Shepherd Guys: A bench, you say?

[Matthew Springer]

Shepherd Guys,
I was reading you February newsletter. The item which caught my eye was the bench anouncement. Can I volunteer to possibly be a guinea pig?
Much as it pains me to buy rather than build, the lack of space compels me to abandon my wildest holdenbank dreams for more modest benchley ambitions. Perhaps someday, but today is not that day. Hopefully, a larger garage will be arriving within the next couple months.

Details?

-Matthew

[Louis Bois]

Matthew,

You can at least partially fulfill your dream as they seem to be talking about a bench "kit" as well...which would mean some work on your part...as well as a reduced price from a fully assembled model. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about in the very near future...

[Louis Bois]

addendum...

I spoke with Doug at Shepherd tools today and he filled me in on some of the design aspects of the "mystery bench". The design isn't complete yet, but my understanding is that it will be a modular design, marrying traditional details, such as 2 1/2" wooden screws (front and tail vises) with removable center tray to accommodate certain modern power tools. It will be offered in kit form and probably available as a complete unit as well. It will also feature an undercarriage capable of be retrofitted with drawers...this is my interpretation of his description...and sounds like it will have many optional add-ons. I think he also mentioned a sliding board jack as a standard item. Sounds quite interesting. I'll keep you posted as I learn more...

[Jerry Crawford]

"perk :eek: "

Shepard tools? Canada? new bench desing? newsletter?

can someone tell me what this is about? New knowledge is good knowledge ;)

[Doug Evans]

Hi Folks:

Let me begin by saying, there is a great deal of new things going on at Shepherd. I say this because it impacts all of the things that are being talked about here.

First off to Jerry: We are a maker of Hand Tools and kits to build Hand tools. To date, we have been primarily dovetailed infill plane kit makers. We are at:

http://www.shepherdtool.com

We have recently (two days ago) secured funding to make some siginificant changes to the company. For example, we will be moving to a new, larger facility in Fergus, Ontario; we will be installing a lot of new equipment (most significantly, a CNC Router); we will be re-building a substantial current parts inventory and more importantly; installing fixtures and methods to facilitate a better on-time delivery performance. In addition, we will be travelling to the west coast of the USA stating in San Diego on March 29 and we have arranged a number of speaking events all the way to Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. This trip was moved ahead on the agenda due to some fortunate circumstances.

How does this impact the bench project?
Clearly, our first priority is to purchase the inventory, ship all current items, install the new equipment, and re-develop process methods for our current componentry for the CNC Router. We also need to prepare for the trip at the end of March. The Bench is largely designed and we would like to run some test samples before March. At this point, we are not sure what the break-point is between this bench being a kit or merely slightly more more than the work one must do with current offerings on the market. The bench is traditional in style with the tool tray in the rear, shoulder vises etc. We would like to bundle as many components/attachments with the bench as possible and have researched many of the references that you would (Landis et al). We are intending to offer this product through Retail and so the price is going to be definitely north of $500 (if that helps any decision making process). When will it launch? Early summer is my guess. BTW, if you folks have any ideason ideas you would like to have incorporated, please get in touch with me - I am all ears...

As some may recall, we teased with the idea of Hollows and Rounds back in the fall and then it seemed to drop off. It was just after that that our new financing opportunity came about and it made sense that we should do our develop work in-house rather than spend $60 to $100 an hour to do so.

C'est tout!

Doug Evans
Pres., Shepherd Tool

[Jerry Crawford]

Well, thank you Doug for that very informative letter. I'm going to crusie your web site and see what's up. I've been trying to get a couple plane designs out of my imagination and off my sketch pad into the round so maybe I'll kick some ideas around with you.

[Steve Evans]

Doug

So that explains why you're never in the shop when I drop by. Sounds like your plate is full.

Steve

[Jerry Crawford]

Doug - I just sent you an email uisng the link on you web site and it got kicked out undeliverable. How about droping me a PM so we can have an exchange

[Doug Evans]

er playing hockey with my son. We had a cold snap which allowed them to put in ice at the park. Then today it was beautiful out... so we put on our LEAF BLUE and WHITES (that should provoke some sort of response from Robin Lee - What a relief it should be up in the nation's capital ... with no hockey season this year there is no reason to get their shorts in a twist... no need to make excuses... ackk...cough ... sputter... sorry, had a little bit of a CHOKE there... ahhh it's passed...) and played the game of our lives until Dad could go no more. Funny how eight year olds think you're invincible.

I will go in and fix the re-route on the email... in the meantime try:

devans16@cogeco.ca

Cheers,

Doug

[Matthew Dworman]

we teased with the idea of Hollows and Rounds back in the fall and then it seemed to drop off.
I hope you guys continue with that (or if not maybe sell me some of the prototypes!)
I was really looking forward to that one.
Matt

[Doug Evans]

Hi Mathew:

We now have close to fifty New Product Ideas which are at some stage of development (to the extent that I have started to database New Product Ideas).

For 2005, we identified six (which increased to seven with the bench) projects which we would concentrate on - the Hollows and Rounds are definitely in that group. I would say summer time...

No doubt we will pull a few other projects forward during the year however, our priorities will be on these projects.

Cheers,

Doug

[Jerry Crawford]

Sorry to dredge up this old string gentlemen, but has anyone heard from Douge Evans lately? I sent him a note a few weeks ago inquiring as to the state of things regarding his bench but have never heard back from him or the company. I've been off the Neander-line for several weeks recovering from foot surgery so I may have missed the recent info, if any. Just curious what's up?

[Louis Bois]

Sorry to dredge up this old string gentlemen, but has anyone heard from Douge Evans lately? I sent him a note a few weeks ago inquiring as to the state of things regarding his bench but have never heard back from him or the company. I've been off the Neander-line for several weeks recovering from foot surgery so I may have missed the recent info, if any. Just curious what's up?

Jerry,

They were out of town from the end of March until last week promoting their wares. They also moved shop from Cambridge to Fergus. They should be back in business by next week...er...they're still in business...I just mean they'll be operating out of their new home.

[Tim Leo]

Those boys need to hire someone to provide customer service. I'll bet that they would have more sales if people could contact them.

[Rob Lee]

(snip)... so we put on our LEAF BLUE and WHITES (that should provoke some sort of response from Robin Lee - (snip)

...Will not.

;)

[Doug Evans]

Hi Guys:

Sorry for my tardiness. We have been away on the Wet Coast (and Saratoga and Rochester) doing presentations, doing build sessions and selling lots of planes. And yeah... we spent a couple of well-deserved days drift fishing on the Rogue River at Grant's pass along the way... We got back on Sunday this week.

In any event, we have this NEW device at our NEW shop called a phone (even with a Toll-Free number). In fact, as soon as we can find the time to get a newsetter up, we will annouce all of this stuff in typical Shepherd fashion.

The day prior to leaving, I managed to get early access to our new shop so we could receive our new CNC Router in (see picture below). We have also added a number of other weapons to our arsenal in order to allow greater throughput and improve delivery performance.

At the same time we are moving our shop from Cambridge, Ontario to a larger facility at Fergus, Ontario (about 45 minutes away).

I have been, and will continue to paint, move equipment, and build shells throughout this week, while learning and loading programs on the router at nights. Ben is building finished planes down in Cambridge for the remainder of the week.

We should be all moved in by Monday.

Cheers,

Doug

[Doug Evans]

To address the new product development questions:

A few months back, we started work on Hollows and Rounds and a new Bench design and then it all seemed to drop off...

Here's the skinny: Why would you pay $60 an hour to prototype on someone else's machine if you know you are going to have the machine in your shop in a couple of months?

The problem was; two months became five but, we are there now.

In actual fact, back in November we had a backlog of thirty eight new product design ideas that we had databased (most of which had at least design sketches) and by February this number had reached fifty two!

For the next month or so though, we will concentrate on developing existing product sets on our new equipment and a new Delivery Performance System.

The bench is in the forefront of our development projects. We intend to modify our CNC Router in a few ways to make this possible. There is much more involved in making this a success than initially meets the eye. Materials, shipping, whether to retail or not, are all key factors. We are considering upscaling the design a bit (or creating a progression). How much of it will be kit (this is a 200-350 hour project for most - How much to take away?)?

The Hollows and Rounds are almost done and I would expect July or so - I am working on irons and grinding right now (unless you guys want to do that by hand...).

That's what I know for now. I am hopping in the car and heading for Cambridge... so dont call now!

Cheers,

Doug

[Alan Turner]

Doug,
Just curious -- are you saying that building a joiner's bench is a 250-300 hour project, and you can time reduce this with a kit? I am just building a pair of benches, but have not logged the time, so can't comment on your time estimate, but found it to be of interest, if I am correctly understanding.

[Doug Evans]

Hi Allan:

I once built a bench from plans by Woodsmith with an internal sliding dog block. I estimated that it took me 175 hours for a relatively straight-forward project. I have talked to a lot of guys that have 250 hours in and they still arent done.

I am trying to come up with a design employing double dovetails, etc. so how much time is a ?

Cheers,

Doug

[Jerry Crawford]

Hi Doug & thanks for the update. I hope you have my mail address so I can stay up on the development.

Jerry

[Michael Perata]

I was amazed at how they got the hard hat diver to walk on water - musta been a light weight suit. :D

[Doug Evans]

We met up with Fred Damson of Japan Woodworker while coming back from College of the Redwoods and then Mr. Fish at the Grant's Pass Build Session.

[Doug Evans]

we met up with Chris Laarman who is one of the most artistic tool makers I know.

[Doug Evans]

we met up with this Steve Knight fella...

and then later in the afternoon we stopped in to meet John Economaki at Bridge City.

All in all a great trip with my Buddy Ben.

Doug

[Doug Evans]

Hi Matt:

Here is the new toll-free number, if you want to get in touch:

1-866-557-5512

We should be all moved in by Saturday.

Cheers,

Doug

[Michael Gibbons]

How far from Sarnia is Fergus?

[Doug Evans]

Hi Michael:

I would expect about four hours total. If you want to email me direct, Doug@shepherdtool.com I can give directions. There's another guy from Cambridge that wants to build too.

Cheers,

Doug

[Doug Evans]

Quite literally!

Despite my protestations, ole Ben declared himself Webmaster late last week by acclamation. The guy's been making broad-sweeping changes for about four days now and his latest effort has been to incorporate the "new look" into the site and put in a formal "feedback" page.

I kept asking if he could do this and that and the next thing you know he has the plane-building video clips up.

Just wait - the next newsletter is going to be in video format.

So, if you have problems getting ahold of us - drop a line on the feedback.

Cheers,

Doug