Unfortunately, it appears that we won't be able to continue to meet that 50% pricing target. We've just received notice that the pricing on future orders of BCTW tools from the Chinese licensed manufacturer will be increasing in price by 20% - their justification for this is that manufacturing costs in China have been increasing due to both meeting new air quality standards and also material price increases.
So for now, we have increased the selling prices of the BCTW products on our website by an average of approximately 15%. We apologize for this, but it was the minimum change we could afford to make - we will now be making lower margins than we have previously and they were not that high to start with - we hope that this will allow us to continue to sell BCTW tools in the future. In spite of our price increase, our website prices for BCTW tools still appear to be lower than other international dealers.
Thanks for your understanding
Kevin
Northwest Passage Tools
]]>It turns out that for a chord of height h and length L, the radius of a circle is: R = 1/2h + L²/8h Here is an excel file
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1641/8473/files/chord_segment.xls?13883465351195234313
This worked well for choosing which bits I needed. For the complex curves, I found that the french curves that are used for drafting had the right shapes, but were the wrong size. So I created pdf files of the three most common Burmester series of French Curves that I could scale to the size I needed on a printer. I've included free copies of these pdf files in the useful woodworking links section of this website and I've also added links below. These pdfs can be printed out at various scales and sections of them cut out and pieced together to create curved profiles for project, or even glued to template material and cut out to create french curve templates at required scales.
On my project, to transfer the curves to the parts, I ended up buying a 24" flexible curve made by Staedtler Mars and using it to copy the curves from the printed french curve pdfs and then tracing the flexible curve. I highly recommend these flexible curves that are available at various art and drafting supply stores such as Staples https://www.staples.ca/en/Staedtler-Mars-Flex-Curve-24/product_13328_1-CA_1_20001, Michaels, Office Depot, and other Art Supply Stores - they are typically less than $10 and really are useful for projects with complex curves.
]]>I also put a coat of the oil mixture on the bedside table frame, but I'm not happy with the color match on all of the pieces, so I've been adjusting the color on individual parts by masking them off and then applying a mixture of oil and artists oil paints (I use a mix of burnt sienna, umber and burnt umber to get the color right) and then wiping off as much as I can.
Here is the picture showing an example of the poor color match:
And this next picture shows the process of applying the toner. I always do test samples on cut offs from the same project before committing to applying the toner.
And here is the case after I finished the toning process and then sprayed on a couple of coats of catalyzed varnish. I probably wont' have time to get to the top or drawers for a little while.
]]>It was a bit of work to sand the inlays all flush with the drawer face, and after doing so, there were quite a few voids as you can see in these pictures. Tomorrow I will hopefully have time to fill all the small voids with black epoxy and will also use a rotary tool to cut tiny grooves for antennae on the bees, which will also be filled with black epoxy. In preparation for this, I put on a couple of thin coats of blonde shellac to minimize the epoxy absorption on the wood around the voids to be filled.
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The first steps of a new inlay for me are always to debate if I really want to risk putting an inlay on a project that is almost finished and also to decide what the theme for the inlay will be. In this case, I wanted some Iris flowers and some bees.
I spend a lot of time creating a line drawing that I'm happy with. If I'm not happy with the line drawing, then I assume that I won't like the finished inlay either - I don't ever assume that rendering the design in wood will somehow fix my poor artwork. Since I'm not very artistic, to create the line drawing, I will usually try to find drawings or photos that I like and then try to combine them together by tracing and retracing. When working from photos, I try to simplify the design as much as possible.
Once I'm happy with the line drawings, then I'll try to decide on colors, wood selection for the inlay and then onto grain direction/graphics. I make many photocopies of my line drawing from one master so that the copies can be cut up for me to use as a guide in fretsawing the individual pieces. I take one of the copies and mark up what woods will go where.
I then go through the process of cutting out all of the pieces, assembling them in the correct orientation on a piece of wax paper on top of one of the drawing copies, and then using black epoxy to permanently connect them. Then once the epoxy is dry I use duco cement to temporarily tack each assembled element to the piece I'm inlaying. I then use a sharp knife and/or pick to scribe around the inlay element. The duco cement bond can either be removed by sliding a thin blade between the epoxied inlay and the substrate or running some acetone into the joint. The acetone will dissolve the duco cement, but not the epoxy.
Once I've scribed around each element, then I use a rotary tool and small router bits to route a recess to the same depth as the thickness of the inlay. Typically I'm using 1/16" thick (1.5mm) thick inlay material, so this is the thickness I'm trying to make the recess. I use a foredom rotary tool and a base sold by William Ng, but dremels or other systems will work as well.
Here I am checking the fit of each element after routing the recesses. Because the drawer front is Sapele which is a fairly dark wood, I wiped some varnish on the area to be inlayed before scribing because I think it makes the lines easier to see when routing the recess.
Once I've checked them and I'm satisfied that every piece will fit in the recesses, then I'll start gluing the pieces in place, again using black epoxy. Hopefully I will get to this next week!
]]>Using a good quality tool, for a function that it was actually designed for, not only often saves time, but makes the task safer and much more enjoyable. We have found that good quality tools that are carefully used and maintained, often don’t lose much value if we decide to eventually sell them after getting good use out of them.
One of Bridge City Tools Works catchphrases is that “Quality is Contagious” and we have come to believe this. We find that using high quality, well designed tools, not only makes it easy for us to do quality work ourselves, but that they also inspire us to improve our work to increasingly higher standards.
Of course, another alternative in some cases is to make the tool yourself. We also do this from time to time, and it can be very enjoyable. While we have never regretted any of our forays into toolmaking, when we have looked at the time we’ve spent on making high quality tools, we have usually concluded that purchased high quality tools are reasonable value, once time and effort that the design includes has been considered.
Here are some of the tools we have built over the years:
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