Upgrading my tools

**chook** · 11th January 2013, 07:19 AM

A bit over 12 months ago I began a process of renewing my tools. I have not finished yet but I have come a long way towards getting hold of a good set of tools. Now of all the things I have bought and of all the money I have spent the two things which have made the biggest difference to the quality of the work that I do are the marking knife and and good quality lamp. The marking knife allows me to cut clean edges to very accurate dimensions and the lamp allows me to remove the shadow which inevitable appears whenever and where ever I position a work piece. Now I know that many of you will be sitting shaking your heads and wondering how anybody could be so stupid that they think that this piece of information even worth mentioning as it is so simple and basic. But it was a revelation to me and if I were advising a new woodworker just starting out on a tool collection, the purchase of a marking knife would be one of the first things I would suggest. Along with the good quality saws, a plane and a shooting board the ability of the user of hand tools to make fine quality cuts is remarkable.

**Berlin** · 11th January 2013, 02:10 PM

That damn shadow is always on the side you're looking at, isn't it! I should get a lamp on my bench... Hmm, maybe one of those dentists's overhead, repositionable ones would be good... Ok, just the el-cheapo desk lamp.

Matt

**Pac man** · 11th January 2013, 02:15 PM

For interest what knife suited you best

**chook** · 13th January 2013, 07:03 AM

This was the lamp I got

It was about $132 from Carbatec and works very well. It can be positioned above the work and used as a light only or can be lowered and the large magnifier can be accessed for tasks like sharpening saws. The arms are very long and adjustable in 3 axes. It does not seem to matter how many lights you put in the shed, where your work bench is located, the time of the day or the position of the sun, as soon as you mark a line to be cut and pull out your saw the marked line will be in a shadow. With this light you can position the light exactly over the cut and eliminate the shadow. You can shine it into recesses to check the bottoms of mortices. It makes a real difference to the quality of the work I produce.

The marking knife was this one

This is a Pfeil Double Bevel Marking Knife, again from Carbatec and cost me $30. I have used single bevel Japanese knives in the past but I really do prefer this one. The double bevel is very useful for marking out inside the pins of dovetails and box joints. It is the most useful little tool I own.

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