the result of motivated leadership and caring employees. I can attest, no instructor can possibly have a successful week at MASW without support from the incredible staff at MASW.

Zane Powell was an indispensable aid, and an incredibly knowledgeable woodworker who has been with Marc Adams from the very beginning. In fact, they graduated from high school together some 30 odd years ago. For those DSN members who have taken classes at this school, you know the critical role Zane filled to make your week as fun as possible. Here’s a recent pic;

What I don’t understand about life–and likely never will–is why bad luck disportionately finds good people. Two weeks ago, while at work, Zane complained of a stomach ache. He reluctantly went to the doctor to learn he had inoperable liver cancer. I just don’t get it.

I write to you today to find those who might be able to help lesson the medical expenses now facing the Powell family. There are two ways you can help. Marc’s wife Suzie, has set up a GoFundMe site which you can visit here.

Another way is a bit more work but maybe much better. You can send Zane a get well card here;

Marc Adams
Attn Zane Powell
5504 East, 500 North
Franklin, IN 46131

And if you are able to help financially, please include a check made out to Becky Powell, who is Zane’s wife. The Powell family will be forever grateful. This is the path I chose.

The only way to make a difference is to make a difference.

Thank you.

-John

Drivel Starved Nation!

Well, this week is the last week of the Portland office. For the past couple of weeks I have had teenage help around here but I miscalculated when school started, so this week I am flying solo. And since I was here by myself I haven’t been very productive. But the reason is not what your are thinking. Continue reading →

Drivel Starved Nation!

Your favorite Tool Potentate has been busy here. Here is an update regarding our pre-order commitments;

1) KM-2 Kerfmakers have all shipped. We have maybe a dozen or so unclaimed units so if you would like one, email consuelo@bridgecitytoolworks.com and she will figure out how to get one to you. Or you can email me john@bridgecitytools.com and we can do a Paypal transaction. (FYI, Consuelo is filling in a little from home. She stopped in last week and I got to see little Nathan… what a miracle–this thing called life…)

2) Scratch Awls pre-orders have all been filled. We had two people who ordered an awl that we did not have in the specified color. So we refunded the purchase price of that awl and I substituted another color at no charge. I have also received emails from customers who want to know if we have any left over, and the answer is “a few” as in 20 or so. Most are black (the most popular and safest color). If you are interested drop me an email and we can do a PayPal transaction. Here’s a pic of the SA3-v2 orders;

3) The countersinks are scheduled to be off the CNC grinders this week and the orange base is being lasered this week. I might be able to get some out the door later in the week but for sure next week.

4) The scraper plane soles and SS sides will be done with passivation this Friday. Assembly will take me a couple of weeks so for sure delivery in early Sept.

5) The HP-6 mixed bag of pre-orders will begin shipping this week.

6) There are still parts being milled for the Universal Tools but they will be done this week and head off to anodizing.

7) As mentioned several times earlier, Pencil Precision is scheduled for 4th quarter 2018.

We put a lot of tools up on eBay this week, so if you are looking for a tool you don’t need but want real bad, like in REAL BAD, it might be up for sale. This week’s eBay listing is the last of what what was in our showroom and back shelves, with one exception; sometime in the next 2-3 weeks, I am going to post on eBay a small army of HP-6 bodies and sole kit combos. After that, the Portland office of Bridge City Tool Works will be history.

Lastly, I have received so many really cool notes from customers sharing their history with BCTW. Thank you to all, we did have a great ride together.

Lastly again, I have also received a bunch of confirmations for the new Bridge City Tool Works Grand Opening on October 20th in Monctlair, CA. I am hoping that Consuelo’s baby is cleared to fly, and if so, I will send her and her family down for the festivities as well. Regardless, it should be really fun, hopefully you can make it!

If anything changes regarding the schedule, you will learn it here first!

-John

Drivel Starved Nation!

With the exception of 4 orders, we have filled all of the SA-1v2, SA-2v2 and SA-3v2 scratch awl pre-orders. You should all see updates to your tracking numbers late tonight or tomorrow.

The four orders we haven’t shipped will go out next week, a couple of our color counts were out of sync. It will take me a week to fix that.

Here are the updates on the last pre-orders.

HP-14 Scraper Plane: All part manufacturing is complete. I am waiting on the stainless steel soles to go through bead blast and passivation. I don’t have a definitive day when that will be done as of this writing.

Countersinks: All countersinks are made and are still at grinding. The stands are made and are at anodizing. I am hoping to get all of these out next week.

HP-6 Misc. Soles and Irons: I am still waiting for the scoring cutters for the rabbet kits. Should know more tomorrow.

UG-1 Gages; All parts will be finished late this week and then off to anodizing and laser. This might be tough to get out by months end, so the safe answer is the first two weeks of Sept.

There ya go! It’s intense here, especially with Consuelo at home with her new baby Nathan. Both are doing well.

-John