Replies

1. 
   mbholden | Feb 09, 2008 08:38pm | #1

   Thanks for posting this.

   Does anyone have any information on that multi-bladed chinese scraper?

   It was fascinating.

   Mike

1. 
   chscholz | Feb 10, 2008 08:44pm | #14

   Yes, these Chinese scrapers pop up occasionally. No surprise, the 15th century woodworkers preferred gnarly old hardwoods that they sourced from remote mountain regions; wood species we call exotic were rather mundane for the Chinese woodworker. But in general the history of Chinese woodworking tools still has to be written.

   The Hommel collection at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA, might well be the only systematic collection of Chinese woodworking tools in existence today (never been there but sure would like to see an article in FWW/PW or such publication).

   In another forum someone speculated that these type of scraper are used in some form of production environment. Im my opinion this is plausible since it is well known that the 16/17th century Chinese lived in what we now call a proto-consumer society with proto-industrial manufacturing and a generally wealthy population (very comparable to our modern post-industrial consumer society).

   Personally I have never seen one of these scrapers in real live, maybe these scrapers are a regional thing. Does anybody know in which part of China Mr. Carter acquired this tool?

   Thank you.

   ---

   Chris Scholz

   Atlanta, GA

   Galoot-Tools

   Edited 2/10/2008 1:04 pm ET by chscholz

2. 
   saschafer | Feb 09, 2008 09:44pm | #2

   I see that the former President is a Pins First guy.

   -Steve

    

3. 
   Jimurock | Feb 09, 2008 11:16pm | #3

   And he wears gloves around machinery.  Must be OK.

   Jim

4. 
   BriMcG | Feb 10, 2008 06:28am | #4

   Thanks for the video. Last week I sent a photograph that I found of him in his shop to the Carter center in hopes I might get it autographed. I plan on building a nice frame and hanging it in the shop right up there with Norm.

   I'm aware of William H Macy and Andy Rooney being Woodworkers, but does anyone know any other celebs that are woodworkers?

   Might as well start yet another collection.

   Thanks, Brian

1. 
   saschafer | Feb 10, 2008 06:52am | #5

   Perhaps not quite at the same level of celebrityness, but Tom Bodett is also a woodworker.

   -Steve

    

1. 
   BriMcG | Feb 10, 2008 10:31am | #8

   Hey great thanks! He's great on PBS.

2. 
   oldbeachbum | Feb 10, 2008 07:01am | #6

   Add this one of St. Norman if you do not already have one....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 !!

   
1. 
   BriMcG | Feb 10, 2008 10:30am | #7

   Beautiful...Thanks!

   Brian

2. 
   Dave45 | Feb 10, 2008 05:00pm | #10

   I don't think that Norm can even be a saint.  Someone told me that he was the most popular Jewish carpenter in over 2000 years. - lol

1. 
   oldbeachbum | Feb 10, 2008 07:41pm | #13

   ...and look what happened to THAT family.......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 !!

3. 
   joinerswork | Feb 10, 2008 05:26pm | #11

   BRi,

   I read somewhere that Sean Connery was a French polisher, before achieving acting fame. 

   Ray 

   edit:  I guess that Ike and Tina, the turners, wouldn't count...

   Edited 2/10/2008 9:27 am ET by joinerswork

1. 
   SARGEgrinder47 | Feb 11, 2008 12:35am | #16

    "I guess that Ike and Tina, the turners, wouldn't count... ".. Ray

   **********

   Probably not.. but I'm "rolling on a river" thinking "why not". Back down to the shop as the "big wheels keep on rollin" when I forget to turn them off...  :>)

   Sarge..

1. 
   joinerswork | Feb 11, 2008 04:45pm | #18

   All,

   How about fictional works that feature woodworkers as characters?  I don't mean characters who are woodworkers, who also write books ;-)

   Adam Bede, by George Elliot, features the title character, a carpenter/joiner who falls in love with a girl who was taken advantage of, by the wealthy ne-er-do-well.

   One of the Russian classics, was it Anna Karanina? Had a character, an old gent, was it Anna's dad?, who had a lathe in his room, where he turned ornamental vases and goblets. Must have been a Holtzapfel.

   Read a book written back in the early 1900's called The Woodcarver of Olympus, title character was an injured WWI veteran who took to carving as a way of making a living after the war. Not a classic, I don't recall the author, but a pretty good read.

   Then there is Gene Stratton Porter's Freddie, who, although not a woodworker per se, is the watchman over the Limberlost, a forest tract that is being lumbered.

   And there was a book by Stewart Edward White, I think it was The Rules of the Game, written about the early lumber industry in California.  The lead character is a timber cruiser who advances to foreman of a large lumber company, (and wins the girl).

   Ray

    

1. 
   EdHarrison | Feb 12, 2008 04:35pm | #22

   William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" (one of his best novels) features a humorous character, Cash, who is a woodworker. At the beginning of the novel, he is building his mother's coffin with handtools and some of the process is described.Faulkner himself, was an inveterate house-remodeler and carpenter. There are also many existing photographs of him working on a wooden houseboat which he built with some friends and which later sank mysteriously in Lake Sardis.

2. 
   joinerswork | Feb 12, 2008 05:09pm | #23

   Thanks Ed,

   I'll look for it.  I've read some Faulkner, but not that one.  If I remember, Adam Bede starts with him building a coffin for  someone.

   Ray

3. 
   saschafer | Feb 12, 2008 05:16pm | #24

   There was an early episode of Homicide: Life on the Street that featured a plot line involving a woodworker. He was building a coffin, which, as it turned out, was for himself.

   -Steve

    

4. 
   stantheman | Feb 12, 2008 10:34pm | #25

   Then there is the table saw safety lesson in the first part of "Walk the Line"  the Johnny Cash story.

2. 
   mufti | Feb 13, 2008 10:09pm | #30

               And I thought he came from Scotland! It just shows to go you.

   I read slowly these days, you have time to edit before I get to the mistooks.

1. 
   joinerswork | Feb 14, 2008 05:34pm | #32

   mufti,

   Haha I get it. How can he be  French, and polish, and Scottish all at once?  Multi-talented, obviously. 

   Ray

4. 
   blewcrowe | Feb 11, 2008 05:29pm | #19

   Woodie Harrelson?

1. 
   BriMcG | Feb 12, 2008 09:40am | #20

   Really? Seems like he might. I'll check it out. Thx, Brian

1. 
   blewcrowe | Feb 12, 2008 04:07pm | #21

   Yeah. Woodie Harrelson and Woody Woodpecker.

1. 
   BriMcG | Feb 13, 2008 12:28am | #26

   He could drive a mean hole!

2. 
   blewcrowe | Feb 13, 2008 12:37am | #27

   But he didn't drill with the power of Woodrow Wilson.

   Gawd, this is really getting bad, isn't it.

3. 
   mufti | Feb 13, 2008 10:16pm | #31

             But he couldn't hole a mean drive- it can get worse.

5. 
   woodbadger | Feb 13, 2008 08:07am | #28

   Harrison Ford  was working as a carpenter between acting jobs. I 've read that while making the  movie about the Amish boy that sees a murder(I think its called" the witness")that he actually made the toy that his character made in the film. I don't know how active he is in woodworking these days. 

1. 
   BriMcG | Feb 13, 2008 08:09am | #29

   Thx, I'll put him on the list. Brian

5. 
   SethFrankel | Feb 10, 2008 04:16pm | #9

   Here's a link to the bench he's selling at auction to benefit the Carter Center.

   http://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/winterweekendauctions_2008.html

   Good thing it has such a famous maker and won't get regular use...no way that back could support any significant pressure. The dovetail joints that support the back just wouldn't hold up to much more than the most gentle use. Take a look.

   Don't get me wrong...I'm thrilled having such a well regarded and public figure showing the world what we love. I'm sure Mr. Carter would love to sit around and talk the merits of joinery.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 2/10/2008 8:22 am ET by SethFrankel

6. 
   oldbeachbum | Feb 10, 2008 07:39pm | #12

   Only in MDF and biscuited mitres.  ;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 !!

7. 
   oldbeachbum | Feb 10, 2008 10:21pm | #15

   I won't say a word.  Someone may object.

   ...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 !!

8. 
   BriMcG | Feb 11, 2008 03:33am | #17

   Really! Thx, I'll look into it. Brian