Thread: Colen Clenton Visit.

Never heard of him, but hey, hand made tools are pretty impressive! Where does he sell? only online or is it possible to find his pieces somewhere else and maybe take a look?

Looks like you did an interesting visit, thanks for sharing and thanks for the pictures and video too!

Originally Posted by Jon_B

Never heard of him, but hey, hand made tools are pretty impressive! Where does he sell? only online or is it possible to find his pieces somewhere else and maybe take a look?

Looks like you did an interesting visit, thanks for sharing and thanks for the pictures and video too!

some links

http://www.hntgordon.com.au/colenclenton.htm

http://www.carbatec.com.au/colen-clenton-tools

international http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/dept/CCC

Last year at the show in Brisbane Colin spent perhaps 40mins with me showing me all the ins and outs of his tools. I was so impressed I bought a set of his squares and one of his gauges. The most impressive thing he said to me (IMHO): "When you buy one of my tools, you're buying a piece of me."

Highly recommended!

What didya buy

Originally Posted by Pac man

What didya buy

18 pairs of holdfasts.

Originally Posted by NCArcher

The attached photo is a fairly special piece of ebony destined for a matching set of tools.
IMAG0194.jpgIMAG0195.jpg

That may just be the Ebony that he complained of losing about $120 worth when he jointed it - straight down the DE.


Magnificent timber!

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

That may just be the Ebony that he complained of losing about $120 worth when he jointed it - straight down the DE.


Magnificent timber!

Nope, I saw that bit. A bit too heavy to lift onto the bench though.

I got his 3" (plain Sheoak), 6" (lace Sheoak) and 10" (Ebony) squares, and a cutting gauge (Tassy Blackwood). He also had a 20" square which was unbelievable to hold! Waited a long time for those squares in particular -- they don't work "better", but I think they are magnificent to use, caress, and maybe take to bed with me...!

Originally Posted by LuckyDuck

..... Waited a long time for those squares in particular -- they don't work "better", but I think they are magnificent to use, caress, and maybe take to bed with me...!

They do work better, in a way. I always reckon nice tools encourage you to do good work, if for no other reason than to justify the cost!

A true gentleman is Colen. I bought one of his She-oak squares when he was relatively new on the scene. At some point early in its life, I managed to drop it, & cracked the stock above the fulcrum pin. I was pretty upset, but it was entirely my own fault, so I took it to the next TWWW show, told him what I'd done & asked if I could buy a new stock. He said 'that shouldn't have happened', which I took to mean I shouldn't have dropped it, to which I heartily agreed, but he meant it shouldn't have cracked! He took it back & fixed it with a new stock, no charge. That's customer service!

He certainly makes some nice tools, but I have a small quibble with the smooth knobs on his marking gauges. They can be hard to twitch up with sweaty fingers; knurled is easier. And after trying it in various positions on my own gauges, I prefer the thumbscrew on top of the stock, rather than the side. These are just my personal preferences, of course, there are no iron rules......

Cheers,

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

They do work better, in a way. I always reckon nice tools encourage you to do good work, if for no other reason than to justify the cost!

Not only that, they encourage you to be careful with your tools - don't they Ian?

Beautiful tools and a pleasure to use (at a woodwoorking show). Unfortunately a little a lot out of this apprentice woodkorkers price range (wouldn't even try & run it past the minister of finance).

I have one of Colen's squares made with figured Tassie Blackwood, must be 6 years old now. Bought it from the man himself at the Melbourne TWWWS. Still love using it.

Would love to visit his workshop if i was ever in the area.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Not only that, they encourage you to be careful with your tools - don't they Ian?

Well, I do try to be careful, Brett, but occasionally shyte happens. It was so often when I was rushing to finish something before I ran out of weekend, that little accidents (or occasionally more serious ones, like dropping my square!), seemed to happen. So now that I've stopped working for the man, I don't have such self-imposed deadlines, and things should be calmer & more deliberate around the shed.

I said ought to be......

Cheers,