How dangerous is it to visit Lie-Nielsen? I knew they were in Maine but they are closer to me than I thought. For a tool-a-holic that can’t get past step 1. How dangerous is it to actually visit them?? Can you leave empty handed, or at least with just 1 box, or maybe crate, at the most 1/2 ton truck full??
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Replies
Ben
What are you wanting to do? Its the chicken or the egg question once again. You spend money on the tool and you don't have enough to buy the board.
At the risk of upsetting my fellow knotters- I love the wood and lots of it - not a shelf full of planes and a stack of pine. That's just my cut.
I love hunting for wood. When I find the wood, I get fired up. Tools fall in place as the wood dries and I get the juices flowin'
The finest tool on earth can not make a common looking piece of alder look good -- to me at least. I don't care if the shavings are .000004 thick from the plane. The wood does not move me. Its a little like cooking to me. You put marginal ingredients in- I don't care what new pot, pan or spoon you buy it tastes like marginal ingredients just cooked.
another view
dan
Before I drove down to LN, I would have some killer maple waiting for a plane.
dan
Edited 2/13/2008 8:52 pm ET by danmart
I have a 26" maple tree felled and waiting for a tool to turn it into something usefull. Does that count??
Actually I do not own a decent plane. I have a couple cheapy china ones that were given to me. They work, but loose their edge fairly quickly. Main interest would be to get maybe 2 planes maybe 3.
Edited 2/13/2008 8:58 pm ET by benhasajeep
You should make an effort to visit. This is unlike any woodworkers store you have ever seen. I don't want to say too much and give anything away. Bring your honey and spend a romantic weekend in Camden. You will be a hero and deserving of a little self indulgence.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
I agree with Hammer1.Take your better half with you for the weekend. While you're there DO make the effort
to visit the gallery at The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport
(see: http://www.woodschool.org) You might even meet Peter Korn while there. You would also
"need" to go to the Windsor Chairmakers in Lincolnville - http://www.windsorchair.com
(6 miles north of Camden).Windsor Chairmakers not only has a showroom to drool over - but you can actually
tour their workshop, watch the craftsmen work & talk with them about projects being
built! Not sure if the craftsmen work on weekends...but well worth the visit.Both places are less than 30 minutes from downtown Camden.I'm not affiliated with these folks. Just a former student at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship & long time visitor to the Windsor Chairmakers. I have a long-time
love affair with the area and even got married oceanside in Camden a few years back.While I've driven past LN many times - my schedule has not yet allowed me to stop in
to see the place. GO! It will be a weekend to remember!Bill-
Bill,
Can you tell me if the Crescent Beach Inn is still in Owls Head? I stayed there a long time ago on my way to Nova Scotia; beautiful, old time and quaint. I'll never forget the floor in the hallway upstairs. It looked like ocean waves!
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob,I just did a Google search and couldn't find Crescent Beach Inn in Owls Head.
I would recommend the place I was married at - if you're looking for a place to stay.
Check out: http://www.victorianbythesea.com. The Husband Inn Keeper was a bit too
chatty for my taste. But everything else was the best!Bill-
Hi Bill,
I Googled it B4 posting the last one and I got: http://www.innbythesea.com/ .
It talks about a lot of remodeling/rebuilding has been done and it sounded like the old inn has been replaced.
When I was there they had pictures of trains that used to bring folks from Boston back at the turn of the 19th century. Walking down that hallway one could get seasick!
There was a small island just off the coast and they had a small picnic area on it. The innkeeper supplie dus with all the necessaries and for lunch. We had fresh lobster from their traps that we hauled on the way to the island. Unbelievable day for a young couple! Lots fond memories from that trip.
Visiting the shops on main street in Camden is worth the trip alone I think.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.
Glaucon
If you don't think too good, then don't think too much...
Do the words "Kid in a candy shop" mean anything to you?
I'm just wondering - are there any special 'factory direct' prices by going there, or are they all catalog prices?
Tom's Workbench
http://tomsworkbench.com
Mid Coast, The Jewel of Maine
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Man that pic of Camden sure brings back some memories.
Thanks,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Hammer: You're right about Camden. We visited by boat many times. Anchored across the bay in Pulpit Harbor. View back toward Camden at sunset was unreal!!
Lots to see in that area.
Bruce
Hey this is the first time I am responding in the forums but let me tell everyone who has not been to Rockport/Rockland area something.. GO!!! I lived there last year about this time for the 3 month course at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship and man has it changed my life. The people, the town life, the scenery and yes the Lie-Nielsen store was a weekly thing for me. I didn't buy stuff all the time but you can go in there and get a feel of what you are about to buy. I am only 23 and have been building since I was 15 and I have learned that its not the tools that make the woodworker but the heart you put into it, but then again good steel that can keep an edge longer doesn't help either.. Oh and please go see the Studio Fellowship program at CFC, amazing people and amazing works of art. Hopefully in a couple years Ill be back there for their 9 month Program. - Joshua Lazar
Sheesh, thanks a lot!
The only place in the world I'd rather be and you have to rub my nose in it with photos.
I was walking some property outside Milbridge the moment 9-11 happened. We put things on hold and planned to return to finish a deal. Never happened. The DW didn't want to be that far from the kids, etc. I had bypass surgery....... I have a long history and love affair with Maine. My home is like a shrine to Maine and "down east". Still get the magazine, too.
When I retired the kids threw me a dinner party with LIVE MAINE LOBSTERS flown in. Oh, what a treat that was!
Sorry, carry on..........................................
...The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it. -Mark Twain...Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home....aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!
Edited 2/17/2008 3:10 am by oldbeachbum
You wouldn't happen to be ex-Navy, Beach? A lot of folks that were stationed in Winter Harbor never want to leave. Milbridge is a little removed from the rest of civilization. If you've been there, you have seen some of Maine that most tourists don't get to see, ayhuh. Nothing quite like a pile of lobsters baking in seaweed on the shore, don't forget the fresh haddock, steamers and mussels. If it makes you feel better, the bankings on my driveway are 4' tall with snow and my nostrils froze when I went out for the paper this morning. It will be the second week of May before we put away the longjohns. Hope my wood pile lasts until then!Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
No, not Navy.
We walked 3 or 4 beautiful properties; South Addison near Cape Split, Cherryfield, Jonesport, another near Machias, too, as well as Milbridge. We really enjoy the shore and from the Schoodic pen. down east. All of Maine is primo to me. The DW has family in York Co., Mass., and New Brunswick so we do get back occasionally.
Snow & cold were considered. I miss it (nuts, huh?) I grew up above Syracuse, NY. The DW agreed to a new toy if we moved there. A snowblower. I told her if I couldn't make it with a snowblower and 4X then I'd stay in until I could.
Maybe I can get to live there in my next life. I grew up my summers in various places along the south coast, mostly York in the 50's. We are now just north of a little place called Oysterville, Wa (pop. 48). If you Google Earth you can see we are kind of on the edge and away from major population centers. ;0) I'm about 1 mile from the beach and 3/4 mile from the bay. We don't have the granite and rocks here. All sand. You can drive our beach for about 23 uninterrupted miles at low or high tide. It is the greatest place to fly kites. Razor clams and crab, no lobster. :( It's not Maine but it is home now and we love it here as well....The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it. -Mark Twain...Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home....aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!
Can you leave empty handed, or at least with just 1 box, or maybe crate, at the most 1/2 ton truck full??
I get a professional driver with a Big Rig and have a Cell Phone to call your Broker to sell your stock in order to pay for the stuff you see!
benhasajeep
I own a few of their planes and lust for more.. They are sinfullly great. Please visit there for my sake.
If you haven't already been, and before you drop a mortgage payment at Lie-Nielsen, consider a trip to Liberty Tool. (It's in Liberty, amazingly.)
Every conceivable used tool known to mankind...
We accidentally discovered LN on a trip out to Acadia last Spring. I live in WA state, and had no idea until we drove into town (Oh, this is Warren... hey, I wonder if... OOOOOOH! THERE IT IS!).
No one will believe that this wasn't a set-up, but it was 2 weeks before my birthday. My lovely wife covered a low-angle adjustable block plane, and a bronze #3. My father-in-law got a hat. They had these relatively cheap but well made file handles, so I spent a princely 5 or 6 bucks, myself. I think back, and I get envious of myself...
Stop in the showroom and they give you a 5 or 10% break - basically knocks the tax off the cost. Needless to say, they have a pretty good selection of L-N planes. Hot off the press, so to speak!
where is lie-nelson. I'm in MA and go to ME every year.
Ductape can fix EVERYTHING!!!
Right on route 1 in Warren Maine, about 30 miles up the coast past Bath. About 3.5 hours from Boston. As others have mentioned, lots of other stuff to see in the area. Along with woodworking sites, the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland is always worth a trip and Primo is one of the best restaurants you'll ever eat in anywhere, also in Rockland.
cool thanks
Ductape can fix EVERYTHING!!!
C'mon inside. I left a few things . . .
I noticed you left out a picture of the inside. You must be hiding the true dangers of visiting. :-)
Ah, Grasshopper, the time honored question....
...now the answer...
One must puchase what one fondles...........................Go for it! ;0)
...The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it. -Mark Twain...Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home....aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!
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