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Welcome to The Splinter Report, where I gather the assorted interesting and amusing things I’ve seen in the woodworking world. This week we’re looking at vintage pinball, HR Giger, and block planes.
Tool News Quick Bites
Woodpeckers Releases New Ultra-Shear Router Bit Storage Panel: The storage panel features 50 of their patented RackBit bases, which apparently do an excellent job of holding the bits securely while still allowing them to be easily removed for storage. It’s not earth-shattering by any means, but it’s well executed, like any other Woodpeckers product.
Blue Spruce Has Some Crazy Polycarbonate Mallets: Now as far as I can tell, this is a truly new product, though shoot me an email or drop a comment on social if I’m wrong. Blue Spruce Toolworks has released new round mallets with polycarbonate heads. Polycarbonate is a plastic, and less elastic than polyurethane. That means it drives more force with less bounceback than a urethane mallet, but is less likely to mar a surface than metal. Also, it comes in a clear color that just looks really cool, and that’s what’s really important, right?
Local Oddity: Grandpa’s Pinball Machine
Now here’s something you don’t see every day: a very analogue wooden pinball machine.
Phil from Woodsmith recently restored this vintage toy for a cousin. The rounded end had become brittle and shattered, so he soaked a thin strip of oak for a few days and bent it to shape to replace it. He then stained it to match the old finish. The game board itself had a shellac finish that was alligatored. He wiped it down with some alcohol to smooth it, then gave it a wash coat of shellac. Finally, he applied two coats of paste wax and installed new nails and rubber feet.
I personally feel like items like this are at risk of being lost to time. It originated a toy, which would result in a harder life. It’s not furniture or the type of craft that would make it an heirloom, so it would be more likely to end up in the trash. Seeing one restored to full functionality is a good feeling.
Random Reddit: HR Giger
Instrument making and relief carving are two parts of woodworking that don’t generally grab my attention. I mean, I like the music they make, and a good relief carving really catches my eye in person, but I don’t necessarily gravitate to them online. Turns out, when you combine the two though, things change. This absurdly epic guitar is directly influenced by HR Giger’s work on the Alien franchise. It’s hand-carved, bold, out there, I just love every bit of it.
I’d keep going on about how much I like it, but frankly I’m starting to run out of adjectives.
Out of Context Christopher Schwarz Quote
Video of the Week: So Many Block Planes
One of the things most magazines (us included) are guilty of is promoting expensive tools or items. Part of it is a sort of aspirational mindset, where by showing off the latest, greatest, and most expensive tools, you’ll be more excited to read about them than something that’s been around a while. Part of it is that we exist in a quasi-professional space, where we are using our tools to make a living, and more expensive tools are generally nicer to use. Mark from the Start Making YouTube channel took a different approach with his latest video, though. He decided to compare a huge group of block planes, but there’s not a single Lie-Nielsen, Veritas, or even Melbourne tool in the mix. No ringers, just a bunch of sub-$70 planes going head to head. You should watch the full video, but my big takeaway is that I need to ask the guys going on the woodworking tour of England this year to bring me back one of those tiny Spear & Jackson planes.
Anything interesting I missed this week, or that you want me to highlight in a future Splinter Report? Let me know on social media or drop me an email at cknoff@aimmedia.com.
