As the lads I’m writing for have made good progress in the last year, the next article I write for them is gonna be on something a bit more complicated than basic tools and joinery:
It’s an improved coping saw….more blade tension that in the commercial models….good enuf to cut dovetails with.
Also making a run of 8 to demonstrate some precision technique applicable to any multiple or furniture project.
I’m still playing with how light I can get them without risk of breakage, but the unfinished trial saw cuts two-pass dovetails in hard maple like butter and with enuf accuracy to clean up with 3 chisel strokes. Not too bad considering zero practice with a brand new design.
And the blade twangs to a nice high “Câ€.
Will finish the article and post the design when I get it all worked out.
Caulking mallets (accurate Drew replicas) will be later this winter when my blacksmith partner and I are freed up from summer projects and I finish negotiating the price of original “black” mesquite
“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think…that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ –John Ruskin.
Replies
another tool for us collectors to buy! send in a patent app right away
I was thinking maybe lucky poster #3 would be the winner of the new improved coping saw/fruit cake slicer.
CurlyHand Hewn Restorations Inc.
Restoring the past for the future.
Bob
Always like it when you post.
Realy like the look of that saw, you going to be offering them to the first two posters that post, of coarse at some nominal fee.
Doug
You know, when you post, I usually find myself thinking
who was that masked man?
But this time I'm thinking - hey, HOW MUCH, MAN????? Those are of the niceness.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
So, with my dial-up connection, it took the lifespan of three insects to download the photos. But now that I've seen it.... Hey! Great Idea! When can I order mine!
View ImageFinished the trial saw tonite with a light coat of boat soup…the one with the worst piece of wood and as light as I dare make it. Goes to a finish carpenter pal tomorrow at coffee …a gent doing trim the old-fashioned way in high-end homes…with instructions to use it hard and report back.We’ll see how it holds up. “When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.
Bump.
Anxiously awaiting the usage report...expecting it to match the tool's beauty.
Regards,
Tim Ruttan
Been almost a month now and the (now) two finish carpenters using them report no problems...seems durability and balance are fine.
The only glitch is teaching someone who just casually picks it up how to hold it....they want to grab the lower and upper near-side handles like Grandpa's buck saw.“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.
awesome work bob...
hopefully you won't mind me posting this link...
http://boatdesign.net/forums/search.php?searchid=100622
it is a link to the threads that Bob has STARTED on the boat design board
i think everyone would agree, if bob starts a thread, its not only quite a read, but well worth it.