Two Special Tools

I had planned to travel today and spend tonight sipping whiskey with some dear friends. Instead I spent the day in an airport monitoring the delays on my flight until they finally cancelled it. Instead I’m going to show you 2 very special tools made by some of the people I had hoped to meet up with. One of the wonderful things about being involved in the vintage tool world, is that I’m lucky enough to call some incredibly talented craftsmen my friends. It blows my mind that people who can create stuff like this give me the time of day. Check out the photos below to see what I’m talking about.

First up , Shrenik’s third plane. This thing is a real beauty, exquisitely made and amazingly effective. A low angle mitre plane like this is the kind of end grain planes.

Those are end grain sapele shavings, with the plane straight out of the package. The end of the board had never been planed before, and it just sliced the end grain off effortlessly.

A fantastic detail is that the end of the wedge mirrors the cupid’s bow on the bridge.

And look at that teeny tiny mouth. Incredible work.

Shrenik warned me there was a little surprise in the package, so I went through the bubble wrap carefully until I found this little tartan bag.

Inside was this wonderful dovetail marker by Scott Anderson. The front piece is made from a section of a Union plane iron.

The decoration on the top…. Simply amazing. All of this is hand filed. I don’t think Scott even owns any machines.

It came with this wonderful stand, sporting Scott’s stamp, and a teeny magnet to keep it in place.

I never knew layout out dovetails could feel this… luxurious!