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