I love working with wood, and sharing here on the blog. I also love designing items that my clients will love having in their homes and offices. Please let me know if you need a special piece to share with your loved ones.
Sandal Woods | Fine Woodworking
Woodworking with passion - The woodworking blog and podcast of Al Navas
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I got *some* of the things on the list, but (sigh …) still need others, and the shoulder plane is one of them. I have the Veritas shoulder plane on the short list (only for the hand tool work, as I don’t need it at all when I use either the FMT Pro or the Super FMT). I have not yet played with the LV side rabbet plane, but will do so in late March.
Hi Al
I hope that you got everything that you wanted from Santa.
Just to compare notes, I have the Lie Nielsen chisels and mortise chisels. I find them very satisfactory.
On the shoulder planes, I have both LN and Lee Valley. I find that the Lee Valley large shoulder plane is much more hand friendly than the LN. The adjustable top screw gives you a place to wrap your thumb around. The LN and Lee Valley router planes are about identical and much better than the old Stanleys that I have. Have you looked at the Lee Valley side rabbet?
Dave Kraatz
This is the first I’m hearing about a new mallet from Blue Spruce, is that something they’re really working on or just wishful thinking? (tis the season for wishful thinking I suppose)
btw nice list, I asked santa for a marking gauge and the veritas dovetail saw…I hope we were both good enough this year.
Chris,
I have tried them on different occasions, at the Woodworking in America conferences. Your namesake, Christopher Schwarz, wrote about these new mallets in April of this year. He also posted the following photo in the same article, on the Woodworking Magazine blog:

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That’s a whole lot of pregnancy on your list. Good luck!
Funny, Torch! I just hope Santa delivers – I probably should have hinted sooner, and in much stronger ways… Of course, there are other holidays, such St Stephen’s day (the day after Christmas), New Year’s day, ……..
Perhaps this is a dumb question, but what is a router plane?
NEVER such thing as a dumb question, Larry. The router plane is used to work shallow mortises such as door locks, to clean up dados, and to trim tenons and other joinery. Click on the following link to go to the Lie-Nielsen (LN) router plane page :
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http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=71
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Also, a photo of the LN large router plane:

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Jeff,
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You will be all set with the dust collection, and the Gift Cards! Wonderful! I look forward to reading about these on your blog.
All hand tools – very nice. I have asked for some dust collection stuff and some gift cards so I can start on my next project.