Came home today to a lovely delivery of new hand tools ordered from David Barron. I have seen a few posts on this site referring to his dovetail guide so i went and watched a few videos.... The quality of the guide looked good and the principle a simple one so i decided to order one along with a knew concepts fret saw, Japanese dovetail saw and the small brass and ash chisel mallet.
So my first impressions of it all - AMAZING. Now i know the Japanese saw or the Knew concepts saw are not specific to David but its the first time i have handled either and i have to say both feel good - The Knew concepts saw is like a feather and despite it being one of the cheaper models i do not feel the quality is at all compromised with changing and tensioning the blade being quick and simple but still reassuringly solid.
The chisel hammer is a beautiful little thing and i had never really realised how much extra control it could give on fine operations as i had leant with a large traditional wooden mallet at evening classes last year and this is what i went on to buy myself. The head of this little mallet is solid brass with one face being curved which i am presuming is intended to allow you to tap pieces together without risk of a square edge marking the timber.
And finally.... the dovetail guide. i ordered the 1:6 guide as recommended by David. It is made out of aluminium and is, i assume cnc milled from a solid ingot. the magnets are of a good strength without being to strong and are covered with a thin low friction plastic film to help the sawing action and to prevent scratching the saw (a couple of extra squares are this are included as spares.) The underside has 2 squares of course sandpaper stuck at 90 degrees to each other to help the guide grip the timber.
I also have to say what a great guy David is to deal with. Very helpful and answers questions promptly and advises honestly as opposed to trying to get more money out of you. Delivery was prompt and everything was well packaged.
IMG_0560 by Peter Cadman, on Flickr
So my first impressions of it all - AMAZING. Now i know the Japanese saw or the Knew concepts saw are not specific to David but its the first time i have handled either and i have to say both feel good - The Knew concepts saw is like a feather and despite it being one of the cheaper models i do not feel the quality is at all compromised with changing and tensioning the blade being quick and simple but still reassuringly solid.
The chisel hammer is a beautiful little thing and i had never really realised how much extra control it could give on fine operations as i had leant with a large traditional wooden mallet at evening classes last year and this is what i went on to buy myself. The head of this little mallet is solid brass with one face being curved which i am presuming is intended to allow you to tap pieces together without risk of a square edge marking the timber.
And finally.... the dovetail guide. i ordered the 1:6 guide as recommended by David. It is made out of aluminium and is, i assume cnc milled from a solid ingot. the magnets are of a good strength without being to strong and are covered with a thin low friction plastic film to help the sawing action and to prevent scratching the saw (a couple of extra squares are this are included as spares.) The underside has 2 squares of course sandpaper stuck at 90 degrees to each other to help the guide grip the timber.
I also have to say what a great guy David is to deal with. Very helpful and answers questions promptly and advises honestly as opposed to trying to get more money out of you. Delivery was prompt and everything was well packaged.
IMG_0560 by Peter Cadman, on Flickr
thats 3 oak boards, 4 walnut boards, 2 ash (and a tiny scrap that will make a nice small serving board) and 2 Cherry boards!!! All that for £60 (big thanks to Paul of Goulden Hardwoods for meeting me in a pub car park and doing a deal)
