2012 Resolutions

I am still achoice from home and my tools until next week. Therefore, aside from lots of reading, I have been thinking about the New Year ahead and how it relates to my personal wood working aspirations...

So ... My wood working New Years Resolutions, Aspirations, Hopes & Goals for 2012.

• Take my quality of working to the next level.
• Attend at least one (1 week)  wood working course.
• Improve my finishing skills (including patience).
• Work with more hard woods.
• Have the confidence to try more complicated & challenging joinery.
• Work on longer term larger projects.
• Sell some of the things I make.

Id be really interested in other peoples goals for the year ahead especially those beginners like myself.

Happy New Year Everyone!..

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UK vs USA

God makes work for idle hands...

My favourite tool manufacturer is Lie Nielson basically because those few tools I have purchased so far have been amazing both in quality, initial set up and overall performance.

A stark contrast to the new Stanley Planes (a no#6 & no#4), I bought only a few months ago back in August. I wish I had realised that Stanley was no longer a quality name in tools - Oh well, lesson learnt.

So ... Looking forward to tools I may buy in the future, the shopping bill rises very quickly after only a small number of tools. I decided to compare the cost of Lie Nielsen tools in the USA to here in the UK.

Exchange rates were calculated using XE Prices were obtained from the Lie Nielsen website and the Axminster Tools (Lie Nielsen UK distributor) website.

Product	USA Lie Nielsen	UK Axminster
Dowel Plate	$50.00	£43.50
5pc Chisel Set (O1 steel)	$340.00	£239.00
2 x Mortise Chisels (1/4, 1/2)	$130.00	£113.00
Lie Nielsen no#5 Plane	$325.00	£282.95
High Angle Frog for no#5	$75.00	£65.00
Spare Plane Blade for no#5	$40.00	£34.80
Lie Nielsen no#7 Plane	$425.00	£369.95
Totals	$1385.00 (£887.93)	£1148.20 ($1790.73)

1 GBP = 1.55960 USD

1 USD = 0.641189 GBP @ 02.12.2011

Holy Cow! ... In the UK we pay £260.27 or $405.97 more than our American friends. Thats a huge difference for a small handful of tools!

Basically in the US, the no#7 (almost) becomes a 2for1 deal!

Anyone coming to the UK from the US anytime soon?....

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