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Strange that this came up on HN. I do hand tool woodworking and respect Chris Schwarz a lot (have a few of his books). I had not seen this gizmo before. I’m cur

Strange that this came up on HN. I do hand tool woodworking and respect Chris Schwarz a lot (have a few of his books). I had not seen this gizmo before. I’m curious to try it now. Looks like it’s still sold at Lee Valley.

geophile 4y ago
Maybe not a coincidence. For some reason, Facebook has been showing me lots of woodworking videos and books lately. And this has some relevance for me. I did notice multiple posts pushing books by Chris Schwarz, and now I see this comment. So I'm wondering if Mr. Schwarz is simply buying ads, and social media is doing its thing.
- saalweachter 4y ago
  If you don't block ads, I highly recommend clicking on the weird ones everyone once in awhile. For about six months 80% of my ads were weird crystal figurines and other art pieces being sold for five figures. I kept clicking, and the advertisers fell over themselves to show me more of them. It delighted me every time I saw an abstract sculpture selling for more than my car, or a three story nativity carousel, both because it was fun to click through and look at them, and it was amusing to imagine how hard the ad engine wanted to sell me a 5-figure tchotchke for probably a 10% CPA commission. I also had a fun period where I indicated I was interested in buying -- functional! -- windmills. Be careful about clicking on anything you'd actually like to buy, though, like woodworking tools -- eventually you'll see something too good to pass up.
  - mywittyname 4y ago
    I click on for lingerie for specifically this reason. If you're going to see an ad every 10 seconds, you might as well enjoy what you're looking at.
- peatmoss 4y ago
  I’m already spectacularly in the marketing cohort for all things woodworking. It’s possible Chris is buying SEO and marketing, but given his self-described anti-corporate anarchism, I sort of doubt it.
  - jojoo 4y ago
    > It’s possible Chris is buying SEO and marketing, but given his self-described anti-corporate anarchism, I sort of doubt it. I mean you never know. But i think there's another explaination: He is one of the most popular woodworkers ATM and he has published a lot of material, so it's only natural if his name comes up more than others.
carapace 4y ago
I can't speak for everybody, of course, but I think there's a general appreciation among computer "engineers" (sorry about the scare quotes, I'm grumpy this morning) for good tools and workmanship in any field. I clicked out of curiousity, but then upvoted based on the appeal of the tool. Also the jargon was thrilling, "straighten out a dubbed-over bevel on an incannel gouge"‽ Wowee!
eyepulp 4y ago
Same unexpected worlds colliding for me while drinking coffee from a Lost Art Press mug this morning and seeing this article's author on HN. The mug is as close as I get to woodworking on most days, unfortunately.
- mywittyname 4y ago
  I feel like there are a lot of wood workers around here.
almog 4y ago
Wasn't aware of it either. Chris has video where he shows how it can be used to create a smooth edge on a card scraper (prior to burnishing): https://vimeo.com/154986086 https://vimeo.com/154986086 I find that file alone is quite enough for me but it does look really nice use case. Would imagine it could be handy sharpening hard to reach places. Also, while Chris isn't recommending it as a general tool for sharpening, I can imagine the name "Universal Sharpener" could lead people to believe it's a good choice for general purpose sharpening.

geophile 4y ago

Maybe not a coincidence. For some reason, Facebook has been showing me lots of woodworking videos and books lately. And this has some relevance for me. I did notice multiple posts pushing books by Chris Schwarz, and now I see this comment. So I'm wondering if Mr. Schwarz is simply buying ads, and social media is doing its thing.

saalweachter 4y ago
If you don't block ads, I highly recommend clicking on the weird ones everyone once in awhile. For about six months 80% of my ads were weird crystal figurines and other art pieces being sold for five figures. I kept clicking, and the advertisers fell over themselves to show me more of them. It delighted me every time I saw an abstract sculpture selling for more than my car, or a three story nativity carousel, both because it was fun to click through and look at them, and it was amusing to imagine how hard the ad engine wanted to sell me a 5-figure tchotchke for probably a 10% CPA commission. I also had a fun period where I indicated I was interested in buying -- functional! -- windmills. Be careful about clicking on anything you'd actually like to buy, though, like woodworking tools -- eventually you'll see something too good to pass up.
- mywittyname 4y ago
  I click on for lingerie for specifically this reason. If you're going to see an ad every 10 seconds, you might as well enjoy what you're looking at.
peatmoss 4y ago
I’m already spectacularly in the marketing cohort for all things woodworking. It’s possible Chris is buying SEO and marketing, but given his self-described anti-corporate anarchism, I sort of doubt it.
- jojoo 4y ago
  > It’s possible Chris is buying SEO and marketing, but given his self-described anti-corporate anarchism, I sort of doubt it. I mean you never know. But i think there's another explaination: He is one of the most popular woodworkers ATM and he has published a lot of material, so it's only natural if his name comes up more than others.

carapace 4y ago

I can't speak for everybody, of course, but I think there's a general appreciation among computer "engineers" (sorry about the scare quotes, I'm grumpy this morning) for good tools and workmanship in any field. I clicked out of curiousity, but then upvoted based on the appeal of the tool. Also the jargon was thrilling, "straighten out a dubbed-over bevel on an incannel gouge"‽ Wowee!

eyepulp 4y ago

Same unexpected worlds colliding for me while drinking coffee from a Lost Art Press mug this morning and seeing this article's author on HN. The mug is as close as I get to woodworking on most days, unfortunately.

mywittyname 4y ago
I feel like there are a lot of wood workers around here.

almog 4y ago

Wasn't aware of it either. Chris has video where he shows how it can be used to create a smooth edge on a card scraper (prior to burnishing): https://vimeo.com/154986086 https://vimeo.com/154986086 I find that file alone is quite enough for me but it does look really nice use case. Would imagine it could be handy sharpening hard to reach places. Also, while Chris isn't recommending it as a general tool for sharpening, I can imagine the name "Universal Sharpener" could lead people to believe it's a good choice for general purpose sharpening.