Something Blue...

...and something new. I don't choose my tools based on their color, but when they just happen to be my favorite color, it's a welcome bonus!

I've bought a lot of woodworking tools from Rockler -- mostly through their website. This morning I seized an opportunity to make quick visit to their Northgate store in Seattle before we returned home to Bellingham. I could easily have spent the whole morning -- and a lot more money there -- but we wanted to be on the freeway heading north before the Friday traffic peaked, so I confined myself to just buying what was on my shopping list. The only items I bought that aren't shown in the photo are a couple of clamps. As I've said many times, a woodworker can't have too many clamps!

The first extra photo shows how bench dogs are used in conjunction with a vise to secure a workpiece. The larger blue things on the right are hold-down clamps. They do just what the name implies -- see second extra. They are activated by a whack on the top, and released by another whack on the side. Simple, but effective.