Joiners


Got all my Dads stuff.
Can't bring myself to use most of it.
Don't want to fuck any of it up.
Keep it all cleaned and oiled, and rust free. Wooden block planes and loads of stuff.
Beautiful things.
He was a proper craftsman.
Whenever he came to do a job at my place he was a sod though.
Had 11 internal pine doors to hang. He said aye, no worries. That's easy.
Made me help and watch the first one, then made me do the rest the bassa🤣🤣🤣
I'm good at hanging doors now though.😁
 
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My dad's a retired Joiner, when I was little he made me a horse, bought me proper tools as he didn't see the point in buying the toy versions for Christmas. He sharp blunted the saw when he saw me on with it. He ended up using the horse up until he retired was only small but perfect for some jobs.
He's still got all his old hand tools. I've got a horse he knocked up when he was doing something in the house for me. Took him no time at all to make.
 
I know the exact boxes your talking about.
Made mine while serving me time, made it at wearside college when on block release from the company I was serving me time with. Some bastard nicked it along with all me tools when I went back to working on site.
 
See what he drags out his van now he’s nearly 30

Scratch fuck out of your work.

So do wood ones after a while, when i worked at Couttsy's years ago using my handmade sawhorses.I always put a bit of old underlay down over them ,a lot of the stuff we were making was polished stuff or getting made to go into the polishing shop, putting it straight onto a wood sawhorse would have been fatal.
Get a new lightweight foldable set and buy 2 x swimming float noodles, cut them down the middle of one side and just clip them over the top .

Catch them with saw blades.

If you can't rip a length of wood down with a couple of Irwin wood clamps holding the wood in place without cutting into your saw stool then get another trade.

Cumbersome.

I remember how much space 2 x sawhorses took up to what the new foldable one's do.


Yet the diluties hide behind “ya not allowed wooden stools them on the sites”

They do t know how to make them that’s the problem
 
You used to have to make a saw stool,tool box and a box for your oil stone.

I’ve still got my original box for my oil stone.Only thing I have got that’s originally from my apprenticeship
And saw clamps, I doubt 1% of joiners now could make saw clamps and use them to sharpen a saw ... and why would they, buying a new sharp saw every few months is much easier.
 
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True story this.
Nearly 100 years* ago me and a mate were asked to replace 10 doors in a house up in Town End farm. The woman who's house it was had already bought the doors for some stupid amount from some somewhere like Maxwells so we told her to send them back and being in the trade we got the exact same doors from a place down Highstreet East for half the price. With our price on top she was getting the same doors bought and fitted for the same price she originally paid for the door, so she was basically getting them fitted for nowt. When it came to pay us she would only pay half of what we quoted her because "It only took you 2 days and you're earning more than me and I'm a civil servant". She got the doors bought and fitted for 25% less than she bought them for in the first place, the cow.

*probably closer to 45 years ago.
I’ve got to admit that’s before my time che.
Aye, 24hr saws started coming in in the early 1980's, if you were seen with one you were branded a diluty. I got my first one in 1981 :lol:
 
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Interesting topic.

I’ve got my Granda’s joiners toolbox in the garage. It’s beautifully made. Dovetail joints, piano hinge, sliding drawers and a leather handle.

In today’s society, who would pay for the joiners time to make their own toolbox?

Crying shame really.

My grandfather was a cabinet maker who made his tool boxes back in the 1920’s , his boxes and his old hand tools were donated to Beamish Museum many moons ago.
 
Made mine while serving me time, made it at wearside college when on block release from the company I was serving me time with. Some bastard nicked it along with all me tools when I went back to working on site.
Snap 1990-1994
That’s how many years I was at Tunstall, not how long it took to make the box.
 
Snap 1990-1994
That’s how many years I was at Tunstall, not how long it took to make the box.
87-89 for me on block release to gain city & guilds craft certificate, started another year on day release to gain the advanced craft but sacked it off after a couple of months to work away for some decent wedge.
 
You used to have to make a saw stool,tool box and a box for your oil stone.

I’ve still got my original box for my oil stone.Only thing I have got that’s originally from my apprenticeship

Aye. They don't do that now.
Ive still got my apprenticeship oil stone box but since I don't use a van now it stays in the shed and a little diamond stones for site.

I made two apprentices tool boxes one big and one normal. As you know a normal one full up is heavy enough but the bigger one was virtually impossible to carry. The older lads told me it would be anarl but being young I knew better than them. They were supposed to be left varnished to illustrate your joint making capabilities but got painted black to hide in corners on site in London before the introduction of big padlocked metal tool chests came around but with those there wasn't the room for boxes when the rest had bags so they were thrown em out years ago after spending years indoors.

Not made a saw stool for 30yrs. Last times when I was sent to a different site supervise a group of labourers ripping out everything from a big London house that'd been turned into 16 bedsits/one bed flats. 16 bathrooms and kitchens etc. I was basically there to take the register so spent my time knocking up saw stools from the waste timber and screws.
And saw clamps, I doubt 1% of joiners now could make saw clamps and use them to sharpen a saw ... and why would they, buying a new sharp saw every few months is much easier.
Used to book my handsaws in for sharpening when going on summer holidays but the price was the same as buying a new plastic throwaway job. With the increased use and portability of power tools handsaws aren't used as much so a new plastic one three times a year makes sense. I sold my old school saws years ago for buttons once the plastic ones came out. Disstons they were.
...................
True story this.
Nearly 100 years* ago me and a mate were asked to replace 10 doors in a house up in Town End farm. The woman who's house it was had already bought the doors for some stupid amount from some somewhere like Maxwells so we told her to send them back and being in the trade we got the exact same doors from a place down Highstreet East for half the price. With our price on top she was getting the same doors bought and fitted for the same price she originally paid for the door, so she was basically getting them fitted for nowt. When it came to pay us she would only pay half of what we quoted her because "It only took you 2 days and you're earning more than me and I'm a civil servant". She got the doors bought and fitted for 25% less than she bought them for in the first place, the cow.

*probably closer to 45 years ago.
......and there we have the perfect illustration of why I stopped working for myself. Customers are arseholes.
Snap 1990-1994
That’s how many years I was at Tunstall, not how long it took to make the box.
Man hours to make the box was next to nowt but they looked impressive to those not in the know.
 
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Aye. They don't do that now.
Ive still got my apprenticeship oil stone box but since I don't use a van now it stays in the shed and a little diamond stones for site.

I made two apprentices tool boxes one big and one normal. As you know a normal one full up is heavy enough but the bigger one was virtually impossible to carry. The older lads told me it would be anarl but being young I knew better than them. They were supposed to be left varnished to illustrate your joint making capabilities but got painted black to hide in corners on site in London before the introduction of big padlocked metal tool chests came around but with those there wasn't the room for boxes when the rest had bags so they were thrown em out years ago after spending years indoors.

Not made a saw stool for 30yrs. Last times when I was sent to a different site supervise a group of labourers ripping out everything from a big London house that'd been turned into 16 bedsits/one bed flats. 16 bathrooms and kitchens etc. I was basically there to take the register so spent my time knocking up saw stools from the waste timber and screws.

Used to book my handsaws in for sharpening when going on summer holidays but the price was the same as buying a new plastic throwaway job. With the increased use and portability of power tools handsaws aren't used as much so a new plastic one three times a year makes sense. I sold my old school saws years ago for buttons once the plastic ones came out. Disstons they were.

......and there we have the perfect illustration of why I stopped working for myself. Customers are arseholes.

Man hours to make the box was next to nowt but they looked impressive to those not in the know.
To be fair I got on quite well with most of my customers, couple of oddballs but that's bound to happen.
Remember 1 young lass though, gave her a quote for the whole job, not a dayrate, she was happy with the price so I got the job, did a couple of days graft then had to go somewhere else just for the 1 day, then went back to job the next day and finished off. Lass was adamant I needed to knock some money off because I had gone somewhere else for a day. She couldn't grasp I had gave her a price for the work regardless of how long it took me. 🤣
 
To be fair I got on quite well with most of my customers, couple of oddballs but that's bound to happen.
Remember 1 young lass though, gave her a quote for the whole job, not a dayrate, she was happy with the price so I got the job, did a couple of days graft then had to go somewhere else just for the 1 day, then went back to job the next day and finished off. Lass was adamant I needed to knock some money off because I had gone somewhere else for a day. She couldn't grasp I had gave her a price for the work regardless of how long it took me. 🤣
I always say, my job would be a damn sight easier without f***ing thick customers.🤣🤣🤣
 
And saw clamps, I doubt 1% of joiners now could make saw clamps and use them to sharpen a saw ... and why would they, buying a new sharp saw every few months is much easier.
All old school joiners worked around me( ex Binns) so i learn't off them .
Made mine and the tool with a dial with numbers to set how far your teeth were pushed out and you clamped every other one then turned it around to do the other side then your triangle saw file on a 35°angle both ways and away you go ,as someone mentioned the disposables came in the early 80s .
I remember when we fitted the bakery shop at the bottom of blanford st using our yankee screwdrivers and the counter people came from sweden( for some reason) but they rocked up with cordless drills banging the screws in and we were like w.t.f ! So we all went out hunting them down, i found a grey black and decker one that was nearly a weeks wages ,bought it ,you could put 20 x 2 inch screws in then flat ,had to charge it up :lol:,wasn't till a few years later tgat the Makita range came out.

Still got me oil stone mahogany box ,french polished by the polishers.
 
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All old school joiners worked around me( ex Binns) so i learn't off them .
Made mine and the tool with a dial with numbers to set how far your teeth were pushed out and you clamped every other one then turned it around to do the other side then your triangle saw file on a 35°angle both ways and away you go ,as someone mentioned the disposables came in the early 80s .
I remember when we fitted the bakery shop at the bottom of blanford st using our yankee screwdrivers and the counter people came from sweden( for some reason) but they rocked up with cordless drills banging the screws in and we were like w.t.f ! So we all went out hunting them down, i found a grey black and decker one that was nearly a weeks wages ,bought it ,you could put 20 x 2 inch screws in then flat ,had to charge it up :lol:,wasn't till a few years later tgat the Makita range came out.
Still got my Dads Yankee. f***ing lethal in the wrong hands😁
 
All old school joiners worked around me( ex Binns) so i learn't off them .
Made mine and the tool with a dial with numbers to set how far your teeth were pushed out and you clamped every other one then turned it around to do the other side then your triangle saw file on a 35°angle both ways and away you go ,as someone mentioned the disposables came in the early 80s .
I remember when we fitted the bakery shop at the bottom of blanford st using our yankee screwdrivers and the counter people came from sweden( for some reason) but they rocked up with cordless drills banging the screws in and we were like w.t.f ! So we all went out hunting them down, i found a grey black and decker one that was nearly a weeks wages ,bought it ,you could put 20 x 2 inch screws in then flat ,had to charge it up :lol:,wasn't till a few years later tgat the Makita range came out.
The tool with the dial was called a Saw Set. I went to work in Holland in 1980 and they were so far advanced compared to us it was unbelievable. For fixing skirting they had a SDS drill mounted on a trolly and a big fuck off lever to push the drill with, then you'd hoy a plug in and screw it up with your Yankee. 20 times quicker than us with our plugging chisels.
First cordless drill I ever got was a Bosch, about 6 months later Makita came out with a better one. I remember racing Irish lads putting 4" screws in with their Yankees, they usually won.
All old school joiners worked around me( ex Binns) so i learn't off them .
Made mine and the tool with a dial with numbers to set how far your teeth were pushed out and you clamped every other one then turned it around to do the other side then your triangle saw file on a 35°angle both ways and away you go ,as someone mentioned the disposables came in the early 80s .
I remember when we fitted the bakery shop at the bottom of blanford st using our yankee screwdrivers and the counter people came from sweden( for some reason) but they rocked up with cordless drills banging the screws in and we were like w.t.f ! So we all went out hunting them down, i found a grey black and decker one that was nearly a weeks wages ,bought it ,you could put 20 x 2 inch screws in then flat ,had to charge it up :lol:,wasn't till a few years later tgat the Makita range came out.
The tool with the dial was called a Saw Set. I went to work in Holland in 1980 and they were so far advanced compared to us it was unbelievable. For fixing skirting they had a SDS drill mounted on a trolly and a big fuck off lever to push the drill with, then you'd hoy a plug in and screw it up with your Yankee. 20 times quicker than us with our plugging chisels.
First cordless drill I ever got was a Bosch, about 6 months later Makita came out with a better one. I remember racing Irish lads putting 4" screws in with their Yankees, they usually won.
 

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