Toolmaking Art » Speculation

Delightful Time Waste

Bob Strawn — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:00:16 +0000

I could not resist posting this delightful game. It is a work of art!

What is it in us that lets us create and enjoy such pass times?

Bob

Giant Dibbler

Bob Strawn — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:00:49 +0000

Here is my giant dibbler. Made from a pine 4×4.

The cross bar is made from ash. The point has been shaped into a triangle.

This tool is pretty useful, it has even been borrowed by several people and returned damaged. It still works fine. You stick the point where you want to plant a small tree or such, and then step on the crossbar to push it into the ground. Place the plant into the hole, and add some extra soil. A bit of water helps.

The triangular point is to resolve issues with hard soil. A round hole, can cause a plant put into hard soil, to make a spiral mess of roots. A triangular hole will prevent roots from defecting along a smooth curved wall. This makes for healthier and more stable plants.

Additionally this is a very useful tool to have when the giant vampires attack.

Bob

The Ultimate Tool Box

Bob Strawn — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:00:47 +0000

Sadly, the ultimate tool box may be a five gallon plastic bucket. Hardly what one considers a timeless classic, but then again, I doubt future archeologists will consider them a rare find.

The main downside, is also an upside. There is no great appeal to the old pickle bucket. Just as the Japanese wooden tool box is a purely utilitarian crate, this is purely utilitarian. The plastic bucket does not attract attention and hardly announces that valuable tools are kept inside it. Another downside, is that in a hundred years, I doubt the plastic will be in great shape. Additionally the aesthetic does not really speak of refined tool work. With a bit of grunge ground into the outside the aesthetic goes even further downhill.

On the upside however, these are tough, available, secure storage. They will survive a canoe trip, flood, or whatever and still keep tools in good shape. They keep weather and insects at bay, while making a pretty good stool. Additionally there are slews of organizers available for them. So for planning for emergencies, these may be the ultimate TEOTWAWKI tool box.

Personally I think I like the six or seven gallon better, a few tools are a bit longer and need the room. In any case they should be equipped with a Gamma Seal, the best most secure and easy to use lid.

I will still be making and using wooden tool boxes. Art matters. Maybe I should make a wooden tool box that fits in a seven gallon bucket.

Bob

Traditions, Tools and What Will We Pass on to our Desendents?

Bob Strawn — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:00:29 +0000

As craftsmen, artists and gardeners, hand tool users who take joy in creation, we stand in reasonable shape to pass on our treasures to our grandchildren and even to strangers unknown who may marvel at the care and thought of those ancient hand craftsmen in the 21st century. This thought comforts me. This thought has been a comfort to wise men long before I struggled with understanding life’s complexities. Solomon considered this as well. Proverbs 22, a good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children. Ancient wisdom here.

Here is a website produced by a man that considers this thought quite deeply. I have great respect for him, though he does not comfort me at all, Climate Denial Crock of the Week

This is where he regularly presents such features such as this one;

I have a few odd blocks of truffula wood that have been given to me as gifts. These treasures conflict me. I don’t plan to ever publish any of my works with them, as I don’t want to encourage the destruction of more truffula trees. I don’t want to just leave them as block to be used as doorstops and then thrown away by another generation. So I will try to use them in as graceful a manner as I can, label them as best I can, and then show that more renewable and locally available materials can do as well or better.

I will confess that the rare and exotic do hold the odd lure to me, I am not a purist. So when I want some, desperately, desperately. I look for a place where the plant is being managed well, by people who are managing it as a multgenerational treasure. That or I plant it myself, in hopes that with enough nurture, I may have some to work with some day. But then, I find I often love the tree too much to part with it for the simple wood.

This is the crux of the matter. All of this, quite literally is as ash if we do not find ways to live more gracefully and with better impact on this world. My saving a tree is nothing if the land it is on cannot reasonably be expected to support a tree in a hundred years. The traditions we pass on, to beloved children, beloved friends and even beloved strangers, are as dust if stewardship is not a strong part of those traditions.

Bob

Tool Making Class Found while trying to Find the Quintessential Woodworkers Tool Set

Bob Strawn — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:00:29 +0000

This is a question that I keep trying to refine. What is the best list of tools. There are the tools you want in an apron, because you need them right when you need them. Some tools are just pretty, and hard to put aside. The persuit of the ideal set, keeps me searching. There are always going to be more needed tools and more convenient tools. There are tools that work for my needs, that will not even be interesting to someone else. I love a good axe, but unlike St. Roy, I am not about to lug it around with my tote.

I have listed a few really nice tool sets before, here at my Vagabond’s Tool Box post. But for me this is a never ending refinement and search.

One good source for Quintessential Tool Lists, is the required materials lists for the various classes on woodworking. Apart from tables, vises and all the lower use big tools, these lists are the items that the school has learned to depend on. They are also usually very well refined.

The Errington School of Woodwork and Design has a very nice list of tool recommendations.

But the real crowing glory is, A Tool making Class! Taught by Peter Leonard Bailey!

This is delightful, my faith in the world is replenished! If someday I have the freedom, time and money, I would love to learn it from someone classically trained. I do O.K., but where my mind lives is pretty far from the box. There are a lot of good lessons to learn from the box, instead of constantly reinventing the wheel.

Bob