Veritas Low Angle Jack Plane Review

This Veritas low angle jack plane is an upgrade from my Stanley sweetheart BU plane. After months of researching pros and cons between LN and LV BU LAJ, I finally made my decision to purchase the LV. My first impression – very well pleased, no regrets. During my research, I wanted to see actual and latest pictures of both items but google search images seem to look the same. Low and behold, this is the real deal.  Low Angle Jack Plane

Chisel Review - New Narex 4 Piece Set.

 

I was in the market for a proper set of bench chisels. In recent years, whenever I have made the forty minute drive to visit the local Woodcraft store, I have found myself looking overlong at the Irwin’s or the Stanley Sweetheart socket chisels. I have often considered the fact that neither of these sets were outside of my budget but neither set really seemed sufficiently superior to the chisels that I already had. Naturally I am proud of Stanley for finding their way out of the bench chisel dark ages but, however nice, these chisels were not right for my needs.

The Irwin’s are a decent tool and they come closer to being the bench chisel I was after, but the fit and finish is not always the best, the handles are too “plasticky”, and, of course, I am mad at Irwin for reducing “Marples” to a marketing scheme. Still shopping, I spent hours online, looking at vintage sets on ebay, Veritus, Lee Neilson, Two Cherries, Crown, Ashley Iles, and others, but nothing really seemed right until I discovered the Narex chisels that are for sale on the Lee Valley website, Amazon, EBay, Highland Woodworking, and a few other outlets online. I researched the Narex chisels, read all about the company, and discussed them with friends.

Narex Bystrice has an interesting history and offers a nice selection of quality woodworking hand tools and screwdrivers. One of my brothers had once seen an older version of the Narex bevel edge chisels for sale at a local retailer and he thought that they had seemed like a decent tool. Encouraged, I read a good number of online reviews from regular people, well known master craftsmen, and from reputable publications.

Finally, I decided to risk my money. I ordered the New Narex set and haven't been happier.

  New Narex (Made in Czech Republic) Premium 4 pc set 6 (1/4), 12 (1/2), 20 (3/4) , 26 (1) mm Chisels w/ Hornbeam Handles, Model: 863201, Tools & Outdoor Store

I have used the 1-1/4 inch chisel extensively over the last few weeks as I worked with cherry and honey locust. Thus far, I have not needed to sharpen the tool again. It has held its edge.

I honestly do not know how these tools measure up to the $400.00 to $1000.00 chisel sets I see for sale, but they are as good as any chisel I own and better than most. They are certainly a decent tool for the price and having used them, I would pay double without thinking twice.

The Best Wireless Hearing Protection!

3M Peltor Worktunes
 
 I’ve been wearing plane jane, relatively cheap hearing protection for a long time. I have several different pairs, including a pretty comfortable 3M pair that I like. However, I had always wanted some way to play music while working in the shop. The wireless headphone + hearing protectors were always too much money (> $100) for me.

 Until I saw that Amazon had a lightning deal in December for this 3M Worktunes Wireless. I jumped on it for $65. The very same pair costs $85 at Home Depot or other sources. $65 was just enough cheaper to where I thought it was worth it.

  3M Peltor WorkTunes Digital Hearing Protector, MP3 Compatible with AM/FM Tuner

 So far, about six months in, I am very pleased with the Worktunes. They are comfortable and actually sound decent. They have an aggressive volume-limiting system which I completely understand, but which occasionally annoys me when I can’t turn a song up loud enough. I understand that it is mean to protect our hearing, and using hearing protection and blasting music are sort of counterproductive, but I wish I could crank just a few more dB out of them.

 There are two other niggles that prevent this unit from being five stars. One is the antenna. It is there because the set has an AM/FM radio built in. That’s nice, but I don’t listen to the radio on it. I’d love to be able to remove the antenna. My shop is in my basement with steam heating pipes up overhead, and I often hit the antenna on them. It’s a minor annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless. The other problem is that the unit always turns on in FM radio mode. I have to turn it in then press the function button a couple of times to get it to bluetooth mode.

Another minor annoyance, but it happens enough that I’m mentioning it. All in all, I’m very pleased with the Worktunes. It does a superb job filtering out even high pitch noises like a router and a superb one with low frequency noise like my dust collector. Often I’ll pull the headset off and realize I’d left the dust collector on, which is a statement about how quiet it is inside the unit.

The three minor issues outlined above bring it from five to four stars, but it’s still a quality product that I’d buy again at the price I paid. Being able to listen to music (or podcasts, or whatever) while working in the shop is a huge quality of life improvement.

Chisel Review - New Narex 4 Piece Set.

 

I was in the market for a proper set of bench chisels. In recent years, whenever I have made the forty minute drive to visit the local Woodcraft store, I have found myself looking overlong at the Irwin’s or the Stanley Sweetheart socket chisels. I have often considered the fact that neither of these sets were outside of my budget but neither set really seemed sufficiently superior to the chisels that I already had. Naturally I am proud of Stanley for finding their way out of the bench chisel dark ages but, however nice, these chisels were not right for my needs.

 The Irwin’s are a decent tool and they come closer to being the bench chisel I was after, but the fit and finish is not always the best, the handles are too “plasticky”, and, of course, I am mad at Irwin for reducing “Marples” to a marketing scheme. Still shopping, I spent hours online, looking at vintage sets on ebay, Veritus, Lee Neilson, Two Cherries, Crown, Ashley Iles, and others, but nothing really seemed right until I discovered the Narex chisels that are for sale on the Lee Valley website, Amazon, EBay, Highland Woodworking, and a few other outlets online.

 I researched the Narex chisels, read all about the company, and discussed them with friends. Narex Bystrice has an interesting history and offers a nice selection of quality woodworking hand tools and screwdrivers. One of my brothers had once seen an older version of the Narex bevel edge chisels for sale at a local retailer and he thought that they had seemed like a decent tool. Encouraged, I read a good number of online reviews from regular people, well known master craftsmen, and from reputable publications.

Finally, I decided to risk my money. I ordered the New Narex set and haven't been happier.

New Narex (Made in Czech Republic) Premium 4 pc set 6 (1/4), 12 (1/2), 20 (3/4) , 26 (1) mm Chisels w/ Hornbeam Handles, Model: 863201, Tools & Outdoor Store

I have used the 1-1/4 inch chisel extensively over the last few weeks as I worked with cherry and honey locust. Thus far, I have not needed to sharpen the tool again. It has held its edge. I honestly do not know how these tools measure up to the $400.00 to $1000.00 chisel sets I see for sale, but they are as good as any chisel I own and better than most. They are certainly a decent tool for the price and having used them, I would pay double without thinking twice.

Chisel Review - New Narex 4 Piece Set.

I was in the market for a proper set of bench chisels. In recent years, whenever I have made the forty minute drive to visit the local Woodcraft store, I have found myself looking overlong at the Irwin’s or the Stanley Sweetheart socket chisels. I have often considered the fact that neither of these sets were outside of my budget but neither set really seemed sufficiently superior to the chisels that I already had. Naturally I am proud of Stanley for finding their way out of the bench chisel dark ages but, however nice, these chisels were not right for my needs. The Irwin’s are a decent tool and they come closer to being the bench chisel I was after, but the fit and finish is not always the best, the handles are too “plasticky”, and, of course, I am mad at Irwin for reducing “Marples” to a marketing scheme. Still shopping, I spent hours online, looking at vintage sets on ebay, Veritus, Lee Neilson, Two Cherries, Crown, Ashley Iles, and others, but nothing really seemed right until I discovered the Narex chisels that are for sale on the Lee Valley website, Amazon, EBay, Highland Woodworking, and a few other outlets online.

I researched the Narex chisels, read all about the company, and discussed them with friends. Narex Bystrice has an interesting history and offers a nice selection of quality woodworking hand tools and screwdrivers. One of my brothers had once seen an older version of the Narex bevel edge chisels for sale at a local retailer and he thought that they had seemed like a decent tool. Encouraged, I read a good number of online reviews from regular people, well known master craftsmen, and from reputable publications. Finally, I decided to risk my money. I ordered the New Narex set and haven't been happier.

New Narex (Made in Czech Republic) Premium 4 pc set 6 (1/4), 12 (1/2), 20 (3/4) , 26 (1) mm Chisels w/ Hornbeam Handles, Model: 863201, Tools & Outdoor Store

I have used the 1-1/4 inch chisel extensively over the last few weeks as I worked with cherry and honey locust. Thus far, I have not needed to sharpen the tool again. It has held its edge. I honestly do not know how these tools measure up to the $400.00 to $1000.00 chisel sets I see for sale, but they are as good as any chisel I own and better than most. They are certainly a decent tool for the price and having used them, I would pay double without thinking twice. 

Dewalt DWV012 Shop Vac Review

How I Use Dust Collection In My Shop
I use a dust collector, as well as two shop vaccums for dust collection. One is a “6.5 hp” Ridgid that stays at the router table, and disconnects easily for shop cleanup. The other one is a small Ridgid vac dedicated to the miter saw. These vacs seem to do their job, and the howling noise they make doesn’t bother me much because the tools they are attached to are just as loud. Furthermore, the miter saw and router table tend to be used for short periods of time.

The problem I had was collecting dust from the random orbit sander, biscuit joiner, handheld router, and dovetail jig. These tools tend to be used for longer periods of time, and the howling of the shop vac really became tiresome. Additionally I was not impressed with the seal between the motor housing and canister on most standard shop vacs.

The Dewalt Extractor
I upgraded to this unit primarily for the noise reduction and better filtration. The Dewalt measured 59-61 db at 3 feet away. This is 10-12 db less than by 6.5 hp Ridgid vac at the same distance. This is with a non-calibrated meter, so take the values with a grain of salt, but the Ridgid seemed to be twice as loud as the Dewalt. I really couldn’t hear the vacuum motor over a 3 amp ROS, but I could hear the suction noise through the small 8-hole sanding discs.

The motor is variable speed, so if you don’t need maximum suction you can turn it down a bit. The variable speed is also helpful if you are running a high amp tool with the extractor, so you won’t trip a breaker. A tool is plugged into the vac, and when the tool is turned on the vac automatically turns on.

The filters are HEPA rated, and there is a positive locking seal between the motor housing and canister. The filters thread into place, and also form a secure seal. Finally the filters are self cleaning with a reverse puff of air every 30 seconds or so. The filter cleaning feature is barely audible over a typical tool.

The only negative comments I have are in regards to the hose. Dewalt went with a quick-connect style 1-1/4” I.D. reverse threaded hose. The hose itself is fine, but the fittings are neither quick nor easy! The hose connects to the vacuum via a quick connect, which actually works just fine. It swivels to prevent kinks, and locks firmly in place. However the tool end of the factory Dewalt hose is lousy. What comes with the extractor won’t actually fit any tools, you need an adapter. So I purchased several Dewalt adapters to get started, and I found them bulky and awkward to use. The solution was a #24 adapter from Mr. Nozzle. It reverse threads directly to the Dewalt hose, and fits my Dewalt ROS, Biscuit Joiner, 618 router, and more (1-1/2” tool-end I.D.)

Great tool after a simple nozzle swap.

Learn more here - DEWALT DWV012 10-Gallon Dust Extractor with Automatic Filter

Best Rate LED Shop Lights

So, I’ve been working in my shop for the past three years with a single 100 watt blub and grew sick off how horrid the lighting was. So, I splurged and swapped out the single bulb fixture for an electrical outlet and had gotten these LED light fixtures to plug into. And I must say, I’m VERY please with this upgrade! 


These things are great! At 30 watts a piece and 3200 luminaries (whatever the Hell that means) they light up my shop perfectly; which is only a 25×15-ish with an 8-1/2 ft ceiling single car garage. They plug right into the receptacle that I replaced the light fixture with and they can also can be linked together.  And they not only have the a 10,000 hour light built in, but the pull chain is too. Or, you can leave the pull chain in the on position and turn them on via a wall switch like I did.

Learn more about them here - Hyperikon Utility LED Shop Light, 4FT Integrated LED Double-Fixture, 38W (100W Equivalent), 3800 Lumens, 4000K (Daylight Glow), Frosted Cover, Corded-electric