Bridge City's last rosewood tool
James Moody
I just received Bridge City Tool Works' announcement of their last rosewood
tool to be offered. After this month all tools offered will be made with
Juara (pronounced "wora") wood. From the flyer:
"Juara wood starts out as individually selected veneers of either American
birch or beech, and are dried and stained with an aniline dye....
Subsequently, each dyed sheet is impregnated with a thermal setting resin.
The individual sheets are stacked on top of each other with the grain
aligned and placed in a press. Once the press reaches a certain pressure,
the temperature rises and the thermal setting resin in the veneer melts.
The result, once cooled, is an extraordinarily dense, homogenous mass....
One notable feature of Juara wood is the fact that it is very close to being
inert. This is particularly beneficial in a precision instrument, and is
ideally suited for our tools."
Other than the fact that the flyer mentions that Juara wood is a proprietary
product, I don't see how it differs from Pakka wood, the stuff used in knife
handles (among other things).
Anyhow, the new tool is the TB-3, a 12" version of the TB-2 Sliding T-Bevel.
Until the end of September it will be offered in both rosewood and the new
Juara wood. The price now is $66.00 + $7.00 S&H. Next month it will be
$74.00.
I've had a TB-2 for a year now, and I think that the locking mechanism is
pretty good. I received a TB-1 as a gift last month, and the locking
mechanism was defective - at least 12 degrees of play when tightened. Of
course I sent it back immediately, but I'm wondering if their system may be
tempermental, or whether I was just lucky this time.
One can't deny that Bridge City makes some beautiful tools, although I
wonder about the practicality about one or two of them. Perhaps they are
intended mainly for collectors, and I wonder how B.C.'ll fare after they
eliminate rosewood. Personally, I think it's a responsible change, but I'm
also glad I have a few of the original line.
Bridge City's number, if you are interested, is 1-800-253-3332.
I have no affiliation with this company. This tool is not offered in their
catalog, so I thought it might be of general interest to this newsgroup.
--
James E. Moody Jr. The Robotics Institute (412) 268-2847
Carnegie Mellon (University) CMU-BUGS
Schenley Park
mo...@ius1.cs.cmu.edu Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Ted Wojcik
>
> Other than the fact that the flyer mentions that Juara wood is a proprietary
> product, I don't see how it differs from Pakka wood, the stuff used in knife
> handles (among other things).
>
I just received my MS-2 miter square yesterday. It came in it's own drawstring bag,
which usually costs extra, instead of a box. There was a little note in the package
which said (in essence) "the response to our phasing out Rosewood tools has been so
great that we've run out of products and the boxes to pack them in. We've decided to
pack them in available materials rather than wait. Because you've waited paitiently,
we'll be sending another small token under seperate cover."
Wow. I didn't mind waiting anyway. (Well I just sort of put it out of my mind. :^)
You just gotta love these tools. They just feel right in your hand and you can trust
them to be "dead on" without worrying.
One difference between Juara and Pakka is that Adams Pakkawood went Chapter 11 back in
May according to Woodshop News. I wondered how that would affect Bridge City. I
didn't know about Juara wood and had assumed that BCTW was going to use Pakkawood.
I was underwhelmed. Pakkawood is pretty but, darn it, it's NOT Rosewood. It didn't
look like Rosewood (although they could have used different dyes) and it didn't heft
like Rosewood.
I'm saving to get an MG-2 but I doubt that it will be before the Rosewood stock is
gone. To be honest, if John Economaki says Juara wood is indestinguishable from real
Rosewood, I'd be persuaded to believe him. I'd say his judgement regarding his
products is pretty good from looking at and using his tools.
/Ted (a VERY satisfied BCTW customer.)
--
Standard Disclaimer:
The opinions expressed above are those of the author and do not
represent the official views of Digital Equipment Corporation.
Ted Wojcik, Systems Manager (woj...@crl.dec.com)
Digital Equipment Corporation, Cambridge Research Lab
1 Kendall Sq. Bldg. 700 Flr. 2 Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
(617)621-6652
Barry D. Smith
From James Moody:
>One can't deny that Bridge City makes some beautiful tools, although I
>wonder about the practicality about one or two of them.
Just out of curiosity, which tools are you referring to? I can see
real uses for all of them, although some are pretty specialized. For
example, if you handcut dovetails, their dovetail squares are great,
but if you don't, then I can see someone thinking they aren't
practical. A different argument applies to other tools, like the depth
gauge they came out with a few months ago. This tool is beautiful and
precise, and functions as a depth gauge, a thickness gauge, and a
marking gauge. I'm not sure, though, if it does these things as well
as special purpose tools (the fence, for example, is not as large as a
real marking gauge, and to use it as a thickness gauge requires
reversing the cutter and using it as a hook).