I knew that too

Well I almost added this into my last post but didn't, but as I see Rob Lee has let slip the dogs of, erm... I mean the info on the Canadian Woodworking forum, I thought I'd try and beat Chris Schwarz to the punch for once. All these pink planes that Lee Valley are coming out with - oh all right, burgundy then; apparently the colour doesn't photograph well. Excuses, excuses - anyway they all come under a new banner of "Utilitas Tool Works". I gather it'll encompass all sorts of things that don't quite fit the exclusive requirements of a Veritas tool. F'rinstance not innovative enough or not exclusively made in North America.

There, that's it. Nothing else to see, move along.

Talking of Mr Schwarz I was finally able to trust my connection to stay up long enough to order issue #8 of Woodworking Magazine. I hesitated over the idea of the electronic edition, but fact is the actual physical mag is so nice I'm loathe to do without it. That plus it'd take about a month to download over my damp string and there's no way the little orange flashing light wouldn't put in appearance before I'd done. With shipping and all it comes to a hefty $12, or six of Her Majesty's pounds sterling, give or take, but good things are worth it IMO.

Finally, if you cast your mind back into the annals of history and recall the Boiler Saga? Well you'll be thrilled to hear the old one's finally gone and the kitchen is almost back to normal - except it isn't. It's got extra cupboards and the fridge has moved and it's all just plain odd. It's like a new kitchen that's vaguely familiar - not a little unsettling in fact. Of course it's not quite finished even now. The required cornice and so forth won't turn up for a fortnight (naturally) so not quite the end yet. Oh, and I have an awful lot of lengths of worktop suddenly at my disposal, which naturally turns a young galoot's thoughts to the workshop...

I knew that

Long time, no blog. I apologise but it's hard to muse from the workbench when you haven't been near the workbench in weeks. No matter, we seem to have hit New Plane Season so I can muse without the aid of external aids.

I confess to be torn between relief and considerable chagrin when news of new Lee Valley planes hits the streets. On the one hand I can largely stop worrying about revealing something I shouldn't, which is a load off the old brain cell. But equally it's perishing annoying to be siiting here raving at the monitor going "I knew about that ages ago" and being pipped to the post in revealing it. Again. Ten perishing months I've been sitting on some of this interesting stuff, forsooth!

As it happens I took the little Router Plane along to the Mini Bash last month, and as Phil brought along his LN one we could compare and contrast. Same old same old by and large - one looks better and the other functions better. The bad news is the LN doesn't actually look that much better either - would have been a looker in bronze...

Talking of linking back, if you cast your mind back here and the last sentence, well that, my friends, was in reference to the plough. Yes, I've tried one. Well, to be more acccurate, I've tried one of those clever plastic models of one (as previously mentioned and not photographed here) before at least one change was made. I even ploughed a groove with it - very carefully, with an extremely fine cut in the softest of woods, 'cos the model's not built for much work. Obviously I wouldn't dream of commenting in public on the unfinished design but there's some novel ideas in the clamping/adjustment holding department to look forward to. And being a galoot there was something I just had to try - and yes! The depth stop fitted the 043/044. ;)

Going equipped

Yes, as Anon said, the answer to the trivia was indeed "How To Steal a Million", which shows Audrey "going equipped" for burglary with brace and bit; and what appear to be a file, hacksaw, dynamite and a jemmy (crowbar, 'Murricans and others). The silly thing is no such equipment is used in the entire film, but there you go, since when did Hollywood worry about that sort of thing? Console yourself with gazing at Ms Hepburn or Mr O'Toole, as the preference takes you.

It was drawn to my attention as I was trying to force a quart of DVDs in the half pint pot of my DVD shelf. Knew the darn thing was too small the moment I finished it...

Happy Fourth

Yes a Happy 4th of July to the 'Murrican readership - when you finally get tired of this Independence thing, you're welcome back any time, d'ya hear? ;)

And a trivia teaser that leapt to my eye today:

In which film poster was Audrey Hepburn depicted holding a brace and bit?