I am a beginner to woodwork, the main test I have with this bundle ru-vid.comUgkxTNB_zFBSnTo_O1PqfVUwgi7ityw0JlKt is that I think that its hard to settle on a choice of the plan and outline to use as there are a large portion of them there. Nonetheless, I like the simple stride to step directions laid out there.
That’s Rex’s super power. He lures you in with gadgets and ensnares you with knowledge tinged with nostalgia. He’s used the same trick to hornswaggle me out of dozens of hours of my life. That’s not counting the vice I made out of a scaffold jack, or the myriad other projects he Pied Piper’d me into undertaking. I blame him for most of the polished aspects on my woodworking projects [Kerfuffles?]. I look forward to continuing to blame him for a good long while. Cheers!
Anyone who has ever restored old tools, furniture, or houses has employed the same deductive process (with varying degrees of success, of course), and I think most of us would enjoy seeing more videos such as this one.
Absolutely second that assessment. In every house and piece of furniture You also can find where they bodged to make it look good/OK or straight without it actually being straight. It helps to try it with hand-tools only to understand what they did to get the thing outta the workshop asap and still be paid full price for it. That is what makes Rex' videos so special - he knows it because he not only tried once but finished his various hand-tool-projects.
I'd love a "tools stories" series! Toolmaking is lots of fun! I'd love it even more if you kept on coming at us with life lessons to learn from the tools we use!
Yes, continue with Tool Stories. At the end, I started to think I knew Joey the timber framer. I do this every time I pick up one of my Dad or Grandfather's old tools with all the scrapes, bangs, sharpening scratches and modifications. Seem I go to them more often than my shiny newer tools. When I pick them up, channel my inner Dad and Grandfather into my work. If anything I think of them and appreciate everything they passed on to me. 3/7/2024
Absolutely!! I think you provide a comfortable level of insight making it impossible to disagree with your profound observation and reasoning. A series? I see the evolution of a show. I'm not British, so I won't say simply brilliant. The intricacies and complexities disallow me. So bravo sir.
Yes, I would love to see more tool stories. My grandfather was an on-again, off-again lumberjack in Idaho. As a result he ended up with timber to mill and work in his barn. Many of his, and his father's tools are still around and I have been known to spend time with them sussing out how they did the work and used them. Imagining the work and the workers I descend from.
These forensic investigations of antique & vintage stuff are among my favorite videos on wood working. I would honestly watch a whole half hour of TV doing a couple of these investigations in an episode.
Rex, as a reproducer of historic objects, I spend a lot of time following the tool marks of the originals, and I am loving this forensics video. It really shows how much you can learn about someone by studying the objects they leave behind. I would be super thrilled to see this become a regular channel contribution. Keep up the good work!
My personal favourite piece of furniture is a slightly crooked, pretty rural cupboard an apprentice built all alone as his final exam shortly after WW I here in my hometown in Alpine Bavaria - an exam which he failed, and quite completely so, having made about every mistake in the book. He made a second cupboard half a year later when he was allowed to apply for the exam next time and got full approval from every master in the guild in 1919, plus was awarded best apprentice finishing that summer, then immediately took off to open his own furniture business which ended up as an eighthundred employees fabrication at the time of his death in 1984. I was lucky to hear and being showed every single mistake he made with his first cupboard, and how he fixed what was fixable. Apprentices had to buy back their own work would they have wanted to keep it back then, because usually the master sold it off to get back the costs for materials - no one was interested in my grandad's first faulty fail of a cupboard, so he was given the dreadful thing and thus could hone his mistake-correcting abilities on it. He never threw it out and lastly gave it to me because I always was the one interested in the crooked thing and its obvious mistakes.
I love this tool story. I am facinated by history. In the past I have concentrated on military history. Since taking up woodwork as a hobby, I've become more and more interested in the history of woodwork. It is facinating just how long certain tools have been around, and how old many techniques are. I also studied geology, so am used to reading the history of an object from small clues in an item's morphology. And by studying the history of woodworking I'm learning how people built things, instead of how they killed each other. That's so much more rewarding. So please more of this!
YES YES YES! Please do more tool stories! This is fantastic! I love finding the story in my own tools. I go on to imagine what my tools did, on a day to day basis!
Tool stories is a great idea. It is what many of us do when we pick up old tools and can't for reasons, put them to work right away. Enjoyed this immensely!
More Tool Stories? YES PLEASE! Really enjoyed your examination and explanation of the tool, its history and usage. Always a big fan of "rest of the story" stories. Tools are neat, but understanding the tool from user and usage perspective helps me learn more about the tool and ways I should/could be using it. Great job!
Yes.....More tool stories please. Thank you. Gonna dig out my great grandfathers marking guage in a little while and rewatch this video to see what I can find. Very well done man.
I love the idea of doing a series on tool stories! I geek out on old tools and even though I have to admit that Rex is right that the important thing is getting projects done, I probably spend more time finding, restoring, and playing with old tools than building finished projects to show for all the tools I end up with. Learning the history and usage of tools like this is so cool, thanks Rex!
Great video. I am brand new to woodworking, about 3 months, I learned quickly that I wanted to work with hand tools pretty much exclusively. RU-vid has been both extremely helpful and unbelievable detrimental. I tend to over think and so many YT woodworkers made that much worse and complicated. I recently decided to step back a little, simplify everything and go at this from a different angle and that simplification has improved my skills and made me happier in the shop. I would definitely tune into a tool talk series.
Yes...I love the history of tools and the historical methods of craftsman. A tool stories series sounds great. Also I truly appreciate your channel. It's thought provoking, entertaining, and inspiring without being pretentious, condescending, or elitist. You have the soul of a true craftsman. Cheers!
What a fantastic idea! “Tool Stories”. Have a few antique tools that I love to use I have found myself wonder who owned these before? What was he making with these? These are stories locked with history and need to be told . You my young friend are the one to tell it!
Yes, more tool stories! I have an antique tool box full of my grandfather's and great grandfather's tools. I have learned a lot about maintaining and using them, but more I'd always better.
Rex, please continue with tool stories. I really enjoyed it and didn't think I would get sucked into watching 14 minutes on a marking gauge. Can't wait for the next installment.
Dude, what a killer idea for a video. Like furniture forensics, but for tools. I love it. The best part of owning vintage hand tools is the mystery and wonder of who their previous steward was, what they did, and how cool it is that you get to add to the history of the tool. This series will tap into that experience, and it's something no other channel would dare try. As I watched, I held and inspected the gauges I've made for myself, enjoying the marks I've put into them. I realized that maybe a hundred years from now, someone might look over my tools and appreciate the same things you pointed out on Timberframer Joey's gauge. It made me proud to be a maker. Thanks for this great video and that nice moment, man.
I need tool stories in my life. It combines so much I love. History, creativity, engineering, and just seeing how people got sh done. The artifacts are beautiful, practical, and yeah, tell a story.
Hi Rex! I always loved the furniture forensics, and this is great, too. Looking at what the old craftsmen did is kinda reviving the mindset of past centuries. Most people (those who wanna discuss alloys) are unable to imagine, how it is if you can't go to the next store and get what ever you want, or even that it is not normal to throw things away, just because they are dull or worn out. Once fixing things was normal, and I love to look at those old tools, which tell exactly that story. Greetings from Germany, Marcus
I suspect even if I wasn’t a fumbling hobbyist woodworker I’d still have found that interesting. You really have developed an eye for spotting what would be hidden to most. Can’t wait for the series.
Love the way your passion for these tools and their stories shines through - I would absolutely look forward to a series like this! You definitely knocked it out of the park with this one!
Thank you Rex. 100 % interested and you’re entirely correct. It’s easy to get into the weeds about whether what you’re spending money on is the best but at the end of the day it’s the project that matters. Thank you for the reminder.
I’d love to see more tool stories. I collect and use old machinist tools that have names engraved and it always makes me wonder what they did in the trade and how it got into my hands
I will also say this. Your joiners mallet and Paul Sellers mallet combined is awesome. The first project I did 100% hand tools only, saw, rasp, file, planer and chisel. My buddy calls it Thor's Hammer
you totally hit the nail by saying "just buy a quality tool" as a professional you know how to use and maintain it. As a wooden boat builder I inherited the handplane of my preceptor and it is still the plane I use to grab first. It is not a fancy plane but it is so good because it is tuned in perfectly after decades of use.
Yes! I would love more of these Tool Stories. I love your Furniture Forensics as well. All of your videos are great to be honest, I put your channel on auto play at least once per month and just binge the whole thing while I do mindless tasks.
Absolutely yes! Please make this a series. I love watching you work and I love how you work, but just as much as the quality of your skills, I also enjoy the stories that you share while you’re doing your bills. So yes, I would be totally into a series about old tools like the one you just did here
This was great, and I'm all for more of these tool stories. I have tons of old tools, including a couple old marking gauges, and this gave me a new perspective. I'm traveling for work at the moment, but as soon as I get home, I'm pulling out some of my old favorites and just hanging out with them.
I miss furniture forensics, i think its such an interesting and informative series. It got me thinking about furniture and wood in a whole new way. This is definitely interesting in the same way, it just shows another side of the craft!
About the blade - and its’ roundedness: it is rounded to accommodate both “forward” and “backwards” operation, or more accurately, Left or Right Handedness.
I would love to see more of your forensic analysis of old tools. Your marking gauge analysis was most interesting and enjoyable. Keep up your great work on RU-vid.
The history of tools is, to me, a fascinating trip. I think the more we know about the evolution of a tool the better woodworker we would be. I enthusiastically recommend more “Tool Stories” videos.
I love these forensics videos! This was not only historically valuable but was also a great lesson in all those values and methods you mentioned. I would very much like to see more old tool forensics videos.
Almost skipped this, glad I didn't. First up, very interested in a "Tool Stories" series of videos, always love getting into the nitty gritty of tools, new and old. Absolutely agree, our greatest asset is definitely our brains and creative thinking/problem solving - if you don't have a horse, ride a pig 😀 Also, thanks for this actual video, have a marking gauge I made out of purple heart and thankful for the reminder about the marking pin, also think I'm going to switch it from a screw adjust/tighten to a wedge just like this.
i made three wooden marking gauges based with a wedge along the arm, pins on the diagonal like a rare stanley 646 wooden gauge that Paul’s Sellers used. they are so great. seriously cannot overstate it.
Rex, this is an excellent development of your work. I would certainly watch (and recommend) more explorations of the history of craft, as embodied in individual tools. You have the knowledge, an analytical eye, and the capacity to put your insights across to a wide audience. We all have a lot to learn from your investigations. Many thanks.
More Tool Stories please! I would also love more videos of you recreating old tools like this gauge or the Kebiki you made a while ago. Keep up the awesome work Rex!
I am absolutely OBSESSED with this style of video!! As a beginner in woodworking, hearing you explain how to intuitively deduce this tool's uses is teaching me a lot about woodworking in general!
Rex I greatly appreciated this video and found myself watching it intently! I learned woodworking and a love for fine craftsmanship from my father like he learned from his father. He also enjoyed collecting antique planes & other tools. It wasn't an extensive collection but was pretty cool and included several of his father's tools. This video reminded me of some fond memories of us having great father/son time as he explained how different tools were used and or why they were created. I remember being amazed by the simple and ingenious ways people solved problems prior to the industrial & modern age. Your work holding & workbench videos are an excellent example of that. Thank you for bringing me back to those times with my father and I can genuinely say that he would have loved your channel!
I would also love to see a series of videos about tool stories. I have and use a lot of old tools myself, and often spend time explaining to people why I have them. Not everything old is good though, just as not everything new is bad. But old tools, and made items, have stories to tell, if only we could remember how to read them.
This was very entertaining. I too have a lot of old tools that I love thinking about and exploring the history. Please make more, you’re very good at it.
I would love more videos like this. Furniture Forensics is one of my favorite series, so one about tools would be awesome!! Thanks for sharing Rex, take care!!
I love old tools and using old tools. You can learn a lot by rehabbing old tools and how they were used. I think it would be great learning about the tools you use. Great channel!
Hi Rex, I really enjoy your videos and your work. This episode really struck a chord with me. As a hobby blacksmith I have developed an interest in old hand tools. I thoroughly enjoyed your interpreting the life of this tool. I personally look forward to more! Keep up the great content!
Another Grand slam of a video. I would look forward to the series with great anticipation. You always make great teaching and informative videos, Rex. The effort and research shows. As always, Thank you!
I’m glad I saw your video on this. I am a preservation carpentry student and got an old Stanley marking gauge to use in class, but my teacher kept insisting that the Japanese gauges were better because of their cutters. He didn’t like the pins on mine, so I filed them to a shape closer to the blades I saw on my classmate’s Japanese gauge. It has been working great since then, but I was a bit worried I did something wrong since there weren’t any file marks on it or changes to the pins before I came along. The fact that the pin now looks as similar as possible to the one on your gauge is definitely a relief lol
Definitely more Tool Stories, handmade tools have been a godsend for the broke hobbiest like me. So amazing what someone can make with just a little time and the right know how
I absolutely LOVE the idea of telling the stories of old tools, great idea! I've learned a lot watching your videos and am looking forward to many more. I currently have, and still use, my grandfather's 1937 Craftsman jointer, 1936 Companion drill press, 1935 Craftsman table saw, and a bunch of hand tools. My favorites are his father's late 1890's Siegley planes, many of which still have the original irons. All of these old tools still work just as well as they day they were made ... and learning about the history of them is just as much fun as using them.
I love old tools. I have a Stanley Bailey No.4 plane that I restored that was made in the 1930's that I found in an old barn in a bucket with a bunch of old steel and rusty nails that someone was going to scrap. It was rusted and looked about ready for that scrap heap. I followed your tool restoration video and the results were a good working plane that is the best I have ever used. It's not perfect but I love it. Yes bring on the tool stories.
I love history, not so much the dates and politics of time gone by, but the more down to earth parts, how did they live in olden times from day to day, how have they worked and what have our ancestors used to get things done. So l simply LOVE 'Furniture Forensics' and a series of 'Tools Stories' would be right up my alley! Thanks Rex for this fascinating first entry and keep up the good work.
Would love to see more Tool Stories! Love your content and how you keep finding new interesting angles for sharing amazing stories and knowledge. Always a happy moment when I get the notification for a new video :)
I would love to see more videos like this. And for those that hate the pin style marking gauges-replace that finishing nail with a short piece of sharpened 1095 rod and you will be shocked by the performance.
I think it would be a Great Idea. There are so many Great tools that have been disappearing and their users that know how to use and maintain them are disappearing quickly too. I love to watch someone who knows tools and how to read them. The stories that they tell and how they have changed. Not too many years ago it was all done by hand, and now most people if you can't plug it in you can't do it. I love your videos and Thanks for the time and knowledge that you share in each one.
I'm always intrigued by the history behind the vintage and antique tools I purchase. When buying someone's fathers or grandfather's tools its nice to get a bit of background from the seller, but this is a whole nother level. I enjoy furniture forensics and this is a hit with me 👍👊
