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I get Tom Fidgen's Newsletter in my inbox and I always look forward to it. Tom is a hand made by hand tool guy, long story short, great stuff, beautiful work, I have been following him for along time. In the most recent newsletter he is advertising his new Two Handled Rasps, these are beautiful tools, I want them, I gotta have them, don't know how yet, but some day I'll have them in my shop. These tools just make sense, with their two handles, stitched rasp, these are made for accurate stock removal. I have no horse in the game here, I just love beautiful tools is all. Here they are. Just thought I'd share them.

Rehabs the rest of the weekend, maybe? One Garage sale...all it said was.."Tools" Boss spent more than I did...but, she wasn't buying tools. I spent around $9 this morning...picked five tools Just had to shine up that medallion, to see what this saw was. . Hmmm, ring a bell? Saw is 26" long, has 8ppi, a skew back, and is wickedly SHARP. Paid a dollar for it... This be a $2 all-steel Shelton block plane....next.. This be a Millers Falls No. 900, I think. made after the Mohawk-Shelbourne line was ended...mid 50s? $2.....have had to fix the rear handle, this time it was broke. Front knob has "issues" ( cracks), Lever cap was replaced. Both handle bolts are one piece..bolts. And they were bent. Now, how good is your French? These two were also $2 each. Logo on the iron? A single eyeball means this is about..1875 era. Goldenberg Acier Fondu ( cast steel) Warantie ( warranted) ) This is an adjuster, there is a pin from the iron, into the head of the bolt. Other end of the bolt engages two square nuts, these push against a notch in the bed for the iron. All this adjusts is to retract the iron. Irons are both 1-5/8" wide....bodies are about 9-1/2" long. Both have chip breakers.....neither of them are attach to the irons. These two will take a bit of time to fix up. Five items = $9.....I turned down three Handyman planes, a beat up mitre box and quite a few other "treasures"....figured I had done enough for one sale... Not too bad of a morning?

The two elder brothers of the Peugeot family which had been originally miller and tanners setup a foundry in 1810, Peugeot Frere Anies. During the following industrial revolution the Peugeot destiny was transformed. Their factories embodied the success and strength of the metalworking industry. Having factories in towns arouind Sochaux: Saus-Cratet, Terre Blanche, Beaulieu, Pont de Roide gave them much success. Expansion into many different domains followed in the decades to come. Workers were taken care of both professionally and personally. Emergency funds for the staff, welfare aid for sickness, invalidity or death and allowance for old age were constituted. Peugeot strengthened the idea that working in a factory was not necessarily harder than working in the fields. Jean Pierre Peugeot and his brother Jean Frederic converted a grain mill into an iron factory and began producing saw blades, clock springs, umbrellas, coffee grinders and other tools In 1832 the company started to produce tools for carpenters and turners. But like a lot of families, a disagreement between the seven cousins caused the company to divide in 1842. Part of the company was called Peugeot Freres and it trademark became the Lion standing over an Arrow. n 1865 this factory was handed over by Jules (1811-1899) and Emile Peugeot (1815 - 1874) to their respective sons Eugene and Armand. In 1891, they renamed the company "Les Fils de Peugeot Freres" [The Sons of Peugeot Brothers]. In the other part of the company, the four sons of Jean-Frederic Peugeot (Fritz, Charles, Jacques and Georges) along with the four Jackson brothers from England (William, John, Charles and James) came together under the name "Peugeot Aenes et Freres Jackson. This company was located at Pont de Roide, and on their plane blades used the trademark of an elephant, sometimes accompanied by the words " Veritable Pont de Roide. John and James left the company in 1852. As with some other English steel and tool makers who worked on the Continent, the Jackson brothers had a significant influence on the steelmaking industry in France. This part of the company was renamed Peugeot Aenes sometime between 1877 and 1899, and in 1894 was renamed Peugeot et Cie. Hundreds of thousands of planes were manufactured each year, but the competition was costly, and in the 1920s, the two halves of the company came together. Chrome-plated steel and plastics came into increasing use. Starting in 1933, electric power tools were produced and hand tool production waned. Another product produced by this family was the Peugeot car in 1983. But here is the jewel that I was able to pick that got this discussion started. I ran across this and it was unusual enough it caught my eye. Picking it up, I examined it and it looked really good. I could see the logo on the blade and made out the French. When I got it home I was able to do a bit more research on it. It is a bit hard to see in this picture, but it has the Lion on the Arrow in the center. This logo was used from 1842 till around 1865. The bottom is nice and flat. The only bad spot on it is on the back right corner. But it wasn't near bad enough to keep me from adding it to the display cabinet where it will find lots of friends and a nice place to retire. Patriot Picking is just the best! Back later with more.

I ran across an interesting question on Facebook, a poster asked what would be more reliable, french cleats made from ply wood or solid hard wood? Any opinions most welcome.