Woodtales

Here is my latest project - a small mailbox for my sister and brother-in-law. It is a belated housewarming gift and should fit their 1920s bungalow nicely. The mail box is made of ash, finished with two coats of stain and three coats of tung oil. The hardware is brass and I made the copper newspaper rack myself, my first adventure with coppersmithing. I have to say I am really proud of the results and I intend to use copper more often.
It was very rewarding to make and the most difficult ...

Last Sunday I went to the spring Tools of the Trades Show in Pickering. It was my second show and I have to admit going there feels like reaching a circle of Tool Heaven. At least that was my feeling.

I tried to get there early, but not too early, because I planned to take my time, go slowly and immerse in the dark alleys full of ancient cast iron, steel, rosewood and brass. Memories of old days, name tags on old tools, their masters long gone...

My first visit to the ...

Updated 04-07-2011 at 06:11 PM by Kris in Toronto

Tags: hand tools, planes, saws, workshop

Categories

Member Blogs , Workshop , Hand tools

A few months ago I became a member of the Tool Group of Canada, a society devoted to collecting and studying antique tools. Members come from all walks of life, there are lawyers, farmers, professors, electricians, computer geeks, you name it. For some reason not a single plumber was present at the winter meeting...

I ran across Brian Elliot, the president of the Tool Group of Canada last fall at the Tools of the Trades Show in Pickering. A tall friendly guy, he was handing out Yesterday's ...

Updated 04-07-2011 at 12:40 PM by Kris in Toronto

Tags: hand tools, tool group of canada

Categories

Member Blogs , Hand tools

My first memory of a workshop is the old, cluttered and incredibly small place in my father's house, somewhere in Europe. My father and grandfather used the workshop to store their tools and to make things of metal. They both liked to cut, join, hammer and solder metal parts. They had all the heavy tools needed for that but there were almost no woodworking tools. Sure, there was a heavy duty table saw and a few chisels and saws, but not much else. The table saw was home made. It had a gigantic three ...

Updated 01-22-2011 at 09:57 PM by Bill MacDonald (Added to Member Blog Category)

Tags: tales from the past, workshop

Categories

Member Blogs , Workshop