Where is this on the drool spectrum? Gordonzola

[Bushmiller]

This came through today on the HNT Gordon newsletter.

HNT Gordon Planes has recently finished a project invloving Colen Clenton, Phoebe Everill and myself, called 'Collaboration 1'. Collaboration 1 is a tool cabinet with a complete set of HNT Gordon and Colen Clenton tools. The tool cabinet was created by Phoebe Everill from 'School of Wood' - made from Sassafras, with black heart Sassafras inlays on the front doors and wenge/ebony trims. Colen Clenton made a collection of his tools in ebony, with a couple of 'one off' tools. HNT Gordon included 50 Ebony tools, with the first Moving Fillister ever made being apart of the set. Collaboration 1 is currently on display at Sturt Wood Gallery, and is selling for $59,400. Please email us at [email protected] if you have any questions.

HNT Gordon collaboration.jpg

Quite nice !

Regards
Paul

[Chesand]

"Quite nice" is an understatement.

[seanz]

Wot, no cupholders?


That is just stunning.

[cava]

Too nice to use. That's my excuse for not buying it.

[hiroller]

More pic and info here!
http://www.phoebeeverill.com/collaboration-one/

[Jone5y]

Wow, just wow

[IanW]

Hmm, interesting, but I didn't have any of the reactions expressed above on seeing this undeniably impressive offering. In fact, I felt strangely conflicted when I saw it, but I had to go off & have a glass of red & a long think about why I had that reaction. Let me be clear, I have no doubt whatever about the quality of the tools, or the cabinet. I'm a very happy owner of some fine Clenton & Gordon tools. My musing went something like this:

As a sometime toolmaker myself, I think I can understand one motive behind making special 'sets' of tools. When you stumble on some particularly appealing wood it gets the creative juices flowing, it just begs to be made go as far as possible, which is a pretty easy thing to do if you are a tool maker, matched sets spring to mind immediately, and the nicer the wood, the more effort you want to put into each object, to make it worthy of its beautiful raw material. And let's face it, we all like to show-off what we can do, at times. But at this point you are skirting the boundary between making practical objects and making art. Our three makers have clearly & deliberately crossed the boundary, imo, and created more than a working tool-chest, it's a multi-part sculpture of individual objects, each one in itself an artwork. Lovely as they may be, I can't imagine any one using all of them routinely, at least half of them would be tools I'd never have a need for. Heaven knows, I have a penchant for tools that look good as well as being functional, but your own tool kit is such a personal thing. It tells a story about where you're at on your woodworking journey, & where you've been. Think of the Studley toolbox, for example, it just wouldn't be the same if it was put together by a couple of toolmakers, no matter how superb the individual tools were, would it? It does contain many tools most of us would agree are pretty nice examples of their kind, and it's a most cunningly-contrived bit of Tardis-like engineering, but what makes it extra special lis that it's a record of a man's lifetime, writ in tools.

Would some well-heeled woodie buy this Gordon/Clenton/Elliot opus to stick in the sheds & use daily? On the one hand, I feel it would be an act of vandalism to use any of them, yet on the other, they are all excellent, practical tools & should be used. So, I decided on the second glass, that as long as I look at it purely as a work of art, my conflict subsides. I reckon it deserves to be bought by some public body, & put on display for all to admire the skill and beauty, at least as much as any painting or sculpture I've ever seen. OK, I've put the cork back in the bottle, I'll go & do the washing-up, now.....

Cheers,

[artful bodger]

Ah, ignorance sure is bliss!
If I had a spare $59,400 kicking around I would not buy it.
It gets better, never even heard of HNT Gordon planes. How cool is that?.
Do they give you super powers or something?
Beats me.
Don't get it at all.

[hiroller]

I think I too need a glass of red to contemplate art vs craft.

[Jone5y]

I'm a power tool user. My hand tool prowess extends to marking, a block plane, chisels and a hammer. No further. I would never use any of the items shown, it would be an injustice, but I do admire the craftsmanship and quality of them. To me, the collection is art. Art that I would not pay $50k for even if I had it, but lustful art all the same.
I imagine a skilled master of hand tools would be in quite the quandary when musing over such items.

[rob streeper]

Surprising that there are no chisels or saws in the kit. How do planes and marking tools complement?

[Yanis]

And who said Australians have vo subtlety and finesse ... Oh wait!

[A Duke]

Hi,
Now there is a chance to make a hole in the kid's inheritance, imagine them sharing out that heirloom, selling it at a suburban garage sale.
The mind boggles.
Regards

[DSEL74]

Surprising that there are no chisels or saws in the kit. How do planes and marking tools complement?

Rob, HNT-Terry and Colen have a business relationship and Terry represents and sells Colens tools at the woodworking shows. Terrry makes the planes and Colen the marking gear. This is just a cabinet representing their range. Neither make saws although HNT is a seller for one of the O/S saw makers. Hence the lack of complimentary tool you would find is a "working tool cabinet"


I had a bit of a chat with him about this cabinet at the shows, I think they moved it twice and decided not to move it if they didn't have to so unfortunately due to the amount of tools and weight it didn't make it to the stand at the show.

I think if someone buys it it will be a collector, who is the fella with the cabinet full of Harold Saxon Chisels? It would go well next to that.

[Ratbag]

They look like nice tools. VERY nice tools I'm sure.

As for the cabinet.... what a waste of space. As a display cabinet it's pretty classy, but as a toolbox it fails by being so inefficiently packaged.

It also makes me a bit sad that such wonderful toolmaker's craftsmanship is destined to never, ever be used for the purpose for which it was intended.