Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Re: KMG grinder?
Frank D. in Montreal
>I've been dreaming about one for a while now. I guess I was dreaming about the cost too, although even in Canada you could get a serviceable motor for less than $300 (there's a 3-speed setup but I don't know much else about it). Making it sounds interesting, I guess it all depends on the price.
BTW the e-mail in my previous message is incorrect. In any case I'll be sending you an e-mail soon.
on-line machine shop *LINK*
GolfSteve in Calgary
>It already exists for metal work...you just need to custom CNC yourself a pair of jeans out of blue-powder coated 16 ga steel!
This e-machine shop looks pretty neat. I priced out some items that we manufacture, and for small numbers their prices are very high. However if you had to do a mini production run, perhaps they might be competitive (we never do production runs, so I'm not familiar with production run prices).
Their software is pretty neat.
e-machine shop
Re: Steve, let me be the first to say.....
Steve Kubien
>Yup, got the set o' cheapo chisels which don't stay sharp for long. Good practice for sharpening the lil' buggers. Mostly using a 3/8" gouge and 1/2" skew and I can get 5 or so pens before it's back to the sander/grinder.
Instant gratification is a serious bonus with the turning! I am hoping to clean a bit of the bench each night I am out there, and (partly) turn something as well.
It's also nice to be able to use some exotics like African blackwood, bocote, tulipwood and rosewood and not spend huge $$$, just to screw something up.
Don't worry, I still have the Hand Tools board set as my bookmark. You're not gettin' rid o' me that easy!
Steve Kubien
Re: KMG grinder?
thomd
>I've done the majority of my turning with the 3/4hp motor that comes with the Harrison lathe, way underpowered for the modern techniques. The motor on my KMG is the one I use on my other woodlathe. It's 1.5 hp electronic variable speed (also underpowered). You can stop that pretty easily grinding, so I figure it would need 3hp for serious work. I'm happy with the 1.5 since it runs off 110 which allows me to move it out of doors.
Maybe a direct drive motor would be OK with a clutch.
Re: KMG grinder?
Bill Houghton, wintry rain again, Sebastopol, CA
>Interesting. Kind of reminds me of the Mark II (was that the name?) belt sander that Woodcraft sold a decade or so ago. I was sorry to see them discontinue that before I had the money to buy myself one - it looked like a good design.
plus human connection?
VTAndy3
>Wiley,
I wonder whether some people will increasingly seek out a real human connection that cannot be had by filling out "custom" order forms on the internet. My family now buys meat, vegetables, milk, eggs, and even cheese from various farmers that we know personally. The "community supported agriculture" (CSA) movement is all about people connecting to the sources of their food. There's a documentary that came out recently called "The Real Truth about Farmer John." It's about the trials and tribulations of a man who is running his family's farm outside of Chicago. He struggled with how to survive as a "small" farm in the face of industrial farming, and finally found the solution in becoming a c.s.a. farm. Now he's got over 1000 automatic, regular customers, many of whom travel from Chicago out to the farm to meet him and even to do some work at the farm, which deepens their experience of the food that would otherwise be purchased anonymously at a supermarket.
Judging by many of the posts I've read on this and other forums, it seems like many people enjoy the personal connection they establish with builders of fine, custom tools as well. To a certain extent, even somewhat larger companies like LN and LV strengthen the loyalty of their customers through the good feeling we all get from personal contact. I even think that our sense of connectedness to Popular Woodworking (as a product) is increased by the human connection to Chris and Adam. This is probably something that can't easily be translated onto a larger scale than those companies (LV and LN), but is at its most ideal form when we deal with a "one man show" like Konrad Sauer, or a family enterprise like Mike Wenzloff's.
So the custom jeans forms with x variables still leave me called, but I love the idea of (someday) calling Mike, chatting about saws, and placing that order for exactly what I want.
-Andy
Crawford on Commoditization of labor *LINK*
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>David "Pollyanna" Brooks, NYTimes/News Hour columnist, started handing out his Sidny awards this morning, for his favorite essays published during the year. Thought you might find this one particularly interesting. It ties into our discussion on commoditization; but he's talking about commoditization of labor and what happens when thought processes are removed from manufacturing. It somewhat ties into my concerns about the loss of future design knowledge when manufacturing is moved offshore.
Re: plus human connection?
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>It's so good to hear this is happening all over the place. I buy all my produce, dairy, and coffee at the local organically grown Coop, which also buys from local farmers whenever possible (it's hard to grow tomatoes locally in August). I think it's both the ability to hold an individual to account for what s/he sells as well as to support the local economy and buy food as fresh and untravelled as possible. It's nice to think that the maker cares a bit about the consumer.
However, I think companies like LV provide the accountability and apparent caring in the way they do business, even if it is long distance. They care about their products, they care about the consumer sufficiently to provide well-designed tools and the ultimate in customer service, quick delivery, while still charging a very fair price (in my book, that's enough to keep them and me in business). The interface with LV is human.
Pam
Re: plus human connection?
John in Kerrville
>Pam, when my daughter who just returned from Europe could not believe that it was so hard to get locally grown produce here. She tried to find someone for free range eggs and we just could not buy them. She was a member of the Co-op there in Austin while going to UT Law school.
john (still in Kerrville)
Re: plus human connection?
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>Yeah, it really blows me away when we travel how many cities and towns don't have any organically grown food. It was one of the things I checked on before moving here. Do you have Saturday farmer's markets? Seems to me Wheatsville has some stuff from Hill Country farms, I'll check next week on the eggs.
Pam
Re: plus human connection?
VTAndy4
>Hi Pam,
I think I'm in a kind of utopia for producers and consumers of local products -- our coop does $19mil in sales per year of which $12mil are made in VT, and like I said, I personally know the men and women who provided most of the food on my table.
Anyhow, I didn't mean to be unclear about LV -- I was trying to say that the human connection is part of their business, but it's not common in businesses larger than they are. It's not long distances that make for non-personal transactions, it's the structures of the companies themselves. Many of us have interacted individually with Rob Lee and value the human touch in his way of running a business, and the same goes for LN. Go to the borg and even if you interact with a human, the entire environment has (in my eyes) some non-human aspect, like we're being herded. The borg might be "local" for some people ("right down the road") but the style of management, arrangement of merchandise according to analysis of consumer patterns, etc, all add up to alienation.
-Andy
Re: plus human connection?
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>Go to the borg and even if you interact with a human, the entire environment has (in my eyes) some non-human aspect, like we're being herded. The borg might be "local" for some people ("right down the road") but the style of management, arrangement of merchandise according to analysis of consumer patterns, etc, all add up to alienation.
Oh, for sure, this superstore thing just screams that if you're not there to buy, get out of this vault of a building; but then I'm not of the mall generation, truly hate shopping at these places, especially compared to the old guy's lumber yard a couple miles further down the road. However, it's very handy to have a place close by to rent the odd trencher or power hammer and truck to carry stuff and piles of regular building materials. I find that once I breech the entrance, the shopping is OK, my local HD is actually kind of a small store.
Pam
Pam
Re: plus human connection?
Wiley Horne
>Andy,
I think you're onto a pretty big idea, both in the post I'm answering here, and also one down below. Which is that people want a human connection in their daily doings, and also that the human connection can arise locally or it can be from afar--it depends mainly on how the business is conducted, not where the business is located. In this respect, it is ironic that the internet can be a big humanizing influence, albeit not in the same way as a farmers market. I look at who I buy tools from: they're in Canada, Arkansas, Oregon, and Japan. The connection is personal, but we met long distance. And like you, I feel a kinship with the Lee Valley and Lie Nielsen organizations, because they are accessible and take an interest in our collective doings on this forum. Both TLN and Rob Lee have instilled a culture in their organizations that extends to every employee I have come across: you can call up or email anybody there and it's just seamless; they're all about customer service. They have put a village feel onto an international business.
I think it could work for others: Somewhere in the Home Depot food chain, there is a VP who is in charge of stocking the lumber department, and another one in charge of stocking the tool crib. If those guys would establish contact with their prospective customers-- like right here--they would make better purchasing decisions, and would build a larger customer base, because they would be establishing a personal interaction between the conduct of their business, and us.
Wiley
Couple of fancy blade holders and carrier
Phil Smith
>At the IWF last fall fondled the block planes by LV and LN. Finally decided which to get and ordered back in the early fall. This week a LN 9 1/2 std angle block plane and a LN 102 Low angle plane came in. Like the feel an balance of both. Will eventually get around to making a couple of CPM 3V irons, but std irons will work for now.
I've posted a picture of my latest tool carrier below. Been looking around for a while and finally found an old Porsche 911 in good condition. Had great fun carrying the tools home.
Re: Custom jeans, etc.
Dean Lapinel
>Pam,
I'm curious why you state:
"My advice to young people is to become salespeople or lawyers"
Seems to me that there is major competition in both fields already.
Dean
Re: The Cutting Edge
Dean Lapinel
>I'm so glad that Blue Spruce is doing well. I was his first customer... glad that others see what I saw back before he had a web page.
Phil, Let me be the first to respond with...
vlparisian - in Houston
>You suck. :>)
Love the tool holder. Been wanting one of those since I was about 17 years old. What year and model?
Victor
PS Watch those decreasing radius curves, they can scare you in a car like that.
Re: Custom jeans, etc.
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>Because when we become a nation of consumers only, when we're no longer producing anything of value, there will still be jobs in sales and law. I think we may be at the tipping point now, or very soon, of not producing enough to lose our design edge. Once that edge is lost, we will be a nation of consumers. I might add military professions if the powers that be decide our contribution to the world will be enforcement and assuming the new producer nations will sell us the technology to maintain our edge in weapons, or sell us the weapons systems.
Pam
Gives me a warm furry feeling
Wiley Horne
>Phil,
I love this uber-gloat. There for a while, I wuz thinking you're this ultra-rational guy who makes his own chisels and blades cause they're cheaper and better than the market, and same with diamond sharpening. All about benefit/cost, etc etc. But no-o-o-o-o-o--that ain't it at all. You're a performance nut. It's about max'ing things out. Dr. Porsche's car will fit right in with all that 'big iron' you're restoring that runs on three-phase power. Lie Nielsen makes your economy gear.
Makes me feel much better about spending my kid's inheritance on being a saw nut, a plane nut, a chisel nut, and a Gilman wood nut. Thank you!
Wiley
!987 911 Carrera Coupe
Phil Smith
>
Re: !987 911 Carrera Coupe
vlparisian - in Houston
>Very nice. I was thinking more along the lines of a 911-S or Targa early models say 2.0 thru 2.4. Those were hot cars when I was still a kid. I suppose decent representations of those models are getting scarce. I see a few rust buckets around, but not many/any worth the
investment.
Victor
ZOOM! ZOOM!!
Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native, Presently Away
>
Re: Couple of fancy blade holders and carrier
Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)
>Hi Phil
That is very pretty. What year? Any signs of a sweetheart anywhere? You know the pre-WW 2 versions have better iron and require less flattening? Does it come with A2 or HCS? The early versions were quite basic but have a charm of their own as they offered more feedback - less power more feel. Is the steering wheel Rosewood, or did you get the plastic handles? That looks like the bevel up version. Much preferred to the more recent bevel down versions. :) :)
Enjoy. It is a wonderful car.
Regards from Perth
Derek (still tinkering with a 1957 Porsche 356A Coupe)
Re: !987 911 Carrera Coupe
HC Sakman
>Looks identical to '86~'90 911 turbo. Skinnier rear tires were the unly hint that it is a Carrera.
Nice "neander" tool holder! Very nice indeed. Looks very crisp.
Chico...
Re: plus human connection?
Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI
>In my opinion, while it is relatively easy to make customer service a top priority in a small company like Lee Valley or Lie Nielsen, it is very difficult to do in a large company like Home Despot. The reason being that customer service depends a lot on the individual. Lee Valley can search for a few great employees who really are smart about their interactions with the customer and put them in key positions. Voila, great customer service. To have the same customer service, Home Depot would have to find hundredes of thousands of such people. In my experience in working with people, this would be a monumental task. I think their top priority for employees right now is just to find someone who will show up to do the job. I always find myself slightly surprised when I ask a question at Home Depot or Lowes and actually get a reply from someone who knows the product. This is up to the individual a lot more than the management of the company. We choose the attitude we have about our job. We can view it as drudgery and try to muck our way through it with as little effort as possible, or we can choose to view it as a learning and challenging experience and do the best that we can with what we have. The customers will definitely notice the difference. Although management textbooks say that you can make customer service a top priority and the employees will follow, it is a little bit more difficult than that. You can't just send out a memo and change a person's character.
I will present another of my opinions, and then shut up. The software industry is really lacking. Their is so much room for improvement that to describe just the tip of my frustrations with some of the software I use at work would require a book. I think the biggest problem is that people who are trained for writing software are writing the software. They haven't much of a clue about the application where the software will actually be used. I see this as the largest area needing improvement in the US today. I would encourage youth to focus on a specific industry, learn the industry, and then write software to improve the industry.