Transparent wood anyone?

Here’s some interesting research on wood. Imagine working with transparent wood.

 

The new tools

Here are some of the set of Henry Taylor carving chisels I bought. In great condition except for the line of blue spray paint across all thirteen of them. I guess somebody thought colouring them would identify them easily in a group workshop environment? A more subtle blue dot might have been better. Still, it likely won’t take much effort to remove the paint.

 

From the piece of paper I found in the roll, it seems to have been a Lee Valley set, likely a Hayward (with a couple of inconsistencies) , or Bridgewater. Here is the Brown & Sharpe combination Square – a No. 4. In good condition, level intact, as is most of the Japanning, except where a previous owner scratched their name in.

Tools of the Trades, April 2016: show roundup

The show was busy this time, with a surge of people shortly after opening. The usual vendors were present, with a good collection of tools. The prominent item was vices of all sorts, including one vendor who was selling only vices (mostly machine-shop vices).

There was a good selection of Stanley and some Record planes, with the some more unusual wooden planes from Marples. One of the sellers had a nice selection of vintage Japanese saws, planes and hammers (with the appropriate hefty price tags).  There were also quite a lot of Eskilstuna Swedish chisel sets.

It’s a great place to find a starter set of woodworking tools, for a reasonable price. What did I buy? Not much it seems. I was looking for a basic carving set, and managed to find a Henry Taylor set of carving chisels (13 of them), for C$200 (likely 1/3 their actual cost). I also picked up a Brown and Sharpe combination square, something I have also wanted for a while. I likely have enough planes, chisels, and the like in my workshop. It’s the interesting things I’m looking for… the vintage bench stop, the really unique block plane (in good condition).