Blue Spruce Toolworks Round Mallet wins best new Tool in POPULAR WOODWORKING, December 2009. "Few tools in our shop get universal acclaim, but the new resin-impregnated mallet from Blue Spruce Toolworks sure comes close. Since I purchased one of these mallets from the Oregon-based company, two of the other woodworkers in our shop followed suit. The mallet is almost impossible to resist. It’s the perfect weight (1 lb.) and size (8-1⁄2" long). It’s beautifully finished. It’s perfectly balanced. But what is really astonishing about the mallet is how it can take a beating without getting beat up. Most wooden mallets (round or square) become dogmeat in short order – no matter what sort of wood you use. The Blue Spruce sidesteps that problem by using an acrylic-infused head. Every pore is filled with plastic, yet the mallet feels like wood to your hands and responds like wood when you hit something. That is, it doesn’t bounce like a rubber mallet. It also has a lot of punch for a mallet of this size, though it’s definitely not a wrist breaker like a cast-iron mallet can be. I’ve had this Blue Spruce
mallet since February, have been using it just about every day and have yet to make a dent in it. It still looks as good as when I got it out of the box. We think this plastic technology could be used in other woodworking tools. Blue Spruce already uses it in handles for bench chisels. It would be great for the handles of mortise chisels – those receive a whupping. It also could be used in the totes for saws and planes – these are notoriously fragile. How about a wooden try square made from it? (I assume the acrylic reduces or eliminates the expansion and contraction process.) Hammer handles? Stay tuned." (Copyright 2009, POPULAR WOODWORKING)

NEW -The latest issue of Fine Woodworking (issue #207 Oct 2009) has a tool review of Blue Spruce bench chisels by Chris Gochnour entitled "New Chisels Approach Perfection" (please click on the title to go to the article online).

The Blue Spruce Toolworks chisels gets rave reviews from Furniture & Cabinetmaking Magazine "This tool is almost perfect in all respects - apart from the price. It feel almost like a surgical instrument but stood up well to sustained blows with a lignum mallet. Balance was excellent though the 'heft' felt a little on the light side".

The Blue Spruce Toolworks mallet gets rave reviews from Woodworking Magazine's Christopher  Schwarz in his weblog, entitled  Blue Spruce Mallet: A New Favorite. Read all the details about why Chris and others at Woodworking Magazine think this is the finest wood mallet they have ever used.

Chris Schwarz reviews the new Blue Spruce Toolworks Mallet. Read all about it at: 'Plastic Marries Wood In a New Mallet'. 

A first look at Blue Spruce Toolworks’ new bench chisels can be seen at: 'First Look Blue Spruce Bench Chisels'.

Blue Spruce Toolworks marking knives are featured in the article from Woodworking Magazine Weblog entitled 'Marking Knives: Stuff They Never Teach You' by Christopher Schwarz.

Taunton's Fine Woodworking.com reviews Blue Spruce Toolworks Dovetail Chisel set. Rich Macrae writes "they make perfect supplements to a veteran’s tool collection—a Stradivarius within reach." Click on the logo to read the entire review.   Be sure to check out the User Reviews that have been posted.

Taunton's Fine Woodworking.com reviews Blue Spruce Toolworks marking knives. In Tool Test: Marking Knives, Steve Latta gathered 16 different varieties and put each knife through five tests, each a real-world woodworking task relating to scribing, dovetails, mortises, banding, and inlay. Blue Spruce Marking Knives are rated Best Overall!

Also in Taunton's Fine Woodworking.com, Blue Spruce Tools and others are discussed in Gina Eide's new article "High-End Hand-Tool Sales Surge - A small band of boutique toolmakers experiences exponential growth fueled, in part, by the Internet."

Popular Woodworking magazine rates Blue Spruce Toolworks dovetail chisels Highly Recommended in the "Tool Test" column in the April 2007 issue. "These tools are simply over the top in every way." Click Here to read the article (Copyright 2007, Popular Woodworking).

Read other recent Articles that have highlighted Blue Spruce Toolworks products.

This article by Chris Schwarz which originally appeared in 'Fine Tool Journal' entitled Blue  Spruce Toolworks 'An engineer turns his understanding of metal and a love of woodworking into a busy tool-making enterprise' to get the full history of how Blue Spruce Toolworks evolved.

'Popular Woodworking' December 2005 issue, in the section "Best New Tools
of 2005", subheading "Too New to Test" exerpt:
"Blue Spruce Toolworks Dovetail Chisels
This small company makes the best marking knives, and now it is beginning to offer some sweet chisels designed for dovetails. The side bevels are actually concave so you can sneak into tight places."

>Canadian Woodworking Tool Review June 2005:  Page 1
>Woodworking Magazine Spring 2005:  Page 1   Page 2
 

Copyright 2005-2009 Blue Spruce Toolworks