It is now the autumn half-term. I dropped the children at school and was met by hordes of zombies, Dracula lookalikes, bloodthirsty princesses and wizards. But not a single woodworker! Aren't we scary? Don't we fit the scary category? We do have some very dangerous tools, and things can go badly if something happens. I think I know what my costume will be next year, anyway. (Though it will have to be without ketchup effects; I don't think they were allowed.)
Half-term or not, we keep working and you keep shopping. We have been lucky to be able to restock during this pandemic, but now it is starting to show that you have been shopping like never before. There are some gaps on the shelves. We restock all the time and look forward to several deliveries soon. Of the big ones, we hope Lie-Nielsen will send us another delivery, and we have some hopes in that direction. Veritas is putting together the next delivery, and in a few days we are getting a whole pile of T-track from Incra.
In a week or so two(!) pallets arrive from the Czech Republic. York is sending "extra everything", both old favourites and some fun new things that we hope you will find as interesting as we do.
When Johan started Rubank Verktygs ten years ago, he had the idea of publishing a customer magazine. It would contain interviews with well-known names in our field, tests and reviews. It got as far as a dummy, a first draft of how it might look. A fun detail is that the first issue would have included an article about James Krenov, who is now the subject of a new book from Lost Art Press. It arrives in December: James Krenov: Leave Fingerprints. It would also have had an article by David Barron on making a wooden plane. An illustrator made some fun drawings, and the magazine was given a name: "Ta i trä" (Touch Wood). How did it go? Read on and you will see.
A few weeks ago we received a long-awaited delivery from Sterling Tool Works. They make the very practical (and durable) French curve templates. A year or so ago they started making two more versions, so there are now five different templates in total. They also have a small adjusting hammer that is really nice. The rules fit most combination squares from Starrett or our PEC.
A popular group of products is card scrapers. We think we have Sweden's widest range of scrapers and similar products. We have added another manufacturer: Bahco, with four types in two sizes and two thicknesses: card scrapers
Another category that has grown recently is the one we call "Care and maintenance", where we have gathered all the handy products for looking after our treasures.
We have written about some of them before, and a week or so ago we tested one ourselves: the rust eraser.
Here you will find everything you need: tool care
We have also been out in the real world. I went to the local hardware shop with two Veritas T-tracks at the ready, to see what they had on the shelf that would fit the tracks. For the track we call "wide", an M8 bolt fits perfectly. It slides easily and only turns a fraction before an edge catches and stops it turning. We have also measured the tracks and made some very nice (we think) drawings with the dimensions. We will make another trip to the hardware shop when Incra's tracks arrive next week. Report in the next newsletter. Veritas T-track
So what happened to Ta i trä? The magazine rather fizzled out; running an online shop sometimes takes more time than you think. But the idea was always at the back of our minds. And if you can't print a magazine, you can publish it online. That is what we have done. Rubank Verktygs' news blog has been here for a while: the Ta i Trä blog
All our newsletters are there, along with quite a few other posts we have written. The plan is for it to keep growing, and we hope you find it interesting. It would also be fun if any of you would like to share something you have made. Get in touch with pictures and a little text, and we will post it.
We hope you all have a nice end to October. Take care, and we will be in touch again soon.
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