I did it again, here's the pic

[Dave Anderson NH]

Marking gage, awl, and marking knives

[Steve Clardy]

When are you going into production? Fantastic looking tools Dave. Steve

[Dave Anderson NH]

I make tools as a hobby and to get something I want on the cheap. I also do it when a tool style or type is unavailable commercially or fails to meet my standards or requirements. I usually make 2-6 of something just because it's almost as easy as making one. The extras usually go to family members, friends as presents, or to our guild for sale in our annual fundraising auction. I learned long ago about the hazards of burning out by making a hobby inot a business. Years ago I was a sea kayak importer and tour operator running trips and giving instruction in addition to my regular job. After 5 years my partner and I disolved a profitable business because it had become a burden to us and had almost completely killed the joy of the sport for us.

[Carl Eyman]

Great Work and I know what you mean about too much of a good thing. I don't understand it. If making one is fun, why shouldn't making 100 be 100 times as much fun?

[Marc Hills]

whether to be more impressed with your prolificness or your workmanship. Either way, those knives are just beautiful. Almost too nice to work with.

I have the much disparaged Crown Tools marking knife. I'm still getting into the habit of using it as opposed to a pencil, so I haven't encountered its limitations yet. I'm just starting to appreciate how using a knife can improve the accuracy of your work.

So you just drilled a hole in the handle, filled it with epoxy and inserted the knife blade? Is the shank rectangular in cross section, or did you mill it down to basically a cylinder?

[Dave Anderson NH]

The process was to drill a hole using a standard twist drill bit to .312" for the larger one and to .281" for the small one. Each of these dimensions is smaller than the the width of the O1 bar widths which were .375" and .312" respectively. Essentially I ground the shanks smaller so there would be a shoulder. The shanks were not rounded, but rather press fit after they had been filled partway with epoxy. Excess epoxy oozing out the top was wiped away with a cloth wetted with acetone. This is not an exact science, but rather a "looks about right" type of operation.

My basic raw material was a piece of rectangular bar stock 3/32" thick by 3/8" wide and 18" long. If I remember correctly it was only about $6-7 from MSC and will yield about 5 blades with shanks at 3 1/2" overall length. The exposed blade part is 1 1/4" long. Bevels are ground on an 80 grit alum oxide white wheel on my bench grinder and then cleaned up and sharpened after tempering and annealing.

[Marc Hills]

quote:

<This is not an exact science, but rather a "looks about right" type of operation.

Judging from your results, I'd say "looks about right" is a bit of an understatement.

As always, thanks for answering my question.

[Marc Hills]

In my last response, I was quoting Dave Anderson's line:

"This isn't an exact science, but rather a "looks about right" type of operation."

Cutting and pasting from MS Word somehow didn't show up in the final post.

You follow?

It was meant to be both funny and complimentary, in a wry sort of way.

At the time.

In the moment.

Get it?

Oh never mind, my comic timing was thrown off by a techical glitch.

[Pete Lamberty]

Hi Dave, I too, think these hand tools look great. Would you consider giving a set to Keith so he could give them away in the lottery of free stuff that he has every once in a while. Or another forum that I visit has an auction and the money earned goes to helping the forum pay its expenses. Maybe you could bring that up to Keith and do it here. Oh well, just a thought that you would have to talk to Keith about. Beautiful work Dave. Bye, Pete

[Robert Goodwin]

Dave,

Your work is an inspiration to me. I am new to hand tools, and love every minute of it. Yes I still use the tailed tools, but I am beginning to see how hand tools will improve the end result as well as the enjoyment of the journey. I am building my Neander style workbench, after acquiring a couple of hand tools and had no way to hold the work piece while I was working on it. I ended up taking a trip to the ER after jamming a chisel in my hand. Funny thing, that voice is my head said why are you holding the piece in you hand while pushing a chisel towards it. Live and learn. Anyway, I have been saving your pics so when I finish my workbench, I will be trying my hand at making a couple of tools. I sure could use them building my bench, but without a good bench … well you know.

Thanks for displaying your work

[Dave Anderson NH]

work safely without a bench. When I work aT Canterbury Shaker Village doing my demo during the Wood Days festival My bench consists of two saw horses with an old board and Z brace door set on top. A pair of two hand screw clamps is my vise. I'll try to post a picture tonite of the setup I used last year while doing the bowsaw making demo. It's kind of hard to describe, but it's dead clear when you see a photo.

Cheer up, it could have been worse. A friend of mine who used to be an EMT on the Boston City Hospital Ambulance Service years ago embarassed himself multiple times with a single incident attack of the "stupids". Considering the nasty neighborhoods they worked in, he went out and bought a top of the line kevlar bulletproof vest. He then proeded to take a knife and stab himself in the belly in front of his coworkers. ONE MAJOR PROBLEM-- he forgot to zip up the front of the vest. The one consolation was that he was in front of an audience fully qualified to treat him on the spot. John (last name withheld to protect the careless) took about two months for the 2" deep wound to heal and about 5 years for the incident to recede far enuf into people's memory that he wasn't constantly being razzed or pointed out to folks.

[Marc Hills]

Robert:

Funny you should mention your chisel injury. I did something very similar last year. I didn’t end up in the ER, but maybe that was only because of my own embarrassment. I probably could have used a stitch or two. I was paring the sides of a tenon and without a real bench, I just sort of found myself holding the piece in my hands, and, well, you know. Like you, I ignored that voice/funny feeling I got right before I launched that chisel into my finger. Looking at the scar, I'm still not sure how I avoided cutting a tendon.

Dave Anderson’s suggestion about the hand screws is a really good one. Trying to hold down work pieces with bar clamps is no fun! Looks like maybe I’ll be ordering from Penn State after all.

I too am building a neander style workbench, and my chisel injury figures heavily in my decision to do that. It’s slow going though. It’s kinda an Arts and Crafts inspired design. I’m doing everything with M&T joinery and man, those big tenons take a long time!

[Robert Goodwin]

I feel pretty lucky as well. I launched the chisel right through the webbing between my thumb and index finger. I had always taken great precaution with power tools, but I learned that hand tools let my guard down since there wasn't some screaming moter and spinning blades. Anyway, I am having fun working on my bench. I am a slow worker with a couple of young kids, but I can;t wait till it is done... I will post some progress pics soon.

Work Safe,
Rob