There’s nothing like having the right tool at hand for a job. Whether you’re an editor and videographer (like me) or a boat-and-wood guy (like Tony), your set of tools can either make a job sing, or a misery.
– Editing on a laptop with a scant 250 mb of RAM vs. a powerful system that renders and crunches video quickly
– Using a bulky sander vs. one that snugs right into the crooks and grooves
– A dull planer vs. sharp one
– Shooting a documentary on your iPhone without a tripod… ok that will just never happen.
You get the idea. Tools make a craftsman and woman’s job marvellous, or hell.
And when it comes to hand powertools, Tony relies mainly on Festool. The German-made line is precise, powerful, efficient and do exactly what they are meant to, without any extra fancy bells or whistles. His favourite, and the one he used extensively to sand off the old paint and primer from Dorothy (and to collect the lead-laden dust and prolong his life) is the RO-125, with the CT dust collection system that rivals no other.
But let him tell you why he likes it. Here’s a little video I did a few months back on his experience with a new sander Festool loaned him for a contest they called “Sand, Finish, Pass”:
Many, many more videos, ranging from some pretty funny fan videos, to slick commercial ones, can be found on Festool’s YouTube channel here.
Here’s to tools that WORK.
Happy working, sailing, refinishing or just plain lazing around. Tobi and Tony
Hello Tobi and Tony,
My name is Marty Hykin. I live in Victoria and I am trying to help out a friend of mine – a fellow boatbuilder – who is retiring and has some super good ol’ woodworking machinery to get rid of. He’d like to have them gone by end of July but might be able to leave them in place into August. In any case, they need to be gone soon. He is NOT trying to get rich out of this – he will accept offers – and if no offers come, these machines will go as scrap PDQ. A sad end for some trusty old friends.
He can provide more and better details as to their specs and history – but here is a very rough description of what I know is available. I have used all of these machines myself over the years, working on his projects and building my own boats as well. They do the job!
1 – A wonderful old planer – 6″ thickness x 20″ width capacity – A monument to the age of cast iron. Has two motors, one for feed and one for cutter head. Feed has two speeds. This is a great old machine, Just keeps chugging along.
2 – Jointer – another cast iron marvel – will handle 12″ wide boards. Bed is 8 feet long
3 – Big bandsaw – tilting table, not tilting frame – Mfr. “Crescent” – 36″ wheels, up to 24″ throat, 81/4″ resaw capacity
All are located in Victoria.
For more information or to view the machines, please call the owner, Dick Pollard, 250 812 3230
Also, Please pass this on to anyone else in the boatbuilding / woodworking community in your area who might be interested. Dick is up to his ears in packing and moving house right now and hardly has time to fuss with advertising these. On a purely personal level, these machines have been at work for about a century and I’d hate to see them go for scrap but they simply won’t go into a fifth floor condo unit and they make lousy lawn ornaments. It’d be great to know they are still at work
Thanks very much and Good Luck with Dorothy
Marty Hykin, Victoria
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Hi Marty, Thanks for passing this along. Yes, it would be a tragedy to see those good ol tools go to waste. Does he have a ballpark figure he’s thinking? If we can’t take them here, we can help advertise them around, maybe the Wooden Boat Forum isn’t a bad idea. But I’ll let Tony get back to you on this first. As he’s starting a school next year, some of those tools would certainly come in handy.
Thanks for getting in touch, and hope to see you soon – maybe the Classic Boat Fest in August?
Cheers, Tobi and Tony
Hi Tony,
There are several images in this video that I would like to see recorded on canvas… and then (one of them) hung over our fireplace.
Let’s talk.
Cheers.
Diane Cornish