It's here right on time

This is my catalog of choice.

Catalogs are great. I get them and they live in the bathroom for maybe a week. I look, read, and then maybe I'll look at the website. Mostly I look and then recycle. A little clarification for those with wandering minds, I put them in the recycle bin on the porch. Problem with catalogs is they often give you the perception you need something that in reality you really don't. I have some of these 'Tools" in the shop that have seen little use and just a few I was glad I had when needed.

An example was the thread on the mortising machine. Yes, I would love to have one but looking back at past projects and those I see in my future it would get some but very little use. At $1,300+ for a good machine and then another $200-250 for the good chisels and sharpeners it just didn't add up to being practical. And jeeze, I've got a decent set of mortising chisels I haven't used yet as I haven't tried to cut any mortises by hand yet. That's on the list of using up some scrap, practice cutting mortises with a chisel. I can drill out the waste and cleanup with the chisels.

So instead common sense kicked in. I get that once in a blue moon. I bought a Delta DP mortising set from Home Depot for $99.99 w/free shipping. I realize the chisels will be less than stellar but I have the Lee Valley cone sharpeners in route to give them a better shot at being decent. If that turns out well I'll look at better chisels like the Lee Valley premium set. Total outlay would be about $350 and not take any more precious space up in the shop. I'll certainly let you know how this turns out along with some pictures to show the results.

But back on topic, catalogs are great for showing you what's out there and helping you spend your money. They also hit your impulse reactor, a dangerous thing for some of us. Fortunately I've managed to slow that reaction time way down and don't keep the credit cards on me to add to that critical thinking time needed to make better judgement calls.