Silent woodworking is alive and growing.

The folks at Popular Woodworking magazine have conceived and orchestrated a woodworking event like no other. Woodworking in America promises to be an extraordinary gathering of hand tool enthusiasts and tool makers in Berea, Kentucky.

Today I spoke with Megan Fitzpatrick at Popular Woodworking and she offered the following;

“Our goal is to provide an unparalleled gathering of some of the biggest names in handtool woodworking, from tool makers to master woodworkers, and in a variety of traditions (western and Japanese). “Marquee” names include…well, just about all the speakers. The most well-known are Roy Underhill, Frank Klausz, Mike Dunbar, and Mike Wenzloff.

In addition to the 40 sessions, the “marketplace” is more than just a venue for makers to sell their wares — it’s more of a “show and tell” atmosphere, where attendees can stop by the various booths and ask questions, use the cool tools, and get personal instruction from the actual makers.

We’re very excited, gratified (and very pleasantly surprised) about the immediate and widespread interest, and hope we’ll be able to offer many more of these types of gatherings in the future.”

Michael and I are excited to exhibit our tools and I am honored to join the other speakers to help make this a very memorable weekend for all. There are 37 unique workshops (and 3 repeats) and as of today, approximately 400 woodworkers have signed on! The list of exhibitors is impressive–and there is not a router in the bunch!

As part of the awareness for this event, The Woodworkers Resource is hosting a series interviews with the guest speakers. As of this writing there are two posted, one with Michael Dunbar and the other with that guy from Bridge City Tool Works talking about their tools and the Jointmaker Pro… click the link to listen.

All the hotlinks above are a wealth of information and registration is still open. I think this will be the most talked about woodworking gathering of the year and if at all possible please consider joining us–this is going to be fun!

–John

Yesterday I spent the afternoon playing with our Jointmaker Pro prototype. Here’s a short video of a couple of ideas I pursued–as you can see, the accuracy of this tool is incredible. We are all marveling that I can work in our office doing these things without disturbing anybody. It was one of the best days I have had in a long time!

Here’s a direct link to the YouTube video; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTVKQgOqZSo&fmt=18

Also, the Bridge City forum is now open. This is a moderated forum where you can ask woodworking questions or share information regarding our products. The location for entering the forum is at the bottom of our home page. Click on “Community Forum”.

Years ago there used to be an amazing lumber store in Los Angeles called Penberthy Lumber. Steve Penberthy, rather than stay in Los Angeles to work in the family business, moved to Portland and started Woodcrafters Lumber Sales–which to this day is the largest woodworking store in the Pacific Northwest. They carry just about everything a woodworker could ever want or need, including a few select Bridge City items. They are our favorite resource for wood used in photoshoots and assorted projects.

Steve Penberthy has been a business friend for over 30 years–even though he is the reason I had to quit my furniture making career (he sold me the exotic wood that made me hyper allergic to wood dust). It would be more honest to say this was a result of me not wearing a dust mask, but this is America where somebody else must take the blame… Regardless, it was one of those life changing moments that was meant to be, for which I take full credit.

This morning I hopped over to Woodcrafters to buy some scrap wood for our next Jointmaker Pro video and spotted Steve at the checkout counter.

“I have something for you” he said, and retrieved a pile of Polaroid images.

Sifting, he spotted what he was looking for and handed me an image of John Economaki (that would be me) attending Bridge City’s very first woodworking trade show. The venue was the Cow Palace in San Francisco in early 1984.

I only had two tools to show, the TS-2 Try Square and the SA-2 Scratch Awl. There was no fancy booth, just a table, a 70’s mustache and a story to tell about two tools.

The image has deteriorated but it is the oldest known image of me actually doing something, although that is not obvious either.

-John

Bridge City Tool Works officially began with an ad in the 1983 Nov/Dec issue of Fine Woodworking magazine. As weird as this sounds, that does not seem so long ago to me but this image proves that I must be delusional. Our first full year of operations was 1984. Here it is 25 years later–hmmm, I smell some special events around the corner……

Over the past eleven months we have been working on what may be the most important new tool in our 25 year history. The Jointmaker Pro is a new and safe way of working wood that yields terrific results (unbelievable in some cases), without power or dust collection and is as quiet as sanding by hand.

Last month we released a short video that showed a sampling of this tool’s capabilities. That video has been seen the world around and is the subject of more internet discussions than any woodworking tool that I can remember.

We don’t participate in woodworking forums, so we never respond to criticism or praise. That changed last month when Michael Berg (one of our designers) informed me of a civil woodworking forum that was also intelligent and fun. Simultaneously, I received an email from Matthew Schenker, (who is responsible for this forum) inviting me to participate in a lively discussion regarding the Jointmaker Pro and to answer the many questions already posed by participants.

The Festools Owners Group (FOG) is an avid and highly passionate collection of woodworkers who simply believe in quality tools. They too are vilified by the Woodworking Taliban, so I decided to briefly join their forum to invite one of their members to Portland for an unfettered couple of days with one of our Jointmaker Pro prototypes.

And that is how we met Roger Savatteri.

Roger is a full time woodworker/sculptor whose work is stunning. Unlike many woodworkers, he designs first and figures out how to make his designs later–this is how it always should be.

You can read Roger’s detailed review of the Jointmaker Pro here. In order to see his detailed photographs you must join the FOG forum–I think it is a decision you will not regret, and it is free.

(I particularly enjoyed the section on how to trash a blade..)

There are also a couple of interesting shots of our ball-bearing model of the Jointmaker Pro (since rejected because of price) that you will see only in his review. Most importantly, if you think the Jointmaker Pro has a future in your shop, this is likely the most in-depth review available.

We are planning on taking orders on our site within the next 10 days. If you would like to be informed of the introductory promotion, go here and fill out the info at the bottom of the page–we will then be able to email you when the introductory period begins.

Below are a couple of pics from Roger’s visit in early June.

-John

Roger setting the Jointmaker Pro fence to 90 degrees.

Here Roger cuts his first single pass dovetails.

Our moment for posterity–John, Roger and Michael forcing smiles for the camera.

Light-tight dovetail joints are a hallmark of craftsmanship. The video below illustrates how we make through dovetails using the Jointmaker Pro. In the interest of saving a few megabytes of bandwidth, a little background information is in order…

“Traditional methods” are important, perhaps pertinent, but often times I feel the urge to try ideas that are not 300 years old. That said, the only aspect of dovetailing in this video that is “traditional” (it is such a regressive word) is waste removal by chisel. The rest should be an enlightening combination of speed and accuracy–and easily replicable.

When setting the blade (or the fence) of the Jointmaker Pro to a particular angle, we make practice cuts on wide stock until the stock nests perfectly to a reference (t-bevel or square). All of the prep work for this video was done off camera.

Regarding pins vs tails first, I embrace “whatever works for you”. However, with the Jointmaker Pro we are definitely pro tail (socket) first. The reason is simple, we did not need to layout the tails. You will see us using a stop block for joint symmetry. We also made all of the tail cuts by cutting from both faces of the stock with the blade set at the same angle–this ensures the single pass cuts are also dead symmetrical–this is much faster incredibly accurate…more on this at the end.

By making a zero clearance throat plate, we can make single pass cuts to either side of a line with ease–and so can you. We used 1/8″ aircraft plywood for the false tables and the throat plate. (You only make these once, they can be used over as often as needed.) The video shows minimal layout to mate the pins to the tails–that is all that is required and pencil tic marks worked fine. Of course, you can use whatever method you prefer–we only care about a light-tight joint.

I think you will agree, the saw cuts cannot be improved–by any method. And if you had a complete project (as opposed to our single sample joint) we believe there is not a faster way to hand cut dovetails. Of course layout can be expanded for more complex joints but you don’t need much–the saw does the work perfectly without the need for a thorough visual reference. The saw (assuming a sharp blade) cannot cut crooked unless your set-up was crooked.  In short, the Jointmaker Pro reliably cuts your intent, cut after cut without you worrying about accuracy.

It is incredible to think that EVERY cut is exactly the same depth and perfectly angled. Lastly, this was a first take video and we spent no effort on the proportions of the half and full pins. We just made cuts and chiseled away and you will never guess what happened. I could fit the tails onto the pins from either direction, and that has NEVER happened to me before.

What fun!

–John

PS: I am working on a way to cut half-blind dovetails. I will let you know if I succeed…

If you have a woodworking friend who would like to see this video and not wade through my ramblings, here is the YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_eyFENlSQ0&fmt=18

Thanks to the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824, we Americans inherited a collection of units known as the Imperial system. Imperial units are unbelievably accurate and superior to the metric system in every way–and I can prove it with a singular question:

What is 17-17/32″ divided by three?

And you thought a six-star Sudoku puzzle was hard.

Fortunately, woodworkers are constantly dividing things in half, a much easier task than the gasket blowing problem above (5-27/32″ is the correct answer–took me a day and a half, or .15 payroll period to figure this out ). Try it yourself–dividing 17-17/32″ by two only took me four hours.

Approximately 520 payroll periods ago, we introduced the CS-1 Center Scribe, a cool tool to help Inch Land woodworkers find the center of things without time-consuming calculations. Inchlanders often struggle with the efficiency of Imperial measurements and our CS-1 Center Scribe quickly became one of our most sought after tools to this day.

About 104 payroll periods ago, improvements to the CS-1 came upon me. Fully charged for the redesign, the muse arrived unannounced bearing news of the VP-60 Adjustable Pitch Plane. Immediately thereafter, who should reappear with a radical new design for shoulder planes? And for the past year, I have been obsessed with the Jointmaker Pro–likely the most scrutinized new tool introduction I’ve known.

The image below is of our new, improved Center Scribe.

Briefly, here are the improvements;

• Zero backlash or slippage–no gears.
• Holds a pencil
• Finds centers on square, round or rectangular stock lightning-fast.
• Does not react with humidity
• Field adjustable if needed
• Smoother feel
• More precisely scribed centerlines (not pencil lines for obvious reasons), accurate to within .002″

To learn more, visit the CS-2 Center Scribe pre-production page. And if the CS-2 looks like something you can use, click the panel that states “Notify me when this item is back in stock.” By adding your name to this database we have a much better idea of our manufacturing quantities–you are not placing an order.

Thanks to a suggestion by a good engineering friend, this tool is crazy smooth and accurate. I hope you like it because… well, it’s a payroll thing.

-John

Well, it’s a little after midnight and AGAIN I find it hard to go to sleep. I just spent almost 12 hours on the Popular Woodworking campus talking about the Jointmaker Pro. Although this trip was all about business, I would not dare call it work, only because there was free food, and plenty of dead cicadas… DETOUR: We don’t have cicadas in Oregon (if we do I am sure someone will correct me) and this much dead biomass is fascinating. And loud. Before they die that is. Do the math here–17 years as a hibernating nymph buried next to a big, fat tree root, wake up hungrier than a teenager without a refrigerator, munch on tree sap until the libido overwhelms, spend a couple of hours at the screaming mimi cicada bunny ranch and then croak from exhaustion… This isn’t so bad when you think about it…no SAT tests, background checks, or exit polls–just an incredible, one week, no-strings-attached love fest. Reincarnation requests anyone? How about a Jamba Juice Tree Sap Smoothie?

I digress. Approximately 60 people ventured into Cincinnati to eat free pizza and listen to my Silent Woodworking spiel. (Not quite as bad as one of those guilt ridden timeshare meetings…I hope.)

It is hard to tell if people had a good time, but I found it fun. As many of you know, Chris Schwarz claimed that the cut from the Jointmaker Pro was the cleanest saw cut he has ever seen–by any method. Of course the Woodworking Taliban pilloried him for such nonsense and I believe, if any of the attendees step forward, his critics will join the cicadas in the belly of a street sweeper.

After my presentation, the Jointmaker Pro was moved to the shop and all interested were allowed to make cuts. There were plenty of smiles–and frankly that was worth the trip. I am leaving the prototype with the Popular Woodworking crew for the next month for further play and testing. Oh, and a small detail — nobody lost any digits.

I was treated like a dignitary (I am not, and NEVER want to be) so I had four pieces of pizza, two of which were onion–without which we would still be talking about the Woodworking Taliban at a local watering hole. Smart people, those Popular Woodworking folks.

–John

Thanks to a gracious invite from Chris Schwarz and the Popular Woodworking staff, I will be heading out to Cincinnati for a June 19 presentation on “Silent Woodworking”. This will be an informal, up-close and personal affair centered around our new Jointmaker Pro and several new profiles for the HP6-v2 Mini Multi-Plane. These folks are passionate about hand woodworking and Chris and staff are terrific hosts. The event is F-R-E-E and includes a buffet of real food. Everybody is welcome to give the Jointmaker Pro a go before I go–you will be amazed at what can be done without a power cord.

We are limited to the first 60 attendees because the Cincinnati fire marshal just does not get the concept of free food and woodworkers. Dinner begins at six and if you can make it, I would love to meet you in person (Chris too). In addition to a couple of surprises I have up my sleeve, these things have a habit of spilling over to a local bingo hall afterwards for more serious discussions.

RSVP ASAP via email to Megan Fitzpatrick; Megan.Fitzpatrick@fwpubs.com

I hope to see you there!

-John

The Jointmaker Pro can do things without power that are unimaginable. It is an impressive tool that you can try yourself on June 19th in Cincinnati.

This image vividly illustrates the accuracy capabilities of the Jointmaker Pro. The material is hard-rock maple and was made with 10 strokes.

It is always fun around here when an idea becomes reality. Later this week our new honing guide will be in stock. Although I designed this tool with the specific needs of sharpening our HP6 profiled irons in mind, it will work on just about every tool in your shop. Here’s a peek of the tool in action…

As you can see, the rear roller is flat. We have had several inquiries regarding a roller that is crowned to facilitate relieving the corners of wide plane irons. Although this sounds like a good idea, the math makes no practical sense. For example, if one wants to relieve the corners of a plane iron by .002″-.003″, the crown in the honing guide roller would be around .001″. This is just not a practical idea (in our opinion) when the same results can be achieved with finger pressure applied to each corner during honing. If a more severe crown is required, a barrel shaped roller might make sense, and if you have that need, you can easily remove the stock roller and insert a shop made roller (wood will work) for your needs.

Lastly, it is not clear in this clip but the clamping bridle pivots and will accommodate aggressively tapered tools–the most common of which are Japanese chisels.

Thanks for watching.

-John

Each year, for the past 14 years, we have produced a limited edition Commemorative Tool with the pledge to never make its identical version again. Last year’s edition, one of the more radical designs in the series and one of the most unique, was inspired by my first real fox sighting (you can see the stylized fox profile in the rear of the tool). Commemorative Tool #14, the Fox Tail Shoulder Plane, is now completely sold out (with the exception of a couple of blems with minor cosmetic flaws) and it is time to move on–again. If you missed it the first time around, here is a detailed review of the Foxtail Shoulder plane by David Mathias.

Farewells are often softened with strong memories. The images below, courtesy of our talented photographer, Joe Felzman, are provided as a final tribute to one of my all-time favorite tools.

-John