Hello Folks I’ve a request to make. I’m working on a site devoted to modern day makers of hand tools, be they woodworking, metalworking, leatherworking, &c. c. This is going to be a free site, no paid advertising, just images and links to modern day maker of tools. I’m not even going to pass judgement. If you make tools for sale or for barter, that’s good enough for me. If you’ld like to be included, or know of someone to recommend, please drop me a line. The site will be a subdomain of my primary site. It will go live when I have enough to populate a decent set of pages. Thanks Gary
Gary Roberts
Dedham, MA USA
http://toolemera.com
http://toolemerablog.typepad.com/;
Replies
Great Idea.
Thanks!
BB
BB... it's called early retirement (in my case, long term disability... lousy feet). What else am I going to do besides weed the garden? GaryGary Roberts Dedham, MA USA http://toolemera.com http://toolemerablog.typepad.com/
Maybe spend a day or two in the bed with your wife and have food and drinks brought in by automible from far away..
Great! Remind us when it's up.
Will do. I forgot to mention that tool makers who simply like to make tools (but not for sale or trade) are welcome too. It's all about showcasing what drives the wood world. The book arts people already have some good sites of this sort, so why not us?Gary Roberts Dedham, MA USA http://toolemera.com http://toolemerablog.typepad.com/
Wheeeu . . . I searched and searched for this thread and could not find it
http://forums.taunton.com/fw-knots/messages?msg=44977.21
Then when looking for something else I found it. Naturally. Any way get this guy ( Bob Ross ) with the scraper sharpener jig on your list !
Bob,
Yah I know I haven't sent test info from my use sorry, sorry , sorry ( : {
roc
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 6/17/2009 12:22 am by roc
I'll drop Bob a line to see if he is interested. As for testing, I'm not going to judge anybody about anything. I plan on applying the Oldtools email list rules: one complaint and you're on notice. two complaints from two different people and you're history. Otherwise, it's up the listing party to do what they will... from my end it will just be an organized compilation. GaryGary Roberts Dedham, MA USA http://toolemera.com http://toolemerablog.typepad.com/
The new site will be named "Luddites R Us" at a new domain ludditesrus.com... which is no where near live so don't look for it. I'll figure out if the big folks like LN and Veritas will be listed. GaryGary Roberts Dedham, MA USA http://toolemera.com http://toolemerablog.typepad.com/
i don't know about the new name. I'm not a luddite, the reason I like hand tools and manufacture them is not because I have a nostalgia for the past or I am afraid of change. I like working with hand tools because it's fun!! and for some operations it's faster than using power tools. it makes good sense is all. And the new crop of manufacterers are anything but luddite. We try pushing the envelope on how to make better and better tools, in some cases using new technology, some cases by rediscovering the old technology. And I used not to but now I have a lot of power tools too.
Joel
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com
Joel It's all tongue-in-cheek. The original Luddites failed because they didn't realize that society had already moved to a machine dependent state. They didn't even realize that the very textile machines they used in their homes were... machines. By strict definition, even an atlatl is a machine. The foot driven bellows in a blacksmith forge is a machine and so on. Never fear, I won't call myself King Ludd or Captain Ludd. I believe in a certain amount of free-range web development, even if the web is built upon some of the most complex machinery yet invented. I too use power tools for many operations. I would be lost (and suffer aching elbows) without a band saw or a cordless drill. It's also a domain name I've been dying to use for some time now. It feeds my sense of the absurd and the contrary in using the internet to champion the making, use and scholarship of hand tools and hand crafts. Now if only the 'long s' would be made part of the Microsoft pantheon of fonts, I'ld be happy. Or perhaps the new domain will end up as something else. The morning tide washes away the lines we draw. Best GaryGary Roberts Dedham, MA USA http://toolemera.com http://toolemerablog.typepad.com/
Edited 6/17/2009 8:45 pm ET by Toolemera
Gary,
I can understand your wanting to use it tongue in cheek but the phrase "luddite" is loaded with modern prejudices. I routinely get asked in all seriousness by even major important woodworkers about who would possibly be interested in hand tools today. So using the phrase today has connotations that imply a backward look, my point is that it's not. Another thing that isn't really related but has bearing is that the internet has made it possible for hundreds of small manufacturers to find a world wide specialist market. For example I don't think it's an accident that since Arthur Price went out of business in the late 1940's dozens of people have tried starting up an infill plane manufactury of one type or another. Except for St. James Bay which has been around for a very long time, none of the newcomers were very successfull until the arrival of the Internet. Now because of the ability of a small company to be found internationally we have at least 1/2 dozen infill makers and 3 serious wooden plane makers all making viable businesses. This is a grand thing and something I think you touch upon with your idea for a website. and of course it's not just planes. It's everything saws, chisels, sharpening stones, bookbinding tools, paper-making, you name it. Joel
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com
Joel I agree with you one hundred percent. So much so, I've just entered a blog post covering this topic. Will the site end up with the name Luddites R Us or something different? I may end up using Luddites R Us for an entirely different purpose. It wouldn't be the first domain name I've registered and not used, or used. It makes me feel important and powerful to own a domain name. Must be something that happened in my childhood. Ephemera was at one time considered to mean any paper item that was of little use to tomorrow. No right-thinking archivist, curator or academic would have thought for a moment that collecting, categorizing and storing ephemera was of importance. Ephemera was to be thrown away, as the term meant it to be. In the early Victorian sense of the word, to term an item Ephemera was to relegate it to the dustbin. Now Ephemera is highly collectible and often pricey too boot. Perhaps it's time to move the Luddites into the modern world. Now wouldn't that be a kick in the broadcloth pants? Best Gary Gary Roberts Dedham, MA USA http://toolemera.com http://toolemerablog.typepad.com/
Joel... then there is handtoolmakers.com, yet another domain registered to my small pantheon of holdings. Somehow the whole get-rich-quick on the internet thing had passed me by. I should have registered something like apple.com or msn.com a long time ago. GaryGary Roberts Dedham, MA USA http://toolemera.com http://toolemerablog.typepad.com/
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