Great new project from Lee Valley

[dow]

Man, they think up the greatest projects!  Too bad I didn't know about this earlier.  I could have taken are of all my Christmas gifts!

Lee Valley Project

[iclark]

Man, they think up the greatest projects!  Too bad I didn't know about this earlier.  I could have taken are of all my Christmas gifts!

Lee Valley Project

"using only Lee Valley miniature tools" was an untrue statement.
 

Unless, of course, that mallet is the miniature of one that they list on their site.

Come the end of March, they could add a bit at the end explaining that that WAS the miniature version of a new Veritas mallet and show that miniature that they used next to the full-sized tool. (which would be HUUUGHH!)

The full-sized mallet would, of course, be made with their specially treated hard wood head with a lacewood handle. The head would probably weigh ~10kg.

I really missed not having the annual LV new tool announcement at the beginning of April.

[Aram]

Man, they think up the greatest projects!  Too bad I didn't know about this earlier.  I could have taken are of all my Christmas gifts!

Lee Valley Project

Best one so far!

[dow]

"using only Lee Valley miniature tools" was an untrue statement.
 

Unless, of course, that mallet is the miniature of one that they list on their site.

Well, sometimes you just need a bigger mallet.

By the way, have you seen the one about the guy who's an artisanal pencil sharpener? It's a riot.

[Bill_Houghton]

When my brother took shop class, he planed a board down until all he had left was a toothpick.  Then he realized he shouldn't have used redwood for it, since it's easily split.

[Bob10]

When my brother took shop class, he planed a board down until all he had left was a toothpick.  Then he realized he shouldn't have used redwood for it, since it's easily split.

Funny you say that about Redwood.  I was working with a guy from Ireland this week and we were cutting down some of the waste redwood and I had cut halfway through a large piece when I got kickback on the worm drive so I told him throw it on the ground to finish it he looked at me like I was crazy.  After throwing at the ground and watching become 2 pieces he turns and says "I thought redwood was supposed to be great for outdoor use.  I said it holds up to the weather but not to abuse or weight.  We got through the rest of it pretty quick yet he was still shaking his head about how brittle redwood is.  I was a bit surprised as we had just build something almost entirely out of PT he must have thought it was because of the cost of the lumber.

[Bill_Houghton]

...yet he was still shaking his head about how brittle redwood is.

Northwest of us, up in southern Mendocino County (north of San Francisco), is a state park where we camp regularly.  The "big town" (not incorporated, but treated as a town) near us, population at last census 1,035 people, has a little museum staffed by volunteers.  We were visiting it once, and the docent working had grown up there, before wandering the world and then retiring back home.  He described wandering the woods as a kid.  If they found a ravine with something interesting on the far side, they'd fell a tree to make a bridge, and they learned quickly to choose a Douglas fir, which could fall across the ravine and stay intact.  When a redwood felled that way hit the ground, it would snap in the unsupported section over the ravine.

In spite of that, lots of the early houses built in this area are framed with redwood and still standing after 100 and more years (ours is 125 years old) and multiple earthquakes, including the 1906 quake that did more damage in our county, per capita, than in San Francisco (San Francisco just had better press agents, so the quake is named after that city).

[Handplanesandmore]

This video  -- well done by the way -- shows the ingenuity of John Economaki who came up with a simple kit (just one tool and a jig) that can make chopsticks.

But it's a sin (
) if you call yourself a handtool woodworker and try to buy his kit to make your own chopsticks (of course, fine to buy the kit if you're giving it away as a present).

Simon

[Mark A Smith]

First, they did a great job but with an inadequate too kit! I can see the need for miniature rip and crosscut saws, and a miniature shaving horse. Of course, the mallet as well. Seems Lee Valley has its work cut out for itself if it is going to adequately equip woodworkers like these two fine fellows. They were hobbled, but innovated and got through.

[AHill]

By the way, have you seen the one about the guy who's an artisanal pencil sharpener?  It's a riot.

I've read the book:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Sharpen-Penci...1612193269