View ThreadPost ResponseRETURN TO INDEX<PreviousNext>
Hand Tools
Re: Reality with the steel
Posted By TomD
Date Thursday, 23 June 2022, at 3:56 p.m.
In Response To Reality with the steel (David Weaver)

The biggest reality for me is the wood itself.  If I only cut today's pine, I could use blister pack chisels.  I work with mostly cherry, beech and walnut that I cut myself.  O1 is all I ever need.  I tell the embarrassing story of making a plane blade that I did the heat treating outside in winter.  Most of the blades cracked, one made it to a plane.  It cut fine, and then I hit a knot in a 2x4 at some future date, and was surprised to see that I bent the edge.  I don't know how hard it was, and that is the point.

If I worked mostly tropical woods like ebony, coco, I would probably prefer something else again.

I bought my first blue steel tools, and everything else, in the early 80s, and started seriously into making tools around 2000.  That is earlier than most.  There is no question people overthink this stuff.  Back in the 80s, you couldn't get good tools, so there was some point to looking in esoteric directions for unfamiliar tools, as per Japan.  Now you can take a wad of cash and buy everything from one supplier.  It's mainly silly at this point to be thinking about it much.  There was a point in the 90s when due to one thing or another (certainly not what they wanted) when LV didn't sell any dovetail saws, or (even setting the bar low), any professional grade planes or chisels.  That world is long gone.  I don't remember when that was, but it would have been around the time FWW did that article on how to make your own dovetail saw, from a gent's saw, by recutting the teeth so they were twice as coarse.


Messages In This Thread
Post Response
Your Name
Your E-Mail Address
Subject
Message

If you'd like to have the option of deleting your post later, please provide a password (CASE SENSITIVE!):

Password

 If you'd like e-mail notification of responses, please check this box


 


Please read Terms of Use before posting


Accept Terms of Service


View ThreadPost ResponseRETURN TO INDEX<PreviousNext>


Gallery Marketplace WoodFinder® Help Contact Us Support Us Amazon Search System Status Advertise DMCA Privacy Policy Terms of Service
Copyright © 1998 - 2023 by Ellis Walentine. All rights reserved.
No parts of this web site may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

WoodCentral · POB 274 · Coopersburg PA 18036 USA
logo
Sighting
Sighting
Sighting
From the Gallery