Tool sources

Here are some of my favorite sources for tools and wood. Two things I really appreciate: craftspeople who make tools with care, and shops run and staffed by people who understand the tools, wood, and supplies they're selling.

Wenzloff & Sons Saw Makers. Mike Wenzloff makes amazing handsaws, patterned after many of the classics: Disston, Fulton, Patterson, Moulson, Peace, and John Kenyon (the Kenyon Seaton Chest Saws are pictured below). I have several of his saws and they are among my most treasured tools. www.wenzloffandsons.com.

Blue Spruce Toolworks. David Jeske is a mechanical engineer and self-taught woodworker who now runs a small toolworks out of his 2-car garage in Oregon City. He makes marking knives, scratch awls, mallets, carbide burnishers, draw bore pins, and a variety of chisels. These are some of the most beautifully made hand tools I've ever held. www.bluesprucetoolworks.com.

Hamilton Woodworks. High quality marking and panel gauges. Mine are cherry, but Jeff Hamilton offers them in a variety of woods. These are wonderful tools to hold, carefully shaped from well selected and gorgeously grained wood, well fitted together, exquisitely finished, and very robust. If you're at all like me, once you hold these tools in your own hands, you'll want to find a special place for them in your shop, and you'll look for excuses to use them. The panel gauge is pictured below. www.hamiltontools.com.

Lie-Nielsen Toolworks of Maine. They make a line of beautiful heirloom-quality hand tools. I think they're best known for their planes, but they also make saws, chisels, and a variety of other tools. Beautiful craftsmanship. Their medium shoulder plane is pictured below. www.lie-nielsen.com.

Tools for Working Wood. They have a wonderful selection of quality tools, including their own Gramercy Tool line, which includes a series of saws and rasps, and two lines of brushes. I have their Gramercy saw vice and a few other tools from their shop, and it's evident they make and choose the tools they sell with care and knowledge. They also post interesting articles about how they research and arrive at the design of their tools, which share valuable information about the history of the tools. www.toolsforworkingwood.com.

Woodpeckers Precision Woodworking Tools. You may have noticed that I love precision tools, and Woodpeckers makes some wonderful precisions tools. One entertaining attribute is that they make one-time tools that are often quite interesting. They're also a good source for jig & fixture parts. Their set of 4.5″ and 6.25″ precision triangles is pictured below. www.woodpeck.com.

Steve Wall Lumber Co. For our home and the furniture in it, I use mostly oak (all the trim), maple (my personal favorite furniture wood; I love the way it feels to the touch), a bit of poplar (a few pieces have such interesting coloration), and some pine (although it's soft, I simply love the warmth of pine after it has aged for a few years and has mellowed to an amber hue), all of which I carefully pick out at local lumber yards. For the lamps, I sometimes buy thin wood from Steve Wall Lumber in North Carolina, and use primarily maple, walnut, and a bit of mahogany, three woods I love. Steve Wall is someone who really appreciates wood, and you can find many fine specimens through his site (or at his yard, if you're lucky enough to live in North Carolina). www.walllumber.com.

Mike Mahoney's Fine Finishes. Mike Mahoney is bowlmaker extraordinaire. Pictured below is a set of his Red Boxelder bowls. As part of his work, he developed his own wonderful finishes: a natural walnut oil and a paste wax that is a blend of his walnut oil, beeswax, and carnauba wax.

I discovered these finishes when I was looking for a truly safe and robust finish for a set of maple chew toys that I made for a friend's baby. It's an entirely different experience to use Mahoney's finishes. Typically for me, oiling means donning a respirator, opening the windows, turning on the fans, wearing latex gloves and safety glasses, and still getting a headache. With these finishes, I used no mask, no glasses, no fans, and no gloves … and I didn't get a headache. Both the oil and the wax are totally pleasant to use; I actually like the feel of them on my fingers. Both smell faintly, but it's a pleasant fragrance, and the smell dissipates as they dry. They take longer to dry, but the result is a nice, rich sheen that feels good to the touch. www.bowlmakerinc.com

Ridge Carbide Tool Co. High quality carbide saw blades, as well as an excellent mail-in sharpening service. www.ridgecarbidetool.com.

The Best Things. The name says it all. They sell a collection of their favorite things, including a range of hand and power woodworking tools, one of which is the full line of the very well made Dubuque Miro-Moose maple jaw hand-screw clamps. They also offer vintage tools, and the best prices on Norton 3x that I've found anywhere. www.thebestthings.com.

Whiteside Router Bits. Whiteside makes a huge variety of excellent carbide router bits. Available from a variety of sources including Woodpeckers and RouterBits.com.

Klingspor's Woodworking Shop. Klingspor, a German company operating since 1893 with facilities in North Carolina and California, makes abrasives, including a wide variety of sandpaper, sanding discs, and sanding belts. They have more offerings in the fine range than most other manufacturers. They also sell a variety of woodworking tools and accessories at reasonable prices. I've purchased a couple of my sanders from them. www.woodworkingshop.com.

McGuckin Hardware, Boulder, CO. I've loved hardware stores since I was a kid. The really good ones are enchanted wonderlands! McGuckin's online site is woefully limited (it puzzles me why they haven't done a better job with that), but to wander their aisles is an experience not to be missed! It's the kind of place where you don't ask if they have something; rather, you ask the knowledgeable staff where it is.

My favorite story goes back 20-some years ago when I was trying to change the head gasket on my old Honda Civic and broke a bolt off in the head (wood is my thing, and when I'm smart I stay away from engines!). It was Saturday afternoon and the local Honda dealership was already closing. So I bummed a ride to McGuckin. They had the tool I needed to get the broken bolt end out of the head and the obscure replacement bolt I needed for that old, imported car! Now that's a hardware store.

These days I'm fortunate to work a couple blocks away from McGuckin; I can walk there at lunch or easily drop by on the way home for a little hardware fix, which can do wonders for my mood! www.McGuckin.com.

Shop wisely. When I look for tools, I especially like to turn to shops run by people who really understand woodworking. A few of the online stores that I've purchased general woodworking tools and supplies from repeatedly are Highland Woodworking (their site contains a wealth of in-depth woodworking tips), McFeely's, and Tyler Tool.

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