Unexpected tool porn

Had the camera on while I was putting on a test coat; background video and all that.  While editing, I noticed what I did while on camera...

wait... is that what I think I did?!?

no... really?!?

Ghads! Used a Blue Spruce chisel to open a can of finish!?!?  I thought only NWWMOTHs did that (non-woodworker members of the household).

Ah, but it's okay!  :)

So last week, I was for-real putting on coats of finish on the Angle Madness panels. When I went to open the can of finish, I looked for the church key on the bench, but there were a bunch of Blue Spruce chisels cuz of a separate project.  I thought, "you know, it would be funny to have a Blue Spruce paint-can opener so I could open cans in style and freak out viewers when they see it happen".  Yeah yeah, I know, I need to get out more.

I sent the idea to Dave Jeske, owner of Blue Spruce Toolworks.  He replied quickly with:

Well, he liked it... back to finishing...

Then today I go to the mail and find a nice unexpected package:

Thanks, Dave, for what has to be the first and only Blue Spruce paint-can opener!  For the record, it required no honing before use.

Best I can tell, this is a by-request product so let him know if you want one by sending mail to Dave!

Think about it: put it by the paint cans so when your family need to open a can, naturally they'll reach for your "chisel" (-wink- -wink-) and find that indeed a chisel works wonderfully well at opening cans!

Your chisel stash will stay safe.  A stylish decoy, in Cocobolo.

A bit of Blue Spruce for the Holidays...

D'oh! I've been absent for quite awhile doing things like drywall, electrical, and stair molding that isn't particularly interesting to see.  Though I will be blogging about the electrical install and specifically some creative wiring for the SawStop.
So how do I make up for the absence? Pron, naturally!  Tool pron specifically... (I'm titillated just typing that!)

Packages with this return address are always welcome (so, send me yours :))  David Jeske is the guy behind Blue Spruce Toolworks.

Inside, a care-and-feeding letter from him about your order; nice eco-friendly boxes with twine seal the deal.  oooh, open! open! open!

This is the curly maple and African blackwood mallet that originally caught everybody's attention.  Too pretty to use?  Heck no... pretty has to be functional (well, tools anyway ;)).  The head is infused with acrylic so you can beat your butt chisels all day with it.  Hey, what's that to the right???

Oh, a lovely pair of skew paring chisels in tulipwood, a long marking knife in birds' eye maple, and a small marking knife in canarywood.
I feel a little like Ricardo Montalbán when I say, "Exacto knife? Plastic mallet? But why?"