# Homemade tools!



## FrankoManini (Oct 10, 2008)

Let's show off some of our homemade tools? I am particularly interested in any lathe tooling, but mallets, planes, marking gauges, etc. are all fair game!

What do you love or hate about them?

Sorry, Im trapped at work and don't have any pictures to share… but PLEASE include yours!


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## christopheralan (Mar 19, 2008)

Here is a link to some of mine…

http://www.projectwoodworks.com/page3.php?view=thumbnailList&category=6&image=111

I like and use them all. Only thing I would change would be a lower angle on the planes. I don't have pics of my mallets I have made.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

I've made a lot of planes over the years… also a couple of
super heavy mortising chisels, mallets, and marking gages,
and bow saws.

I use Bailey pattern planes mostly. I like my wooden planes
but the metal ones hold their settings and are easy to adjust.

The mortising chisels I made from 1/2" x 1" tool steel bar stock.
I learned to temper them with a propane torch. I don't use
them anymore… they are heavy and a little awkward.

The mallets fell apart. Oh well. I could make a better one 
now I reckon but I usually use a ball peen hammer or a 
rubber-tipped hammer.

I made a Japanese style marking gage with a piece of hacksaw
blade serving as the knife. I still use it from time to time when
I need to have several gages going at a time. I prefer a smaller
Japanese gage I bought… because it fits in my apron pocket
and marks mortises too.

The bow saws I love. I cut dovetails with them. I have it down
to a science.


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## christopheralan (Mar 19, 2008)

The mortising chisels sound like a great idea. The bow saw too. Do you have pics Loren?


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## derekcohen (Jul 15, 2007)

Too many to post all, but here are a few …

30" jointer in Jarrah and ebonised tote ..










Entry for the WoodCentral 2008 Tool Competition ..










Small bowsaw ..










Shooting board (see my website for a bunch of articles)..










Marking knives and awls (there is a tutorial on the website to make these) ..










.. and a last one .. infill dovetailed dovetail marker ..










Regards from Perth

Derek


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Oh man! you put my stuff to shame. My self-made tools
are usually hacked-out in a hurry.

I made the chisels from instructions in an article in FWW…
if you have the CD-rom you can probably find it - an article
about how to cut tenons with a table-saw and mortise by
hand… written before all these biscuit joiners and plunge
routers became affordable.

I built my bowsaws from an article by Yeung Chan. I bought 
a butcher-saw blade, ground the set off the sides and refiled
it to rip. I built the saw with a 3-piece frame of ash - a lot like
the one above but less elegantly shaped. The blade is held by
a couple of brass bolts with a hacksawed slot in the end to 
hold the blade ends… and a pin through the bolt there.

Most "dovetail" saws have way too much set. I wanted to 
cut it as close as possible. That was the saw doesn't wiggle
in the kerf and you get a straight line easily. I have to keep 
fresh wax on the blade or it binds.

My stuff is mostly in storage and disarray right now. I moved
from West to East coast and haven't set up much. I 
may get some pics some time… but not today.


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## brianinpa (Mar 16, 2008)

Derek, that is some awesome handy work.

My tools have been several different mallets:

!!

!!

And some useful tools for making my work easier:

!!


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## Lazy_K (May 27, 2012)

here are some finger planes I made









here is my bench vise









here is a saw I made w/ the Gramercy tools turning saw kit


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## Texcaster (Oct 26, 2013)

Home made and modified for luthiery. I've posted these before but it's hard to keep a useful tool down.



















Cabinet scraper to smooth the back of a double bass neck. Double convex spokeshave for carving tops and backs of archtops.




























Scraper plane to shape and plane in relief on a double bass fingerboard. A DB fingerboard is a compound radius with string relief 525mm from the nut.. half the 1050mm scale length. String straight edge.





































Not real pretty but these days tools only have to work well for me and I'm chuffed.


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## REO (Sep 20, 2012)

does the whole lathe count?




I have a lever action tailstock for production chucking. deep hole drilling tailstock and a tailstock for cuttig the inside of bowls.


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## REO (Sep 20, 2012)

the lever action tailstock in use:




the bowl ID cutter:




the bowls are dry ash. the tool is adjustable for depth and diameter. I have a similar tool for drilling but it is buried.
here is a video of just the tool.


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