James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
Crown Marking Knife, Right Handed Carving 112 | Woodworking Hand Tools, Full Tang 2 Inch Rosewood
1 min read
Crown’s Right-Handed Marking Knife has the low price, high quality, and practicality that I love to see in hand tools. Getting all three of those in one tool is increasingly rare.
Crown Hand Tools, Ltd., of Sheffield, England, makes this knife — it’s a simple and extremely useful woodworker’s knife that is still a favorite among craftsmen who set their standards high. If the mark of a carpenter’s pencil is close enough for you, you’ll have no need of this tool. If you’re the sort who likes to split that pencil line in half with the saw, this knife will open the door to much tighter standards.
Although it’s a simple tool — a full tang bar of steel with a straight edge ground at about 45 degrees — there’s nothing carelessly made about this rosewood-handled marking knife. The blade is a single beveled edge with a very fine point. Keep that point sharp and you can run the flat of the blade along a try square and mark a line perfectly straight and so thin you can only see the shadow in the cut if the light’s just right. A hundredth of a inch is pretty coarse compared to it.
With a heavier hand, you can cut a guiding line deep enough to start a wood chisel with perfect accuracy. If you use Japanese tenon saws, this sharply cut starting line guides one row of the saw’s teeth so there’s no skipping and marring of the wood on the “keeping” side. Anyone who works with inlays will use this knife to cleanly cut the veneer, fitting the pieces in place with no visible gaps.
If you haven’t used one before, just try it out. Suddenly your work gets a lot better.
If you’re interested in a modernized traditional hand tool that pairs up very well with the marking knife, see the Dovetail Saw from Shark.
James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
The Kershaw Fillet Knife with 9-inch blade offers functional quality and a price appropriate to a knife which usually gets the worst treatment possible....
Crown’s Right-Handed Marking Knife has the low price, high quality, and practicality that I love to see in hand tools. Getting all three of those in one tool is increasingly rare.
