A couple of weeks ago, the hipster geniuses at Tools for Working Wood sent out a new publication called ‘Modern Edge Tools’. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can download it from their site. Personally, I think it’s worth every second you can spare. I defy anyone to read “Saw Veneer in your Spare Time” and not marvel at the human spirit and laugh at human folly. Brilliant stuff.
Maybe even better than the print, though, are the videos that accompany it on the company’s MET page. Last summer, TFWW’s Ben Seltzer took a trip to the UK and shot video of the toolmaking operations at a trio of old-school operations: Clico/Clifton, Ray Iles, and Ashley Iles. Anyone who has even a passing interest in toolmaking and craftsmanship should watch them.
After a serious rinse/repeat cycle from Mother Nature this year, Brooklyn’s best tool vendor deserves a huge round of applause for their work. In addition to being damn funny, Joel and crew have a positive genius for reintroducing historical practices, tools, and techniques to the modern handtool world. They make the best production backsaws I’ve ever used, they resurrected the turning saw for the new millennium, and if you are reading this blog it’s a pretty safe bet that you’re using their holdfasts (and that you probably hadn’t ever used a holdfast before they brought them back to popularity).
Watch the videos. Read the booklet. And have a merry merry Xmas.