Woodwork, Cooking, Art, Photography, and other cool stuff
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
On the shelf at Just Tools in South Melbourne
Hi All
As a woodworker for over 20 years I, as many of us do, have an appreciation of finely made hand tools. They seem to make a job flow a bit easier and a quality tool feels “right” in your hands. About six years ago during my time at Festool I had the chance to get to know an up and coming toolmaker by the name of Chris Vesper. Over the next few years and countless working with wood shows I came to know Chris fairly well and purchased a number of tools from him which I used in the training sessions I ran for Festool.
My undoubted favourite would have to be the sliding bevel ( pictured) which still sees regular use most weekends setting out dovetails.
After I left Festool lost touch with Chris but caught up with him again at this years Working with Wood show. It was great to see that Chris’s range is still expanding and his reputation as a quality toolmaker is still growing.
I was delighted to see a feature length article on Chris in the December 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking magazine which was written by the hand tool maestro Christopher Schwarz, of “Lost Art Press” fame. It’s outstanding to see a local Aussie toolmaker featured in an international magazine of this standing.
You can see more of the tools made by Chris on his Vesper Tools website. Please keep Chris in mind if you need to update your layout tools and lets support Australian made tools.
As always, be safe and have fun
Cheers
Bryan
Hi Guys,
Just a quick post to let you know that Just Tools is having a Festool Sale , this Friday and Saturday.
There will be loads of specials and demos so I hope to see you there.
For my interstate and overseas readers call just tools or email them at tools@justtools.com.au to take advantage of the special sale pricing.
I’ll be on hand both days so I hope to see you there.
Be safe and have fun
Cheers
Bryan
Hi All,
Just a short post today about one of those handy little things which will save you heaps of time.
The quick stem hose adapter from Protool effortlessly converts a 36mm hose to a 27mm port
so you can easily use your large hose, which you’d normally use with tools like the
Kapex, Planex or renovation grinders, with tools like the Rotex, Domino or Jigsaws.
I discovered them about a year ago and have been selling them weekly since.
At less than $30.00 (Australian) they’re an absolute must have for the tool kit.
The part number is 768135, and they should be available from most good Festool dealers.
If you can’t find one email me and I’ll see what I can do to help you out.
As always, be safe and have fun.
Cheers
Bryan.
Hi All
Working as a retail tool specialist I’m fortunate to meet a lot of fellow woodworkers and am often asked for advice on various aspects of the projects they’re working on. One of the things I really enjoy is seeing how those projects turned out.
I received a lovely email a week or so ago with some pictures of a major commission project which one of my customers had just finished.
With his permission I’ve copied it here;
Brian,
A few months ago, I called into the shop and you gave me a hand with some
sanding stuff. m
You asked me to send you some pictures of my last job, and I’ve finally
got around to it.
I did the timber work for a cafe fit out…check out Mister Raymond, Sale,
on Facebook.
The table and benches are from Birdseye Stringybark, filled with West
Systems 207 special clear epoxy and then finished with Wattyl 7008 and
finally buffed with a paste wax. The table top was finished with my Rotex
150.
The sander is of course like nothing else I’ve used…and I’ve burnt out
one Makita and two Metabo random orbital sanders, each in about 12-18
months. One of the big advantages from the perspectives of the owners was
that I was able to do the final sanding and finishing of all the benches
in situ, thanks to the excellent dust collection of the Festool setup,
something they wished some of the other tradies would have used.
The bentwood laminations underneath the table and benchtops were from
recycled local timbers, including the falling down cattle yards next door.
And the Rotex even had a role in their finishing.
Thanks for your support and encouragement, when I get a bit more
cash-flow, don’t worry, you’ll be seeing me… First on the list is the
TS-55, then the T-18……..
Tim
The pictures Tim sent me are shown below.
Please enjoy them and if you want to see some more of Tim’s excellent work the link to his website is here. http://timcoles.com.au/
Well done Tim for some outstanding work!!!!
If any other up and coming woodies in the Tutorwood community would like to see their work showcased on the Tutorwood site, i’d love to hear from you. particularly if you’ve used some of the techniques listed on the site. Drop me a line and send some photos to tutorwood@gmail.com
As always, be safe and have fun.
Cheers
Bryan
Hi All,
I recently came across a new You Tube video from Festool in Germany which I thought you all might find interesting. Titled “Festool Rhythm & Tools (gb)” its a marketing video to promote the Festool brand in a very interesting way. The link to the video is here,
and while is a little bit cheesy in parts, I’d recommend you have a look as it has some particularly good vision of the inside of the Festool factory.
I was intrigued the first time i watched the video as there were some tantalising glimpses of what looked like new Festool product and what got me really curious was that they looked like crossover products from the Protool range.
Have a look at some screen grabs from the video here:
Now due to some commission work over the last couple of weeks I hadn’t had a lot of time to investigate this further but thanks to a dose of the flu courtesy of my 10 year old, Im off work for a couple of days and have managed to do a bit more research.
On the Slingers Ironmongers website, ( a UK based Festool Dealer)
I found a listing of New Festool Tools which are due out in the UK this September. Here’s some photos to wet you’re appetite!
Festool Duradrive Collated Screw gun 769205
Festool Sword Saw 769211
Festool MFT SYS 500076
Festool C17 Extractor 768472
Festool Quad Drive 769202
Festool Quadrill 769198
All bar the MFT SYS box appear to be direct crossovers from the Protool range so question now is Why?
Is the Protool range going to disappear, or are Festool, Festoolising Protool products so our Festool brothers and sisters in the North American can finally get their hands on these fantastic products. Only time will tell.
As always, your questions and comments are appreciated.
Be safe and have fun!
Cheers
Bryan
This little gem was created by Steve Liston, my former Festool Rep and Luke Skilton of Carba Tec in Adelaide during a quiet patch at a recent Festool event at Carba Tec’s Adelaide branch.
Well done gentlemen!!!!
If you’re interested in finding out how they did it drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch with Steve
As always, be safe and have fun.
Cheers
Bryan
The Masons Mitre,
With its roots in stone masonry the masons mitre joint has evolved a commonly used joint in kitchen renovation where it is used to join bench tops together at a 45 degree angle
The masons mitre was originally used where two stone members met at a 45 degree angle and it was created by removing a small section of material from one part, thereby creating a socket for the other.
In masonry terms, this allows the bond of the masonry courses to to continue around a corner without a staggered vertical joint and and allows the mortar to truly bed into the corner of the joint.
In the cabinetmakers world the masons mitre allows for a strong and attractive joint, particularly on bench tops with rounded edges, and saves on the wastage of materials and additional labor costs that would result from the removal of large triangular sections that need to be cut in a traditional mitre joint.
The masons mitre joint can be a it of a challenge, but with a bit of practise and good jig for your router it’s quite achievable.
One of the best jigs I’ve used to achieve this joint is the APS 900 jig which is made by Festool. Whilst it looks a bit complex it’s actually fairly straight forward and gives you accurate and repeatable results.
Have a look at the video here from Festool TV where Festool demonstrator Frank Jaksch shows the how to use the APS 900 along with a Festool OF 2200 router to create a masons mitre joint.
It is dubbed in English and the picture is a bit dodgey at times but please persist, it is worth watching.
Anyways guys, I hope you enjoyed the video and if your not using it already, will soon be adding the masons mitre to your arsenal of joinery.
Thanks for reading and as always your comments and feedback are appreciated.
Be safe and have fun,
Cheers
Bryan
Hi All,
The beastie in the photo is the Protool CSP 132 Carpentry circular Saw and if you’ve ever got the need to cut timber up to 130 mm thick, this is the tool for you.
I had the opportunity to get in one of these massive saws for for one of my regular customers last week, so as it’s really uncommon, I took the opportunity to grab a couple of pictures to show you all.
The specs for the saw are:
Cutting depth 50-132 mm
Rated input 2300 W
Saw blade diameter 350 x 30/3,5 mm
Mitre cutting 0-60 °
Rated Speed (no-load) 2200 min-1
weight 18 kg
Whilst it’s not the tool for everyone you have to admit that it falls into the ” really cool tool category”.
Contact me if you want any more information about this or any other tools.
As always, be safe and have fun.
Cheers,
Bryan
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