It has been a while since last time, but we haven't been idle; it is full speed all the time. It is now a week since we moved the shop to a new provider and we think it goes much faster when you are browsing the pages. We hope you also feel there is a difference. It is the same software, a minor update, and at the same time we have made sure all the helper programs are updated too. We have removed some that didn't work so well and added a few new ones that we hope can help you when you shop. The biggest thing is that we are now what we are called: Rubank Verktygs no1 AB is www.rubank.se! When the company started 13 years ago the idea was to only sell planes with accessories, and then hyvlar.se ("planes.se") was registered to reflect what we sold. But it wasn't long before more and more other products came. As the shop grew, so did the number of domains used. Some domains worked better than others for certain customers and in the end it got very messy. We then limited ourselves to 4 that were thought to work for all markets. But even that wasn't so good. For a year or so we have used rubank-verktygs.se as an overall domain, used for example for email and the newsletter. Then hyvlar.se (Sweden), hoylat.fi (Finland) and rubank.se (rest of Europe) have been the domains for customers. But we feel that the domain that should be used alone is rubank.se. It is the same as the company, it is easy to say in different languages and feels more logical, so now that we are changing web host/server we thought it was time to use just one domain for the shop too. There is actually no difference now; if you search for or type in, for example, hyvlar.se and click a link, it switches automatically to the new one. Over time all links will be changed and only rubank.se will remain. So from now on Rubank Verktygs -> rubank.se.
We continue to receive deliveries from JessEm. The latest things were various fences and some of their smaller tools. They really keep high quality and are nice to work with. We will restock with more products in the near future. You find the range here. A few newsletters back I wrote a bit about a project we were working on in the shop, a saw/router table where we use a Sjöbergs bench as the base. The idea was to use the Incra LS32 as fence, but it didn't turn out so well. Nothing wrong with Incra, but the table was clearly not adapted to the things. So the table will now show JessEm's things instead. It is filled up as we get the products home. But what was I to do with the Incra LS32 I had been working with? I thought about it a bit and realised we actually had a combination machine it might possibly work on. I started working on it a few weeks ago and it turned out to work really well. Some minor adjustments are needed, but I have high hopes that this will work really well. A fuller post will come later. But a little teaser comes here..
This week a bunch of cartons came from Narex. They contained our own chisels that we order from them, in the sizes that had been out of stock for a while. We also got several of the new extended Richter chisels. You can find all the Richter chisels here. For those of you who haven't discovered Richter yet, it is Narex's new series of chisels. This is how they write about them themselves: "Cryogenic treatment. Immediately after the initial hardening, cryogenic treatment cools the steel to very low temperatures using liquid nitrogen down to -190°C. This completes the austenite transformation, which increases both the hardness and the toughness of the steel. These chisels, named after our founder Vaclav Richter, represent our manufacturing processes of the highest quality combined with unique materials, heat treatment and processing to produce a woodworking tool of the highest quality. Each chisel is marked with our brand RICHTER EXTRA."
In the latest delivery from Veritas we got a few new products. Some of them were the wood-threading tools from Beall. LeeValley bought Beall this summer and now we got the first things. More comes in the next delivery. I have found many films where they are used, and everyone is happy with the result. It is a simple way to make wooden threads. After a long wait, we finally got products home from Japan. First out are saws from Kijima. It was a restock of earlier products, plus a couple of completely new ones, for example a saw roll set with 4 different saw blades + one handle, and a combined dovetail saw/plug saw.
A little over a year ago we started with the support system that we have in the shop. And you have used it. Soon there are 700 posts that have come in, which is more than two per day. And they contain questions between heaven and earth. We try to answer as quickly as we can, and we guarantee that we read them all even if sometimes there is no reply. Sometimes they are questions about products we have, they may be questions about particular techniques or just tips about things we should sell. In the spring one such post came, about a particular book we should have in the range. After the summer we contacted the author and asked whether we could sell the book, and he thought that was great fun, and asked whether we wanted to sell two more of his books. And of course we did. The first book was Sharp. In it the author, Sean Hellman, goes through how to sharpen more or less all cutting tools a "woodworker" has. Everything from saws, drawknives, sloyd tools, chisels and loads in between. A real bible when it comes to sharpening.
A new feature in the new version of the shop that we have now is that you get a link with each order where you can see your delivery from us. The link is sent with the last email we send, and in an SMS. The link is tied to your order number, not to the shipment number. You will also see active deliveries you have if you log into your account. We still recommend using an app to keep track of your deliveries, but this will give a basic check on what we send you. Not everything is quite finished, but it should be in place within the coming week.
We have this year's last Open House on Saturday 16 Dec. We will talk about/show wooden planes of all different kinds. How to take care of them, sharpen blades and how to use them. We continue to fix up the shop, move things around and try to fit the good 3000 of the roughly 3800 products we have at home in the shop. There is a bit more news on the way, so another newsletter will come later in December. Until then, take it easy!
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