I'll not quarrel with Din's list, nor with Tim on the source of hand tools,
but will make a couple of comments of my own.
I live about five minutes from the Englishtown (NJ) Auction - it is not an
auction but a flea market that covers a number of acres on the weekends.
Some things sold there have "fallen off a truck", others are pure schlock -
but many of the vendors have collected the "junk" from various garages and
yard sales. You can find old Stanley planes, fine chisels, and various other
hand tools in bad cosmetic condition. If you know what you are looking for
you can get quite a bargain. My classic Stanley hand drill was listed at 8
bucks on the tag, but when I held it up and said "how much" the guy said $6.
The shaft is true, and I cleaned it up - it is far better than the plastic
ones they sell now for $15, and a lot cheaper than the Lee Valley or
Woodcraft reproductions that are narly $50.
The band saw is indispensible. Mine is a 10" Craftsman that I got on sale -
the key to this model is that it has a depth of cut of 4 5/8" (where most
10" saws are closer to 4") - that gives plenty of room for resawing ribs
from stock. It also has "roller" guides standard. My cost for that saw was
$110.
I confess that some of my planes are often on the coffee table, but Tim is
right - that is when I'm too lazy to put them back in the shop (I do a lot
of my work in my lap in my favorite armchair in front of the TV with a
Molson's Golden at my side).
I have spent some money on planes - I like the Lee Valley (Veritas) planes.
They aren't cheap, but a bit cheaper than Lie-Nielson. I have an LV low
angle block, an LV standard block, and an LV wide body low angle smoother. I
also like their low angle spokeshave.
Din said one thing that I thought was my own. I believe it was the late
Duchess of Windsor who said "you can never be too rich or too thin". My
paraphrase has always been "you can never have too many clamps". I have C
clamps (I think that is what Brits call G clamps), I have plastic pinch
clamps of all sizes, I have old fashioned wood clamps, I have long and short
"sliding" clamps. Din seems to agree.
Irons, or blades, must be sharp. After trying various things I blew my
budget on a Jet low speed 10" water wheel (the equivalent of the Tormek, but
a few bucks cheaper). I use both waterstones and ceramic stones for my
edges - and agree on the Veritas Mk II for plane irons, the ability to
duplicate the angle is superb. But even on my "flat" blades I hollow grind
on the 10" wheel. I do woodturning, and the infamous skew chisel is supposed
to have a flat blade. But to paraphrase a recent President "that depends on
the meaning of flat". If one takes a shallow hollow on a large wheel then
one can create the "flat" by honing the blade and the shoulder in line with
hand stones. It reduces the amount of material one has to remove to preserve
both the edge and the shoulder - a bit of extra work to start, but makes it
easier to maintain.
The drill press is not necessary, but I do other work and so am glad to have
it for drilling. And it also provides a platform for the Luthier's Friend,
and the Wagner Saf-T-Plane. I'm not a great fan of the Luthier's Friend,
given the other things I have. But I got it early in my making of the shop,
I was one of (mental block on the name, and I'm not going to look in my
files at the moment)'s first customers. We exchanged pleasant emails at the
time. Nothing wrong with it, a good design, but a jig I could have made
easily. The $35 Wagner Saf-T-Plane is an efficient planer, and with care can
leave a decent surface. It works off a drill press, but you need to make a
table jig (a fence and a melamine surface bolted to the DP).
A Dremel tool, with the Router attachment. Remove the fence from the
attachment and make a triangular jig to replace it and you can make a fine
rabbet around a curved surface to set a "rim" inlay.
I hate my combination 6" disk/ 1" belt sander. It is noisy and takes a lot
of material off quickly. But I use it, very carefully.
Unless you want to make your own pegs you don't need a lathe, but I love
working with the lathe so I'll speak of it. I have a Delta Midi, which has a
swing of 10" and a length of 14 1/2". I'd like to replace it with a Penn
State Industries variable speed - or one of the several new midi's with a
bit better length and swing for the same price. But I have no excuse to do
it - the Delta works beautifully, and I've not tried to make a bowl even
approaching the 10" swing yet. Just the usual woodworker's desire for a bit
more. I do make my own pegs. Penn State Industries does have a conversion
motor for about $100 with variable speed (the Delta, and others, vary the
speed by shifting the belt, the variable does it with the motor).
There are other machines in the shop, but not relevant to this discussion.
I'm awaiting an Indian made plow plane from Highland, I don't know why I
ordered it except that it was half the price of the Lee Valley one, and
twice the price of the rosewood one from Japan Woodworking. Actually I know
what I'm going to do with it - but that gets back to making harps and
psalteries. It is too easy to make a mistake making the recess for the
soundboard, and for the sides and back, with a router. I'd rather work and
fit, work and fit.
Enough for tonight, pardon the length of the message - but you should be
used to Murph Says by now.
Best, Jon
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 9:19 AM
Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Re: Lute construction
Hi Dana,
You can find nice planes in
"antique" stores for about $25 or $30
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
on long island the price is much higher in any antique store, and most of
em would require serious work to be capable of making dust (rather than
gathering it). Seems the interior decorators in these parts like old
tools for atmosphere.
Dana,
I think hand tools become decorator items when the decorators' clients no
longer use tools. I live in an industrial city where people use tools
every day, so having one on your coffee table would just look like you
were too lazy to put it back in the workshop. People here would think it
was a little weird. I know of one guy whose last name is Stanley who has
an antique Stanley plane on his mantle, but that's sort of a special case.
I would have no trouble picking up a half-dozen old planes in decent
condition for the prices I mentioned. When I refer to antique stores, by
the way, I'm talking about glorified flea markets where you can find
everything from your parents travel souvenirs to cookware from 30 years
ago. I'm in the Midwest, where anything more than 50 years old seems to
be considered an antique. We don't have much in the way of real antiques
around here.
Tim
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