New Editions to the Shop

The latest buzz around the shop are a few more additions to our web page. We were finally able to get pictures wrangled and posted for our last job in Park City, Utah. We produced a couple of flat screen TV frames and an audio visual cabinet to hide away the unsightly HDTV cable boxes, VCR and DVD players for a conference space at the Lodges at Deer Valley condominium hotel complex at the base of Deer Valley Resort. The entire project came together very nicely and really completed the space. The clients were extremely happy with the finished product. Hopefully it will lead to more future work.

I've also had to make a few additions to the tool box this week. In order to do the Kane Tsugi bowfront table justice I decided that the drawers really needed to be dovetailed. The problem with this is that cutting blind dovetails into Wenge is not an easy job, nor is cutting through the hard maple that will make up drawer boxes. I've been looking at picking up a better dovetail saw than my old gent's back saw that has served me well for a few years now. The problem was always the pricing of say the Lie Nielsen dovetail saw or an Adria saw. I just couldn't get myself to drop $100 + on a hand saw. That was until now...

Being faced with the questionable temperament of Wenge, as well as its overall density, I had to doubt my old gent's saw. So I placed an order for a new Lie Nielsen dove tail saw from Highland WoodWorking, which should be on my doorstep any day now. I also was having trouble with my old wheel marking gauge on the last set of tables I produced so I placed an order for a new Veritas micro-adjust wheel marking gauge from Lee Valley Tools. I was a little torn on the wheel gauge as I've been leaning towards picking up a new cutting gauge to replace my old unit. That was until I watched a clip of Chris Gochnour laying out dovetails with nothing more than a caliper, a wheel gauge and dovetail saddle. I was convinced...his method made absolute sense, allowed for variability and was quick. I had been toying with the idea of picking up a dovetail saddle marker for the last year or so, but never followed through with it until I saw the ease and consistency that it allowed. So I also ordered a set of Veritas dovetail layout saddle gauges from Lee Valley.

I'm excited to get the new tools in and get cutting some dovetails. It's been far too long since I last hand cut a dovetail and it's going to be nice getting back into the swing of things again. It's funny that as I progress through things I seem to be heading back towards more and more hand tools. Sure machinery is nice, especially a wide belt sander...oh how I would be lost without it...but I'm beginning to dig the simplicity and the adaptability of hand tools. They're becoming a lost art it seems and only a few masters out there seem to know the intricacies that they allow, maybe one day I'll be able to call myself one of those masters...