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I have no idea what magical process occurs but my chisels are sharper after I have stropped them on a bit of leather with buffing compound on it. They are shiner too!

a deeply unfair practice that was not abolished until the 20th century, having been introduced by an 18C scissor maker - Jonathan Watkinson - who insisted his workers create 13 items for every dozen he paid for. This was commemorated in a song called 'Watkinson and his thirteens'...

yep - collectors preserve the overall levels of "stock" by buying up good items and looking after them. Interest drives up demand and as a result some items that would have been scrapped are saved, but over a long enough period stock levels decrease due to wear an tear and the price goes up...

(in the UK) are there actually any commonly used hand tools that have become rare (for whatever reason)? I'd say 'no' (including the router planes that Tasky keeps banging on about!). As said above, interest in hand tools, no matter what the reason, actually increases the supply as tools...

looking good Andy. I love those cramps!

for those that have not seen it, this Woodwright's shop episode has a bit about large cross cut saws, including an explanation of the tooth pattern Rhyolith has (perforated Lance tooth). http://www.pbs.org/video/woodwrights-sh ... conundrum/

this is a good example of the inertia that beset the Sheffield trades - the techniques for hollow grinding razors were actually invented in Sheffield, but it took makers in Hamburg to see the opportunity and put it to good use. By the time Sheffield cutlery makers realised that consumers wanted...

here we go again! it is pretty obvious that the reason for the continuos disagreement on terminology is that it is never been used consistently - it doesn't matter how many references are dug up, old or new, the matter will never be decided. I call the flat bit the face, except when I get...

PS I came across a number of references to 'goff hammers' in the 19th C literature (normally criticising their use by 'foreigners' to make inferior goods ! ). Are they the same as spring hammers?

that's very interesting CC - hopefully you can save me some reading (I have read quite a lot of stuff up to about 1885!): is O1 a particular alloy or a group of steels? Do you know who invented/discovered it?

thanks that is a good film. From what I have read if you have a 19C laminated iron made in sheffield then the chances are it was forged by hand on an anvil in a small workshop housing one or two blacksmiths. It seems Sheffield's reputation for quality + an abundance of good steel and hand...

my own investigations were inspired by Stephen Shepperd's post on laminated irons (where, btw, he concluded the exact opposite to me, based on the prices he uncovered!). http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/?p=1215 one of the comments to his post suggests it may even have been faster to laminate...

many moons ago I said I was trying to investigate the economics of making laminated edge tools in the 19C (yes I know :roll: ). I have now reached a tentative conclusion: with some worst-case assumptions on wages and material costs I worked out that a tool maker producing laminated (e.g) plane...

to be fair CC, much of the views shared on music - and on skills in general - are relevant to woodworking too. Besides, thanks to this thread I am now only 10k hours away from being a world class banjoist and I also now know what embouchure means :)

I think you are both saying the same thing - a structured approach and hard work can get most people a basic level of accomplishment in most things, but having a natural aptitude or particular physical or mental impediment can speed you up or slow you down respectively.

re tradition and innovation: a healthy respect for tradition is entirely sensible since tradition is the result of lots of trial and error and therefore generally represents good solutions. But it is equally sensible to remain open to new ideas - "we've all ways done it this way" can be an...

it is no doubt true that blind adherence to tradition can slow innovation. Mind you, I still preferred it when this thread was about banjos :)

who'd have thunk it - nearly twenty years ago following a tour around West Virginia with my missus I confidently told her I was going to learn the banjo, and tbh not a lot of progress has been made since then :) Thanks to this thread I am seriously thinking about giving it a go. I have zero...

both good points - indeed you can often straighten the blade by turning the saw upside down and then sharply tapping toe on your bench which certainly causes the toe end to move further into the back. I remember seeing a good picture (on this site I think) explaining how the tensioning works...

yes indeed - I wonder if there were any conventions on what steps it was acceptable to omit and whether it varied much according to top end vs utilitarian. We need the views of some furniture historians!