Highdesert Splintermaker

You'll just have to tell Mrs.Conductor, "Every time I look at all that bikini clad stuff out there and then come back to you, it's just another compliment"

Hope that isn't you sittin' there on that mower, Randall. Looks an awful lot like one of those Darwin Award auditions.

Okay - already! They can keep the tools and I'l be satisfied with the truck. But, if I win the truck now, is the contest over? or do some of us actually want those Bosch tools?

Maybe Bosch just isn't gonna give up those tools 'till we watch all the videos! But, I wouldn't want to watch the wrong video and win the wrong tool!

Hi Regopit. I don't see any pic of guys wood shop. I have seen some pretty well organized garage shops. Mine is taking shape slowly but surely.

I do believe, if you use your tools for a living, those tools should be failsafe, durable, and 100% dependable. On the other hand, there was once a day when the DIYer could actually save a few bucks by DIYing. No more. Those days are gone. The appeal of new technology has literally eradicated from modern society both our patience and subsequently our ability to work with hand tools. In the process most of us have also lost touch with how woodworking craftsmanship was once a very rewarding and even enviable skill. Today the cost of keeping all that shop tool technology current in the DIY workshop has left the guy who wants to do it himself for the purpose of saving money coming up way short. Short of enough funds left to buy the materials, not to mention quality hardware, just to make the toilet seat he would have made by hand in years gone by. My grandfather and his brother built a two story four bedroom brick home with electricity, indoor plumbing, a full basement, a full width covered front porch, a small covered back porch, an outdoor sleeping porch off the back of the second floor, and a three car detached garage with nothing more than hand tools and sweat. That was less than a hundred years ago. [That home, although rewired and replumbed years later, remains to this day an occupied residence in Delphos, Ohio.] I reckon, at this point, I've got to confess to being more like the rest of us than like my grandpa, bit I do still enjoy seeing a piece of wood change shape as I listen to a plane blade strip off curl after curl of wood as the edge of the work piece gets closer and closer to my pencil line. No shop full of sawdust, no earplugs, no cord, no batteries, just the 'sshheeeeeeek' sound of the blade revealing a whole new surface while releasing more aroma of the fresh cut wood. Nostalgic, therapeutic, somehow more wholesome, and certainly a whole lot less costly, in every imaginable way, than chasing todays technology.

Deal!

Tried to comment to the Video but couldn't. I don't have or want a website and I don't want to be involved with any of the social media networks. Guess I'll just have to be content to participate here on TIA.

I do believe this time we've really gotten to the bottom of things! What next? Eureka!! I've got it! What is you favorite toilet paper and why?

Be wary of HF's pneumatic nails! I have Hitachi air nailers but I also bought HF's cheapie (about $16) 18 gauge nailer/stapler. It works great for rough work. I won't use it for finish work because of it's inconsistent drive depth. But, my experience with HF's 18 gauge nails can not be described without using lots of four letter words. Also, unless you have Bostich nailers, you might want to avoid their nails too. They work well in Bostich nailers, I'm told, but something about their proprietary design keeps them from working dependably in my 15 and 18 gauge Hitachi nailers.

It may be a cold day in ... Umm, ah, Alaska - before I get there but I do bet the experience would have an impact. [Don't believe I said that.]

Wow! Wow! and Double Wow! I'm betting the box joints were for both looks and durability. The tray, being on the inside, doesn't need the looks and is protected by the box so it doesn't need as much durability. You've got to wonder though - about how many hours went into just that video? Not to mention into the tool box itself? Overall - very impressive. Maybe I should build a box for all my Hitachi pneumatic nailers and accessories? Nah!

Been away for a while. Just found this great giveaway link. I didn't win today (first attempt) either. Anybody win anything yet? I could use an old beater pickup but really don't want all the new vehicle hassles. Don't forget you still have to pay the gift tax on that big Ram guzzler. Oh well, maybe one or two of us will get lucky. We have once a day 'till the end of June (if I read it right). Just wonder if I'm up for all that disappointment - Hmmm?

All these old catalogs are really neat. I have always enjoyed using hand tools and going through these can be a real education.

You know you're getting old when; - the guys in the hardware departments have no idea what you're talking about. - you go to look for something by the foot and can only find it in prepackaged 50 foot rolls. - you need 6 of a particular screw. They only come in packages of 5. Two of those packages costs more than you paid for a box of 100 the last time you bought something comparable.

Mr. C: Sounds like you'd have a lot of fun doing quite a few different things. I like the idea of a muscle car but I think I'd try to find a cherry '57 Chevy - my first car (shoulda' kept it). I had a 150 2-door, 283 with a power pack, and an HD seal kit in the slush box. Ran like a striped a$$ ape! The good old days. Being something of a perfectionist, however, I'd probably let the damn thing drive me (no pun intended) crazy looking for original stock parts, etc. I think I'd better stick to makin' splinters.

I just decided. Yup! I need power tools.

I vote for the nylock nuts too. By the way the signage looks great but those steps look absolutely fatal!

I'd probably do much the same thing. New digs with a 1,600 sq. ft. home, a three car garage, and a whole 'nother 2,400sq. ft. building for a wood shop. I'd live in the shop and visit the house for meals, showers, naps, and those occasional household honey-do repairs and improvements. That shop would be the front page article on some issue of America's Best Workshops magazine. Plenty of heat, AC, and 110/220 current everywhere. Lots of windows facing North. Large doors for full sheet access to the lumber storage room. An in-floor full shop dust control system and compressed air hose reels everywhere. The air compressor and main vacuum units would be in a sound baffled separate equipment room. Rock solid and ready to rock, etc, etc, etc. Oh, and a separate clean room for painting. One thing I would do differently, however, is try to work with some tool manufacturer(s) to develop tools designed for woodworking. See my comments on drill presses and jointers in the topic; Are tool Companies Stupid On Purpose?, for my top two pet peeves with some not-really-made-for-woodworking power tools. Then there are band saws which could definitely use adjustable height work tables. And, come to think of it, no planer worth it's salt should snipe the tail end of your work piece. I could go on but you get the idea. I really don't think tool companies are stupid on purpose. It's worse than that. They are stupid by accident caused by greed. They are simply holding their bottom line nickel so close to their eyes they can't see a sales dollar five feet away. I also think there are better ways to enhance the efficiency of a workshop than to build another 4,000 jigs, fixtures, sawhorses, tables, mobile bases, shelves, racks, stands, and other plywood contraptions you and I both see at least one or more of in every issue of ShopNotes magazine. Those things don't really create any space they just create more clutter and sell more hardware. Most of those space saving organizers take up three to five times as much space as the cigar boxes you were perfectly happy with before. And, in the overall scheme of things, they delay you from making the things you really wanted to make in the first place. There is a saying, named after some old and long forgotten philosopher I suppose, that goes something like; The more you know about your trade, the less tools you should need to do it well! At this point, I'm still buying ShopNotes magazine, and believe I should be thankful I can't remember that philosopher's name. Your comments are invited.

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Okay, its early March. The kids are still in school and you don't have to till the garden, pull weeds, or mow lawn yet. You've just learned some rich relative you never knew you had died and left you multiple millions. After paying the taxes, your mortgage, your credit cards, you car loans, setting up college funds for the kids and signing up for Obamacare, you remember your first love - your workshop, your tools, and all the stuff you enjoy doing using them. Kinda' like "If I won the lottery!" Okay! What's your plan?

I was in my local HD yesterday but saw no vendors, no drawing. Guess I must not have gone down the right aisles. Lots of Home & Garden Shows out west. Seems like they are always having one either here in Reno, Sacramento, Stockton, or somewhere in the Bay area. A friend, in Sacramento, has an overhead storage rack/shelf business. His company sells and installs them in home garages. Most of his business comes from show leads so he's usually tied up on weekends doing shows. Doing rather well too I might add. Maybe I should ask him if any of those shows combine with major tool shows. Mostly, from what he tells me, they are primarily landscape and remodel contractors.

I must confess to never having owned a Dewalt product. I've used a couple (a 12" chop saw and an 18v cordless drill) and had no problem with them but never found them worth the price difference.

Sometimes it strikes me that I might have continued working a few years longer. Then I hear a story like this and I'm reminded of how glad I am I didn't.

Perhaps the sink in the closet, especially if it was stainless, was a remnant of a conventional home photo darkroom. Hey! Lima, Ohio is my birthplace. I think I like your pup already!