I go, I come back. Sunday's a day of rest; that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it...
Well I'd tell you about the toys wot I got from BriMarc today, but as they say on one forum: no pictures - it didn't happen. So you'll have to wait for that until tomorrow. Meanwhile my comments box tells me Byron is in major workshop making mode; which is probably my favourite form of woodworking, I'm ashamed to say; and wonders about my current tool cabinet. Stop me if you've heard this before. 
I started out like a normal person with a normal number of tools, and thus a pretty normal tool cabinet. 18mm ply construction throughout, screwed together; I still use it in two halves even now. But it was small. Far too small. And ply was a bit, well, not as I really desired, so solid wood beckoned next. I'm sure I must have another picture somewhere, but the best I can find is this shot of one half that I turned into a jigsaw. Sheesh, i even let a hardpoint saw into it...
The next one I used solid ash, flat panelled doors, through dovetailed with the 'Rat. The works. Still too small, but looked more the part. Heh heh, just seen I kept the box for my first LN, the side rebate pair, in the cupboard too. Little did I know just how slippery that particular Slope that would become. 
Anyway, that became a problem as the tools expanded, so to tide myself over, I used one half of the old cupboard for all my planes. "All" my planes. Oh deary me, what an innocent I was... I think the router plane hung on the door, IIRC. And there's a #4, #4.5, #5, #5.5, #6, #60.5, #073 and #45. As a system for storing them, it wasn't half bad as it happens. If only I could have avoided outgrowing that too. My trouble was I was making them too shallow to avoid them taking up valuable real estate by over hanging the floor. So next step, put them over the bench... ... and eliminate the doors so they don't foul anything large being clamped up on top of the bench. DAMHIKT...
Well that worked really well; easy to get to everything, plenty of room for expansion - well when I started there was anyway, and looks good in photographs ;~) However, it offers absolutely zero protection against the two "usts". Rust 'n' Dust. I also wasn't happy about the chisel storage. Oh it worked all right but the blades were a hazard exposed like that, and they could clatter into each other if you weren't careful - murder on sharp edges. So eventually it got to this point:
Which worked brilliantly. Right up until the point I decided I needed to get round to the back of the bench when working... Oh, and open up the underside of the bench again. So the drawers moved, the bench moved, nearly everything moved. And now everything; ready use tools; infrequent flyers; the lot, is spread all about the workshop. Most of my go-to tools have made it to the haven of the tool chest, but in dribs and drabs so there's no overall plan. In short it's a bit of a nightmare. But not half the nightmare it'd be if I started to do something about it...
So I've done cupboards, drawers, shelves and chests. Is there anything else left to try before I start the whole cycle again? :~)
So much for the snow in these parts. Virtually all gone already, no staying power at all. And not so much as a snowball thrown by your intrepid reporter. On the other hand it is still a bit nippy, so finding myself still requiring excuses not to be in the workshop I've been doing a little preparatory research instead. This involves staying in the warm and reading. My kind of task :~) Also a spot of birdwatching, similarly from the warmth of my desk. This year I've finally got round to hanging up a "fat ball" for the birds in the Myrtle bush/tree outside the window and it's already proving a popular dining venue for the "Top Flight" feathered diner looking to eat out. Viz: Tits, both Great & Blue (no jokes, please); Robins; House Sparrows and possibly a Greenfinch. Not at all sure about the last one; I didn't have the book open at the right place and the sun was in my eyes. Might just have been a female sparrow... Anyway, I've been looking at more feathered behinds this morning than you'd see in the average musical chorus line; the blighted things will insist on pointing away from me. Humph.
And I forgot to mention yesterday, in reply to the anxious inquiry over whether I've played with, er, tried the LN saw yet; I haven't. As always with virtually every LN tool I've ever bought, I suffer from chronic buyer's remorse followed by a strong desire not to ruin it by actually daring to let it touch wood. It'll pass eventually; it always does. But at the moment it's still in its box, safely housed in the anti-rust stronghold that is The Tool Chest. That's another thing; I haven't really got anywhere to store it safely. What was okay for a restored car boot saw seems rather lacking in facilities for a saw costing, on average, at least 20 times as much... Sheesh, did I not think this through or what? That pesky Tool Cabinet Making Itch is making itself felt again. :~(
Okay, okay, don't all chunter at me. I've been busy. Woodworking? Well sort of. Not actually making anything though. Playing silly beggars with a certain router plane of Commonwealth origin and writing about twice as much as I intended to about it, I fear. Also wrote up the auger/brace cleaning as threatened, so I'm in a bit of a literary mood at the moment. Just as well, as I have a little non-forum writing to do next - and before anyone asks, no, it's not for a magazine and no cheque will be winging its way chez Alf. But it should be fun though.
Also the auger cleaning bug stayed with me most of last week and this - up until the temperature dropped that is. As you can see from the view to the workshop to your left, taken this afternoon, winter has arrived in a big way here in Cornwall. Playing about with metal and cold water suddenly loses its charm when the thermometer says 0.5°C, funnily enough. I know, I'm a soft southern pansy, "when I were t'lad oop in't The North we went sunbathing when temperature got up to 0°C" etc etc. So shoot me. I like to be warm. :~)
What else have I been doing... Oh yes, gathering together likely items for trying out some hot/hide/scotch/pearl glue (trust me to wait until the temperature drops...) All I need is a little "craftwork", as Woodrat would put it, and the actual glue and I can play to my heart's content. Amazingly the "Home Hardware" in Truro stocks Liberon pearl glue. Not so surprisingly they only had a 1Kg bag, which seemed a lot for someone who isn't sure they'll like it. So an Axminster order is required. Oh deary me, what a terrible shame, how ever will I make up enough of an order to get free delivery, etc, etc... Actually it is a bit of a pain, given that I've just placed my postponed show order with BriMarc. Hmm, so who can I get Crimbo pressies for from APTC? Apart from me, obviously... I'd ask any passing reader (and it's a worry just how many people have confessed to reading this Blog. I thought I was talking to myself...) about one such item, but I have a feeling my nephew reads it too. Which reminds me, a poser for you...
Grandson informs grandparents he won't see them over New Year 'cos he's going back to University directly after Christmas. He says to work for his finals and that. They immediately say cherche la femme and "pull the other one, it has water on from the last shower what I came down in". Apparently doing a lot of walking is also a sure sign of lurve, according to them... Is this a reasonable guess on the part of the grandparents (50 years married, remember), or are they making 2+2=5? I merely mention this in case any of my readership either
a) Wish to confirm this hypothesis, maybe even from experience, but vague opinion will do. I'm not fussy.
b) Wish to utterly refute the allegation in a frantic, embarrassed, and therefore amusing, way...
And you thought I was a nice person. Mwahahahahaahaaaaaaaaa... ]:~>
You know what they say? Tomorrow never comes... Sorry about that, should anyone have been daft enough to be on tenterhooks over the promised posting yesterday.
Before I forget, R had brought along the practically-famous April Fool's 12 arm marking gauge. It's heavy. It would also, in theory, assuming you had a strong enough wrist, work. I'm agog to see what they come up with next year... That's a CAD image of the rear toted low angle block on the left, btw.
So, The Man from Maine. I happened to be hob-nobbing with BB when T finally had a moment between other eager beavers, so I'm afraid he got a bit of a two-pronged attack. I'm not proud that I joined in with the chant of "plough plane, plough plane" when the subject of new tool designs came up. :~) We had a small moan about the slow release of new stuff compared with the churnings out from Canada. T muttered that he opens up his own catalogue and says "Oh, they're doing this page this month" and that rather than LN getting left behind, LV are having to run to catch up. Hmm... Fortunately I had a lapse of memory and didn't mention router planes, medium shoulder planes and so forth ;~) Anyway one hold up is the design team is busy doing other things. Viz: He has to do shows like Axminster. We didn't beat about the bush and advised him to go home right away...
BB's perennial favourite, the #51/#52 shooting board and plane combo, was discussed. Alas I can't help but agree with T's assessment; it'd cost a wad and they simply wouldn't sell enough. I floated my Big Idea that the user provides the base board but the manufacturer supplies an adjustable fence and instructions for fitting etc. I reckon that'd remove half the doubt newbie shooting board users have; just follow the instructions 'cos they must be right if I've spent $X on this fence. Plus an adjustable fence would appeal to the more seasoned shooters. Well it would to me anyway. Of course it'd be breaking new ground a bit for L-N, rather than basing on an existing design, so maybe I should suggest it to R instead.
New stuff on show felt limited at the time, but it seems quite a list now: the medium shoulder, which was pretty, but nothing unexpected; the model maker's block; the dinky and adorable convex sole block plane, which I'd love to be able to find an excu-, er, reason, for getting; and a smaller version of the Tite-Mark, the Mini, which I liked the size of a good deal more than the original. Let's face it, how often d'you need the extra size? The only reservation I have is the fixed-width mortise blades; it does so depend on your chisels being the right size :~(
What's coming up next? Well now I come to think of it, he never said... I'd gathered elsewhere that a router plane was in the offing, but not a word. I dunno, but I get the impression there's a certain amount of consolidation going on and general settling down after the recent expansion.
Also on the L-N stand was DC, who I think was enjoying not being stuck out in the cold all on his own. Once again, as I do every year, I marvelled at just how high his workbench is. I couldn't cope with it, I know I couldn't. Trouble is, not only is it wrong for me for ordinary planing, it's not quite high enough to be as advantageous as I'd like for close work like marking out and so forth.
Meanwhile, remember that brace cleaning I was tackling? Well it's been pretty successful I think. I took lots of pics, so I'll probably write it up for the forum; anything that may rescue a poor negelcted brace in someone's garage has got to be worth the effort, no? I also cleaned up a nice little 5" sweep brace I bought on Saturday, but it's not got such quite spectacular woodwork. Lovely little brace though.
I started out like a normal person with a normal number of tools, and thus a pretty normal tool cabinet. 18mm ply construction throughout, screwed together; I still use it in two halves even now. But it was small. Far too small. And ply was a bit, well, not as I really desired, so solid wood beckoned next. I'm sure I must have another picture somewhere, but the best I can find is this shot of one half that I turned into a jigsaw. Sheesh, i even let a hardpoint saw into it...
The next one I used solid ash, flat panelled doors, through dovetailed with the 'Rat. The works. Still too small, but looked more the part. Heh heh, just seen I kept the box for my first LN, the side rebate pair, in the cupboard too. Little did I know just how slippery that particular Slope that would become. 
Well that worked really well; easy to get to everything, plenty of room for expansion - well when I started there was anyway, and looks good in photographs ;~) However, it offers absolutely zero protection against the two "usts". Rust 'n' Dust. I also wasn't happy about the chisel storage. Oh it worked all right but the blades were a hazard exposed like that, and they could clatter into each other if you weren't careful - murder on sharp edges. So eventually it got to this point:
Which worked brilliantly. Right up until the point I decided I needed to get round to the back of the bench when working... Oh, and open up the underside of the bench again. So the drawers moved, the bench moved, nearly everything moved. And now everything; ready use tools; infrequent flyers; the lot, is spread all about the workshop. Most of my go-to tools have made it to the haven of the tool chest, but in dribs and drabs so there's no overall plan. In short it's a bit of a nightmare. But not half the nightmare it'd be if I started to do something about it...
