While researching chisels earlier in the week,I came across an image that took me back to my childhood. My dad didn’t do much woodworking when I was little, but he had enough tools to take care of odd jobs around the house. Among his assortment of tools was a 4 piece set of Craftsman chisels. I use the term chisels loosely, because the handles were way to big, and they had horrible balance to boot. When I happened across the photo below it brought a smile to my face, as I flashed back to a time when I could barely get my hands around the handles, and would routinely pound them into a random 2×4 with a framing hammer. Before anyone asks; Yes I routinely got into trouble for misusing and misplacing my dads tools.
It’s always take me longer to get around to a post than I think it should, I should probably stop predicting when I’m going to post next. With that being said, I’ve finished some more lif-top boxes, and I even remembered to shoot some video this time. This is not my best recording job, but hey it was 45 degrees in the shop.
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It’s still unbearably cold in the shop, but last night I was able to finish up a project I have been wanting to do for a month. Back when I got my Veritas saws, it became evident after about 5 minutes, that I needed some type of bench hook for sawing. A while back Popular Woodworking, published plans for a simple bench hook, and it was exactly what I was looking for.
So after about 2 hours of shop time, I had 2 bench hooks for sawing. One if for perpendicular cross cuts, and the other is for 45′s. I made them out of poplar, because its cheap, and easy on the saw blades.
My first handsaw was a cheap Buck Brothers saw that I got at the local True Value. It wasn’t very sharp, and its fit & finish wasn’t very stellar either. With that being said, it got the job done all kinds of projects. I used it for everything, cutting scarp to size when i didn’t want to move the cars to get to the miter saw, to trimming the bottom of a Christmas tree (the neanderthal police are still after me).
My parents got me the new Veritas carcass saws for my birthday, and they are leaps and bounds better than the old Buck Brothers. The bubinga handles have an excellent finish, and the blades are highly polished. In my opinion, the best feature of these saw, is newbie proof labels. After all, not everyone, can just look at a saws teeth, and tell what type of saw it is.
Saturday, I went into my local Rockler looking for some 2-1/2″ dust collection hose, unfortunately they where sold out. While chatting with the clerk, she pointed out the new FastCap ProCarpenter tapes. As soon as I examined a tape, I knew I had to have one. The tapes have several interesting features, but the one that really caught my eye, was that the hook doesn’t jiggle like every Stanley I’ve ever handled. Below is a YouTube video covering some of the tapes other features, along with some close-up shots of mine. For reference, I purchased the 16 foot Flatback model.
