Tool making contest... who's actually entering?

Re: Tool making contest... who's actually entering

Jim Shaver - Oakville, Ontario

>I am..

:-)

I am going to get into during the holidays.

Take care,

Jim

Re: Tool making contest... who's actually entering

ernie miller

>I will see what I can do I didn't even know about it untill I saw your post

I'm working on a scraper plane I will see if I can't finish it

Maybe me

Bill Houghton, cold sunny Sebastopol, CA

>I was very grateful for the extension - I know that I couldn't have met the first one, but MAYBE the kitchen will be done, and our son's recovery from surgery this coming Tuesday over, and I can get into the shop.

NO hope of winning anything, just wanting to swell the ranks a bit with something slightly upscale from my one previous venture into toolmaking.

I would, if I could, but I don't think...

Stephen Shepherd in the State of Deseret

>I can qualify. I am unsure as to the requirements if I am eligible. Most of the tools I make are working tools, no real embellishments, although there are influences and traditions to follow.

Some people make wonderful looking tools and I appreciate them for doing that, it means that I don't have to.

The tools I build are not the end result, pieces to admire, venerate, revere and worship, the tools I make are for making pieces of furniture to use. Furniture and building stuff is after all what it is all about.

I do enjoy the tools which is the journey, but it is the furniture, the destination, that counts.

Stephen

well there you go, opening up the floodgates

Patrick Gibbons, Houston, TX

>I was hoping to win by default. Now I'll have to really work hard on my entry. Ha, ha. All seriousness aside, I have a project I'm hoping to finish before the deadline so I can enter it. Can't make any promises now but I will be very disappointed in myself if I don't enter. Doesn't matter about winning or losing, I just want to complete this and be able to show it off, warts and all.

Re: Tool making contest... who's actually entering

Pat Riley in SLC

>I am probably going to enter. Just need a few more days to finish up.

I'm wondering

Bill Houghton, cold sunny Sebastopol, CA

>if anyone from the noisy side's going to make a handmade router or tablesaw. This contest does kinda favor this crowd.

Re: Tool making contest... who's actually entering

Rob Lee

>Hi James -

Ellis will probably chime in, once he sees the thread, but my understanding is that most people enter as late as posible, not wanting to tip their hands...

This one should be a contest that everyone has a shot at, regardless of experience...

Cheers -

Rob

Yes.

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>Hi James

I am planning to enter something. I keep getting sidetracked into building something else! As result I am pleased that the deadline has been moved out. I have made a start on the "competition tool", which will remain a secret because there is every possibility that I might muck it up.

Here is one of the little sidetracks, a WIP of a pair of chip carving knives (Jarrah and She-oak) in a Tasmanian Blackwood presentation box that will be a Christmas present.

I've never made these before - never even used one - hope they are going to be right.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I hope everyone will enter!

Ellis Walentine

>One thing we've learned about contests by now is that, regardless what deadline you set, people will wait until the last minute to enter, whether to avoid tipping their hand, as someone mentioned, or to hopefully get a better idea of their odds of winning. So, please don't think that the lack of current entries in any way reflects how popular or well-attended this contest will be. And, whether or not you win one of the top three prizes or the five runners-up prizes, this contest is a no-lose proposition, as all entrants receive subscriptions to two magazines as well as a Lee Valley thickness gauge just for entering.

Now, as to whether only hand tool folks are likely to be involved, the answer to that has to be a resounding no. Our theory is that everyone, including people like me who use both hand and power tools, at some point in the course of things find a need for a tool they don't already own. I've cobbled up numerous quickie tools in the past (and a few really overwrought ones), just to get the job done, whatever the job was. And, don't rule out the turning folks either. They probably make more tools than the rest of us combined. This contest is an acknowledgement of this primal need to make tools. You Neanderthals here should know that better than anyone, as your ancestors sat around fires in caves, knapping flint spear points and arrowheads and bashing rocks or whatever they needed to get the job done. :-)

The other trichotomy that should be addressed here is the function vs form vs ergonomic factor. Stephen makes tools with little regard for appearance, since he uses everything he makes. Others make presentation quality tools that are pieces of art in and of themselves. Some people concentrate on ergonomics; I think James Krenov is in this category, as he spent a lot of time whittling his planes to fit his hands. The point we're making in this contest is a celebration of user-made tools, in every way, shape and form. There will be winners in all three main categories, so everyone has a chance.

And, remember, you can't lose. :-)

Ellis

Two rules questions and a comment to Ellis

Bill Houghton, cold sunny Sebastopol, CA

>Comment first: I was teasing about the noisy folks not being able to enter, Ellis. Sorry if it came off as a straight comment. My recent reading of old shopnotes books had me visualizing an electron-munching router made from an old vacuum cleaner motor.

The questions:

1. The finalist entries will be shipped to Canada for final judging. Will finalist tools be shipped back to the makers, or do they become the property of Lee Valley or someone?

2. If someone already has a subscription to one or both of the magazines offered each entrant, will the magazine subscription be tacked on to the existing subscription somehow? I'd hate to receive duplicate copies for a year.

Re: Tool making contest... who's actually entering

wayne anderson

>Rob said...

"This one should be a contest that everyone has a shot at, regardless of experience..."

Everyone??? ;^)

-wayne

Much as I'd love to....

John in New Mexico

>I've only got a couple tools that would not disgrace me, and I made them more than a year ago. Too busy, with house-building and my new-old job back, to build much now. Mine too, are nice enough in their way, but aren't especially novel or origninal. Perhaps after the contest, we should have a thread of all the "non" entries.

Re: Tool making contest... who's actually entering

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>I was relieved when I saw the contest extended because circumstances have gotten me in a bind for the holiday season. Namely my furnace. I just got into my shop again tonight to start unburying everything. The problem is that my shop is not set up for remodeling a house. I have an idea in mind for the tool I plan on entering but whether it actually reaches fruition remains to be seen. Working for a living is such a drag. Spending time with my wife & daughters is a lot of fun but it does take some time.

Re: Two rules questions and a comment to Ellis

Ellis Walentine

>Lee Valley will take care of shipping the tools back to the entrants. Regarding the subscriptions, I'm pretty sure they both have ways of handling the extension business. Maybe our entry form needs another box for you to include your existing customer number or something. I'll put it on my list to check out.

Ellis