● Shop Made Tools

For some people, shop made tools are not desirable options. After all, a lot of the fun in woodworking is showing off your new tools and wood shop to your woodworking friends. Conventional thinking considers a shop full of old, vintage tool finds to be better than so-called amateur made tools. It is not self-affirming… for some.

Plan. Project. Scheme.

Just for this little time, imagine making a tool that you can actually use for your own purpose.

Collecting tools can be addictive and expensive. It can also become a slippery slope that proves difficult to escape.

• If I don’t need it, then, why do I want it? Is it for bragging rights?
  
  

Sometimes, instead of doing the work or making things, the pursuit and acquisition of tools becomes the end game. The metamorphosed collector begins the hunt for the grail of tools and may quit woodworking altogether. It’s difficult to do both!

There is always a new tool on the market that everyone has to have. I try to discipline myself.

• Can I find a great vintage example of this tool for a good price?
  
  

There are a number of tools and accessories that I would love to hoard own. However, I’ve made it an intentional practice to maintain a small, manageable tool kit.

Do I need another tool?

If the goal is to build a new shop with a new kit, a reasonable answer may be yes. For more seasoned woodworkers who feel that they have been using their old tools for too long, the answer can be unsettling.

• Do I need it? Do I have one or a version of this one already?
  
  

Wood mask carver, LaCharles James, summed up the requirements this way: tools are geared to taking away wood accurately, easily, and safely.

That’s all I need.

Right now, I have a small tool kit. I like to use all my tools. I know them well.

Shop made tools fill the gaps

Here’s an example that totally represents the self-reliance and freedom principles of sloyd and Kwanzaa — the tiny drawknife.

I already have drawknives in my tool kit. At times, I lamented that I did not have a tiny one that would be perfect for smaller projects. I just tucked this wish into the back of my mind, but kept my eyes open for a 4″ or 6″ draw knife while antiquing. Those little tools are difficult to find.

• Is this a candidate for a shop made tool?
  
  

One day a simple 6″ forged iron draw knife blank offered me the perfect opportunity to see if I could make this tool. Just who made the blank, an amateur blacksmith perhaps, I do not know. The price was right so I bought the blank and went to work.

Birth of a drawknife

First, I needed to make handles for this little tool. Then, I decided that making a leather sheath to cover the blade was only proper.

I don’t have a lathe to turn the handles so I cut a blank from walnut and shaped it with a rasp and sandpaper. The blank is long enough for two handles. Then, I cut it in half for the pieces needed to attach to the tangs.

See one of the handles already shaped with a rasp. The neck will be fitted with a ferrule. The other half-handle blank is marked using the first one as a template. Then it’s ready to be finished in the same manner.

Shop made tools don’t have to be crude

For each handle, a small amount of epoxy glue was squeezed into holes that were drilled the length of the tangs. The now roughened tangs were inserted and left to set. Finally, the drawknife handles were finished with walnut oil.

Now, I did not stop there. I gave the blade a brief treatment on a small sharpening stone. Then it was time to fit a protective, leather sheath to cover the blade edge. The sheath was simply finished with beeswax blended with turpentine. Instead of the usual snap closing, I threaded twine cord through two holes in the sheath flap and wrapped it around for a rustic look.

This was a fun project. I learned a lot from the research into drawknives. At the same time, it addressed a want/need. In all, another “cousin” was added to my family of shop made tools.

I repeat: that’s all you need. Does it seem like I’m trying to convince myself?

Sometimes what we want and what we need are the same thing. Isn’t that true in life? Can you be satisfied with a shop made tool?

Answer only to yourself

There are many justifications to buy a new tool. There are just as many reasons not to. The way I see it, they’re all valid.

New, shiny tools calling your name sometimes make it difficult to adhere to your code, i.e, lifestyle philosophy or budget.

• Can I afford it? (Not always a good question, haha!)
  
  

Frequently, the price of a tool is not within range and never will be. When has that ever stopped a determined tool hunter?

I am not immune to the beckoning and furor caused by the latest offerings from the tool makers of today. In a case like this, I may have to plan and devise a strategy to acquire one.

• Can I pass up this tool for the moment and revisit it in a week, month, or even a year?
  
  

Often, I’ve found that my desire for the tool diminishes over time and I let it go.

My hankering for a particular tool may not go away. In that case, I still ask my questions. I still look at my motives. If any other sensible option will not cut it, then I buy the tool.

Later, after all that waiting, thinking, and finally buying, I try not to second guess myself.

I just step up to my workbench…

I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. – Vincent Van Gogh

–Shirley J ❤️