Nicole is on a business trip this week and that can only mean one thing: I’m watching woodworking DVD’s every night! haha! Well last night I fell asleep watching one of my favorites: “Coarse, Medium, Fine” by “The Schwarz”. Prior to dozing off, the weirdest thing happened. I had this uncontrollable urge to grab my laptop and my wallet! While laying in bed, I apparently navigated to Lie-Nielsen’s website and ordered some things that could very well result in me eating Ramen Noodles for the next month. I didn’t even realize what happened until I received the order confirmation this morning in my Inbox. It almost feels like that time in college when I decided that Southern Comfort was “my drink” and I woke up the next morning on my friend’s front lawn with undesirable images painted on my face with a Sharpie marker. But I digress.
I know I can’t be the only one to fall victim to the voodoo of “The Schwarz”! Now is the time to confess my friends. Tell me about your experiences and who is the culprit. Was it David Charlesworth? Maybe Rob Cosman? You need not fear retribution for your confessions, for you are safe within these Wood Whisperer walls.
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39 Responses to “The Voodoo of “The Schwarz””
“woodworking dvds everynight…”
dude, you really gotta get out more often ;)
and here’s the address where you can send those DVDs (just so that you don’t have the urge to watch them so often) ..
xxxx xxxx xxx
xx xxxxx xx , MA ..
lol
I gotta confess – NORM. I got all hot and bothered about pocket screw jigs years ago when he had one custom cut by his ‘machinist friend’. That led to me going out and dropping coin on my own.. but it was well worth it.
for me its wood. I don’t know but when i see a nice board i like i go “hey, hey, hey” and snatch it up (inside joke). i don’t know i just can’t resist a nice board of wood. one of my weaknesses.
Same guy, same DVD, uncontrollable urge to order a LN dowel plate. It’s backordered from my chosen vendor, but I feel better knowing it will be in my shop. Maybe I’ll even mortise it into my benchtop…
Even though I’ve never used a dowel plate before, if CS likes it, it must be good!
Andy
Well, there’s this dude named Marc…
I’ve got to confess that St. Roy weaves his spells upon me. I’m fairly invulnerable thought, and the reason for that is that all the plastic in my wallet is actually, sort of, well, made out of the same material they make Super Balls out of… boing…
It would include to many names to list and covers 45% of what I own . I do blame WoodNet for my latest foray into the Neanderthal world. I can recall being somewhat happy lusting after Power Tools but now I find myself stopping at garage sales ( something that I never did before ) in search of that self-powered treasure covered in dust and grime . What have I become !
Harbor Freight… You go in there and by the time you figure out what has happened you’ve looked at everything from a F style clamp to a garden sprinkler and your at the register figuring out how your going to rationalize this to your wife.. This is the reason my wife rolled her eyes when I told her there was going to be one within 10 minutes of our house..
For me the crucial part of your message was “Nicole is on a business trip”. It seems that every time my wife goes to visit her family for a week, some new tool appears in my shop. Of course, by the time she returns, any packaging material is long gone, and the tool is nicely hidden under a good coating of sawdust! She is off again at the end of September, and I suspect an improved bandsaw may appear (remind me to find a place to hide the old one!)
That’s right, it is not our fault that manufactures now make these awesome shiny tools that work right out of the box with little or no tuning. And then to top it off, these wood working legends make videos showing how easy it is to make perfect hand cut dovetails or piston fit mortise and tenon joints or flatten a wide board with a finish better than sand paper if you just have one of these fantastic tools. My bench planes I blame on Christopher Schwarz. My English style hand saws I blame on Rob Cosman.
I am currently waiting for my credit card balance to go down before I buy anything else. Then again, who needs savings? My next fix (I mean purchase) will be the LN bevel edge socket chisels which I blame David Charlesworth. After that it will be the LV skew rabbet planes which I blame on “The Schwarzâ€Â.
I do believe the current DVD’s on the market are fantastic. I have 5 from David Charlesworth, 4 from Christopher Schwarz and 6 from Rob Cosman.
Something a little different – I bought my wife (birthday) 4 new, safety handled – aluminum oxided – ergonomically correct – garden goodies from Lee Valley — now she’s “hooked” and knows what a well made tool is really about –being the devious person I am – when I selected the goodies – I also selected the “send me the catalogs” button – ha ha-now I have created a Monster – but one that won’t say much when she get’s the CC bill with Lee Valley on it. :)
Later,
Doug in AZ.
I feel bad for you folks who have to wait for your spouse to go away. All I do is have the Mrs. watch Norm with me and she’ll say, “Have you got one of those?” or “Couldn’t you use that?”
Under her influence I’ve gotten a mortising machine, an oscillating spindle sander, a drum sander and a bandsaw. She’s been watching Norm turn things on his lathe lately … it’s just a matter of time.
I’m hoping that by the time Sylvia gets home, the new floors will be in and she wont even notice anything might have changed in my shop.
It helps me knowing she feels extremely guilty that I wasn’t able to go to Germany:D:D:D
I decided that I had to have a legitimate excuse for all of the purchases that I was making…..so I talked to my CPA and he advised me to start a business. So now everything I buy is for the business, and my wife can’t say a thing…sort of.
Now I just need a couple commissions so that the IRS doesn’t come down on my rear end.
I attended an event at MASW featuring Thos. Lie Nielsen & John Economaki, both discussing tool making and woodworking. The Schwarz was there as a moderator so I guess he was an accomplice. John mentioned all the incredible features of the CT-14, the fox-tail shoulder plane and also mentioned that there were less than 30 left…. I decided I had to have it on the drive home.
WWorking shows are driving my addiction for more and new tools to play with, my wife is in Hawaii this week with her mum, and she asked what she could bring me back, i told her a Saw Stop Table Saw, she looked at me “whats that?” i said ” oh its just a saw for cutting wood”, bless her beautiful blonde head, If she finds one (and she will), I hope she laughs as much as i did driving home from the airport.
Yep, I got “Schwartzed” too. I just could not resist ordering a $40 marking knife after he did his review. My wife definately is in the “Wives Against Schwartz Club”. I hope he doesn’t do any tool reviews anytime soon.
JJ
Two thing. First, they key to a good marriage is separate TV rooms and separate bathrooms. I swear by these tenets. Secondly, I got the same plane bug as Marc. For me it was watching a podcast on plane restoration from woodworkingoneline.com. I was at a wedding in NH over the weekend, and found a great Bailey #5 that I am now painstakingly restoring. But I’d rather use the elbow grease and save about $200 (although I admit I do have a LN #4, and that sure was fun to bring home).
I found a good way to convince my wife to let me get that dust collector. Currently my jointer is in the basement. I just let the dust fall on floor and vacuum it up. I normally do not vacuum it up every time. Lately the cat has decided the piles of fresh saw dust makes a much nice bathroom than her litter box. I think I have a pretty good case for a dust collection unit. What do you think?
Pete –
I can pick that old band saw up – where you located
Don’t leave us in suspense! What did you get?
Rob Cosman for me. I’ve dumped some serious coin on his stuff and supporting hardware :-) You gotta dig ‘The Schwarz’ but I find Cosman a bit more hands-on and a better teacher of technique (which I desperately need). BTW: He is in Atlanta on 12/12 & 12/13 to all who are interested. He is teaching 3 seminars as well as a hands-on dovetailing class. See you there!!!
Ok so I have a lot of influences and yes the Schwarz is on that list. Along with his buddy Tom Lie-Nielsen. The most recent cave-in was during a class I took at Marc Adams with Chris and Tom. By the middle of the second day (it was a weekend class) I was the proud owner of a shiny new 1″ chisel (had to complete the set) and a slightly used No. 7 with cocobolo handles. I too have been “Schwarzed” as well as “Lied”. So when you do get to making those shirts we discussed at the IWF, I will most definitely want one.
Why do they have to make them so nice? They make it so hard to resist. It’s not my fault really.
re:”I woke up the next morning on my friend’s front lawn with undesirable images painted on my face with a Sharpie marker”
Just be thankful you didn’t live anywhere near my fraternity house. We typically coated our hapless victims in:
1) Used fryer oil– no, it wasn’t hot, but it did have the lovely odor of ficken (fish & chicken). Whole body massage, clothes and all.
2) Makeup – that was the contribution of the Delta Gamma’s across the street… purple eye liner and lip gloss.
3) Old lunch meat mask – months old pimento loaf, re-discovered in the back of the fridge was my favorite… with holes cut out so you could still see. Nobody could say we were cruel.
Rob Cosman-
Got myself signed up for some of his classes in November, got DVD’s ordered and and a little over $1000.00 worth pf LN stuff on order at the local Woodcraft……
Marc-I feel your “pain”
For the inquiring minds, I picked up a #4 smoother and a #5 Jack.
I was at the same LN/Economaki event that Chris moderated at MASW with my father. It was fantastic and totally changed how I have done all my woodworking. As for the wife, I have credit built up..hehe She just got back from two weeks in Italy for a girls trip, so I pretty much don’t have to ask for anything for a while…lol The problem is I’m waiting for the shoulder surgery to heal and all my stuff is just gathering dust at the moment. Motorcycle, tools, every thing…grr
Ryan
Marc, did you get the low angle jack or the regular angle.
I went with the regular Denis.
Of course there is also the hangover stage. I mentioned I bought a Bailey #5 after watching a video on hand plane restoration and gleefully charging to the antique store. What the video doesn’t show is how long it takes to lap the plane iron and sole flat. After about 20 pieces of 80 grit sand paper, and 4+ hours of elbow grease, I finally have a relatively flat sole, and a Hock iron on order (yeah, I threw in the towel – don’t judge me). I probably need to replace the tote and knob as well, making me rethink why I didn’t just buy the LN #5 to match my smoother in the first place. I guess I’ll chalk it up to being a “good expierence”.
That’s kinda how I feel about rehabbing Rob. Im not much of a fan. For me, its worth the money to have a tool that is milled/tuned properly right out of the box. Not to take away from the dedicated rehabbers. But I find it to be almost a hobby within a hobby, and one that doesn’t interest me much (although I have done it a few times).
I’m mostly led astray by projects: nothing justifies a tool’s purchase as easily as having a use for it. But my self control is tested every time I read a tool review by Chris Schwartz. I know he and St. Roy share responsibility for the moving fillister plane I bought recently, and I keep fearing that one day I’ll open a box and find a Bridge City Jointmaker Pro. If that ever happens, I will blame “the Schwartz” (and you know there will be a project in my workshop that really needed it).
Rob Bois: I found that Klingspor makes a great sandpaper that has a gold color to it and comes in rolls. This gold sandpaper has a good tooth, cuts fairly quickly, and vacuums clean quite nicely (so it lasts a long time).
I have lapped a plane sole using a single piece of this sandpaper, and I’m still using that same piece as fast metal shaping when I have flattening or reshaping to do on blades. The lapping process was still lengthy, but well under two hours.
BTW: I found this sandpaper fairly pricy, and I put off buying it for over a year, but I’ve been happy that I finally opened my wallet. And I still have almost a full roll of it, which should last me years.
I’m with ya marc. i personally like restoring a tool. but not taking a piece of rust and resurrecting it. maybe if i have to take some 220 or 400 to the sole and then just sharpen and tune it i’m fine with that. but i don’t want to have to as i said resurrect it from the dead
Good grief, Spagnuolo!
No more telling us about these cool DVD’s, OK?????!!!
I (we) have a mortgage to pay this month, sir!!!!!!!! :) :)
(I ordered The Schwarz’s “Coarse, Medium, Fine” and his “Building Furniture with Handplanes” volume as well.)
Thanks for the great info. (Seriously).
BTW…Looking forward to the new DeNiro/Pacino collaboration?
I know WE are.
And (sorry I tried to resist….) “May The Schwarz be with us ALL!”
Oh yeah. “The Schwarz” has bitten me as well. I read his book about workbenches. I decided I had to have the Schwarz workbench. It seemed the best thing going for this bench was “low cost”. Ha!
The Schwarz bench is made of Southern Yellow Pine which I can’t get in my area. Ash seemed like a good alternative and is $5.00 a board foot. But so is hickory. Cool! I decided to make the top hickory. I used Home Depot douglas fir for the base, which actually worked pretty well. And it was cheap. I thought I was on my way to a cheap workbench.
Alas, I’ve spent $300 on hickory for the top thus far and I’m not sure if I’ll have to buy more. And I cut the thickness of the top by 40%! Sheesh, I haven’t even thought about what clamp I’m going to put on the bench…
I’m my own worst influence when it comes to buying tools. I do check in to see what the big boys have to say about the relative merits of the different brands, but I’ve usually decided to buy the tool by then.
I guess I’m lucky in that I have two economies in my house: the career economy and the woodworking generated one. I’m able to pay for pretty much any toy I truly desire (within reason) with money from the woodworking economy. Unfortunately, that often means building fences , re-roofing houses or building decks. I did just talk a customer who wanted to raise her TV into letting build her a Mission style table to put it on.
I’m planning to purchase a #8 & #4 1/2 Lie-Nielsen plane…
I’m Interested in opinions from any one who has actually compared corrugated base planes with non-corrugated base planes of the same size, especially the #8, #4 Lie-Nielsen planes
Are there any negatives of the corrugated base option (in performance, ignoring cost difference).
Check out this forum discussion Glenn.
http://thewoodwhisperer.com/to.....opic=315.0
Recently I attended the Turn On Chicago event that you posted on your calender. Thanks, by the way, I never would have gone had I not seen it there. We weren’t able to attend the entire weekend but a friend of mine and I made it for the Friday night sessions. We were only there for about 5 hours and after watching David Ellsworth turn a natural edged bowl in 13 minutes and talking with Alan Lacer I felt like I coudl turn anything. I returned home with $115 worth of turning blanks and didn’t even think twice. It wasn’t until the following day when I was showing off my new prized pieces of wood that I realized what I had done. Oops. Fortunatly my wife understands. She gets my weakness for burls and ambrosia.
i must admit this is very creepy. I can see myself doing this.