Review of Kevin Drake at Pop WW offices

[Randy Klein]

I had the opportunity to visit the Pop WW offices in Cincinnati last week when they had Kevin Drake from Glen-Drake tools visiting. I try to go to these as often as I can, one of the few benefits of living in Ohio...

There is an official blog entry about it at PWW, but I wanted to provide my perspective since I was able to talk with Kevin during dinner and play with all the tools.

I already have his Titemark gauge. But the one tool I really wanted to try out was the Wild West Dovetail Saw. In conjunction with his kerf starter, this saw cut very easily, with no effort to start and it never got caught during the cut. As a reference point for others, I have an Adria DT saw and really like it. On my very first try with Kevin's, I was able to cut the full depth the saw would allow and my cut was square down the face the entire length. As I'm still practicing my technique for hand-cut DTs, I tend to drift one way or the other with my Adria. I was really impressed by the saw and will probably own one (plus kerf starter and feeler gauges) in the future, just not the near future.

Here is an action shot of the saw. That's me crouched down in front. I think they got my good side...
KDV_4.jpg

I also got to try out his chisel hammers. These are also tools I will purchase one day. They fit real nice in the hand and have a surprising heft to them, even the short handled ones.

For those of you who don't understand the tools I'm talking about above, Kevin will send you a free DVD about them, just email him. It's a really good DVD. And I even know why he hits that gong thing in the beginning. It was the first question I asked him at dinner.

[Jim Koepke]

I even know why he hits that gong thing in the beginning. It was the first question I asked him at dinner.

So are you going to let the rest of us know?

I have the DVD, but did not see it until after talking to him and did not have a chance to ask.

jim

[Randy Klein]

So are you going to let the rest of us know?

Oh alright. He said that it is a Japanese culture/spiritual thing that helps you delineate the time you spend in your busy life and the time you spend woodworking. By cleansing your mind of all the other "stuff", you can focus on your woodworking and remain safe.

[mike holden]

Oh alright. He said that it is a Japanese culture/spiritual thing that helps you delineate the time you spend in your busy life and the time you spend woodworking. By cleansing your mind of all the other "stuff", you can focus on your woodworking and remain safe.

Oh Dear, and here I was thinking it was because he was an anglophile and was paying homage to Hammer studios that always started their films with a bodybuilder type striking a gong (or was it J. Arthur Rank? I get confused)

In any case, I have a couple of his tools, plane hammer and mark-tite, and am considering the kerf starter.

Mike