Way back when, I posted about a giveaway I was planning. I wanted to give a fairly complete woodworking tool kit to one lucky person. It is similar to the basic set of tools I started with, so I am a little sentimental about it. I was hoping to couple it with a membership drive for the modern woodworkers association, but that seems to have fallen through, so here we are again.
Here’s the lowdown. My 40th Birthday is quickly coming up and I have decided that my birthday wish is to share my good fortune with someone else. Kind of like paying it forward. As I look back over my years on this giant spinning orb known as Earth and despite the occasional hardship and bumps in the road, overall I am very thankful for my life. Most days I am humbled to realize how truly blessed I am.
But enough of the mushy stuff, here is the nuts and bolts. (Note: Most of the following comes directly from a social media friend and talented wood artist Chris Wong. His site is Flair Woodworks and you should totally check it out because his work is awesome and from time to time he generously gives away what he calls “overflow”. Plus he is just a great guy!)
If you want to be entered into the drawing for the tool set located here, you need to leave a comment on this post about what woodworking means to you and why you would like to win it. Comments should be posted no later than 3:00pm pacific standard time (PST) Thursday 09 May 2013. At 5:00pm PST, I will submit the names of those who commented into a Random Chooser and let the program draw a winner. I will announce the winner in the comments section of the this post and contact them to arrange the shipping details. Since I am giving away quite a prize package, it is only fair that the winner would pay for shipping and insurance, so I will ship anywhere you would like once payment is received via Paypal! 🙂 If for some reason the first person chosen decides they don’t want it, the Random Chooser will select another name, and so on. If only one person comments, then congrats for you!
Some things to know: I have the akismet spam filter and I have noticed on the stats page that some comments are being marked as “ham” and are being blocked (22 total so far), so if you don’t see your comment, find me on twitter, Facebook, or through my website and let me know. Just don’t wait until the last minute. If I don’t receive a message from you before the deadline, it didn’t happen!
In full disclosure, I had initially envisioned this tool set would go to someone new to woodworking or someone who would like to get into it but otherwise can’t, but I won’t go so far as to limit participation.
Please spread the word to anyone you can think of…and good luck!
The Butler Did It WoodWorks 
I’m very new to woodworking but so far it has meant feeling empowered to express my own creative vision, affect my world in material ways, and most importantly it’s given me a greater appreciation for craftsmanship. I tinker with a few small power tools but I’d love to win this kit and get my hands closer to the wood and use them to learn how to better shape the piece to my own vision.
I’ like to accept this collection on behalf of the port townsend school of woodworking so that we can present it to the next promising student who asks what they need to get started. It Would be amazing to say “how big is your cars trunk” and make their day.
Woodworking was a skill I always wanted to learn. I did many a construction job in my younger days, even built my own house. But when raising a family I did not have the time or money . Now that I am retired I have started woodworking on a small scale. Using cheap tools have made a few primitive boxes, each one is a little better and complicated the last. Having a good set of started tools is more than I could hope for.
Man, could I ever put those to good use! I can only do so much with Grandpa’s old #3 and Yankee drill. After 45 years, I’m finally getting around to outfitting my first shop. This would go a long way toward the goal!
I have always worked with my hands as a technician, so woodworking was the best hobby that would challenge me… and boy does it. I love the idea of making things that I can pass down to my family and when they have a family they hopefully pass it down.
My grandfather was the one who introduced me to woodworking at a young age. I never appreciated it much until just a few years ago. I have you’re basic set of Power tools and am looking to get more into the wood and craftsmanship behind some wonderful pieces of wood furniture for my new house. I am a first time home owner. I would really be able to put these tools to great use.
Would love to have the chance…
I have recently started woodworking and kind of set hand tools aside. Now that I have purchased a few tools I am starting to see how important good hand tools are in a shop. Being new, I make a LOT of small mistakes, and hand tools are perfect to fix those little mistakes 🙂
I’ve really enjoyed learning more about hand tool woodworking and would love to be able to learn and share more about it with others.
What woodworking means to me: I am a computer programmer by day. I just caught the woodworking bug 4 months ago and have just acquired a few tools so far. Even so, I already feel like I am committed to the hobby. In programming, major technology shifts come every year. In woodworking the basic joinery hasn’t changed for 100’s of years, and yet it somehow doesn’t feel old or stale.
I have traditionally been a machine guy and would love to try my hand at using traditional hand tools. This would be a great introduction to some tools that I have never used before.
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Just getting started with woodworking bug and it seems to have taken over all the free time I can get. Getting a lot of free time is the hard part with 3 kids and a job. I love creating projects for gifts for people. Giving someone a thing you made is one of the best things, especially when the projects turns out almost like you thought it should. I love working with hand tools and would really love to expand on the few hand tools that I currently have. Woodworking has consumed me and I read and build as much as i can! Thanks for the opportunity to possibly win some great tools, they would be put to use right away!
Woodworking to me is a time to distress, unwind and enjoy myself. I turn build small pieces of furniture and other odds and ends, with no deadlines no set parameters and no stress. So very unlike my daily life.
in a word.. relaxation.
My grandfather was a sawyer for a furniture manufacturer, from back in the time when a manufacturer would buy trees from the property of local farmers who wished to clear land for crops. His father was a woodworker. While I was always interested in woodworking, it has been only recently that I have been able to start small with woodworking. One thing that sticks out from my childhood memories was the wall hanging toolchest on the wall of my grandfather’s garage. I didn’t understand the things in it then, but now remember the Stanley planes, chisels and more. Essentially, it looked a lot like the contents of this giveaway. I love hand tools, but have very few. But seeing the picture of this collection reminds me of that toolchest. I actually think if I was fortunate enough to win, I would contact my aunt (the current owner of the toolchest, get measurements and pictures, and actually try to recreate it.
I spent many years as a production carpenter (just about everything), but always hired someone else to do the pretty work. I always wanted to be able to do the kind of work these woodworkers did, but the needs of my family moved me quickly on to the next job.
Now things have slowed down and I am finally taking the time to learn to be a true woodworker. I have purchased some of the machinery I need like a router table and a true cabinet saw, but I have none of the hand tools that you are giving away. I am actually watching videos to learn how to properly choose and use a plane (a little embarrassed by that admission), but I am having fun and learning to do the things I really always wished I could do.
Good luck to all those that enter and thanks Matt for all the things you throw out there for noobs like me to learn.
I am very new to woodworking…I have been reading websites and following different youtube channels for about 6 months…I started building a shop in my basement at this time I basically have a cheap tablesaw and miter saw…3 out of 4 walls are up one wall just got pegboard and I have been slowly setting it up…these tools would make a fantastic start for me
This is a very generous thing that you are doing. At this time most of my work has been done with power tools and is mostly shop furniture and fixtures. For the last month or so I’ve been starting to think it is time to move away from total power tools and into the realm of hand tools and start working with real wood. This would give me a great boost along that road and ease the anxiety of picking out the right set of used tools.
I am new to woodworking and would love a collection of nice to tools to start me off on the right foot. I love the tangible nature of woodworking and would love to continue and share my work with others.
Striving for perfection.
I have always loved quality hand made furniture, So I finally desided the only way I could afford it would be to build it myself. The first project was a great entry hall table of the G&G style came out good but not great the shop I use is not mine so I travel about an hour each way, it took 3 months to build. But with very few hand tools the quality of the work is limited to machine quality joints. I believe with a good assortment of hand tools my work would be something I could be proud to leave as my legacy. Its hard enough sometime to put food on the table. And tools are not in the budget.
Love hand made furniture started working with wood about a year ago and have completed a few projects but the quality would be greatly improved by a good collection of hand tools I am trying to build furniture to leave as my legacy.
When I was a boy, some of my fondest memories with my father were woodworking projects we did. My parents bought a large, run down Victorian home when I was very young, and I grew up watching, learning, and helping with their slow room by room restoration. He planted the seed and now that I am finally at a point where I can have a shop of my own, I have started to draw on those skills my father taught me so many years ago, and add to them as I go. These tools would go far in helping me further what I have already learned, in helping me honor what my father taught to me, and ultimately, I hope, allow me to pass my skills, and my father’s tutelage, on to my own children.
Hi Mike! Congrats, you are the lucky winner!
Woodworking to me is a piece of freedom. Freedom to choose my own style. Freedom to customize my house and furniture. Freedom to say “I can make that!”
I would love to have a chance to win the tools as well, I am a new woodworker and have a desire to start building some pieces of furniture at home. I have built some pieces through a class at a local community college, but want to expand my home shop to help fill my house with hand made furniture. It would be awesome to create heirlooms for my children.
My dad and I have started remodeling his house and spend a lot of time talking about tools and woodworking. It’s getting to that every time we look at some type of furniture the question come up could we build this? The answer is always we could we would just need to get xyz tool to help complete the task. This set of hand tools would help us a lot as we don’t currently have any hand planes or chisels and those are on the tops of our next needs list and I bug him every time we go to the woodworking store.
Over the last couple of months my dad and I have started doing more activities together brought due to our desire to woodwork together and build rather than buy. We have spent more time going to seminars and shopping/browsing the woodworking store than I think we have spent together over the last 10 years. I enjoy wood working a ton and it only gets better that I am able to do it with my dad.
I recently retired and really starting to expand my Woodworking knowledge and skills. Fellow MWA members are really pushing hand tools so I am trying to getsome basic tools to learn with.
I’m definitely interested! I am just really getting into woodworking and the hand-tool side of the craft is really interesting me. I am looking forward to using these tools to get me off the ground!
Woodworking is an important part of my day, if only for a couple of hours after regular work (my day job). Through the inherent creative and problem solving process of designing, constructing and completing an object that comes from me personally, I find that I can let of other stressful or troubling thoughts that arise through working in the business world. It is therapeutic, energizing, reflective and tactile. The act of creating and actually completing something is deeply satisfying.
Tools are an important part of the process and I place a strong importance on them. They are like friends who are there for you, waiting to help you with your quest to achieve and gratify that inner need. ,
I’m a production woodturner, for me woodworking is a profession and a passion. I spend 8 hours a day woodworking, yet I often find myself in the shop after hours as well, making for the sake of making. In my day job I use plenty of power tools, but in off hours I enjoy developing my handtool skills. In my line of work giving the gift of a well used tool is a sign respect and I would be honored to receive a set through your generosity Todd.
I’ve only recently fallen in love with woodworking. While most of my family went into construction, engineering, or other physical based endeavors, mine was in the virtual world of computers. Professionally I became a system administrator, and in my spare time my hobby didn’t stray and so I played video games for many years. Many fights with the wife over the years about the worthlessness of computer games and that they didn’t amount to anything have finally started to sink in as I get older. Thus began the search to find something I would enjoy. Funny enough my daughter took a shop class which introduced me to the idea of woodworking a year ago. How little I knew how enjoyable it was to create something with my bare hands. I’ve only had the chance to build some shelves and such, but I’ve been reading and watching lots of woodworking videos, blogs and such. I found your blog via the Wood Talk show.
AS early as I can remember I think of my grandfather working with wood in his one car garage. He would pull out grandmas car, and make a “table” out a old piece of plywood and some rather un-sturdy saw horses. When I was in high school I was mesmerized by cars, and mechanics and building me own stuff. Then years later I found my self drawn towards wood, because of necessity. I could not afford the things my family so desperately needed, But I found that my mechanical know how and understanding could allow me to build some of the basic things they needed. I am unfortunately still in the same financial situation, but I still have my knowledge and as my mother still says, “They can never take that away from you” I look at the nice pieces of hardware you are offering up and realize it would take me 2-3 years to save enough to get those in my shop and it saddens me. I look at all the things I could build me two little girls with those tools and lie in bed and dream. I have been saving up for some wood to work with, though I have also been making some boards out of some fallen trees in my back yards with my trusty old axe. Now they just need to dry. I am truly a blessed person, I have a wonderful family, a loving wife, and two strong hands to make all that i can. Woodworking gives me the ability to make some pf my little girls’ dreams come true. I truly thank you for giving others the opportunity to enjoy what you truly love. I try and share what little I have with others also, If we all were to do this, the world would be a much better place.
I’m a fairly new woodworker, as well as a recent first time homeowner. Woodworking to me is not having to go to Target when I need something for the house. Granted, right now I’m only doing small projects while I work up to “real” furniture… but so far it’s been very satisfying. Also very frustrating at times, but I keep telling myself that if it were easy, everyone would be doing it :0)
Woodworking is also a way to be closer to my Grandpa. He’s been working wood for nearly 50 years now, and even though the methods we use are quite different, we have more to talk about at family reunions that we used to :0)
Thanks! Keep up the good work with the blog.
The well crafted object is a catalyze to the well crafted life. Woodworking provides a space for the maker to interact with the best things in life. The materials allow us to reflect on the physicality of our environment. The tradition of design and technique allows us to form relationships and fill our curiosity with new knowledge. And the process of creation through our own hands presents us a space to develop character, giving us tangible feed back on how we handle the unexpected.
I’m currently working in a community space. Because others have shared what they have so kindly with me, I have been able to come to these realizations. It’s my intention to grow to the point where I can return the favors and share what I have with others.
Happy Birthday!
I have only been woodworking for about a year now and I’m still struggling with what tools I need so it would be wonderful to get a set of tools that somebody knows are good tools!
I’ve slowly been getting into woodworking over the past couple years. Right now I have pretty much the bare minimum set of power tools to be able to work on small projects, and even fewer hand tools. When I have a problem that needs to be solved and I just happen to have some spare wood lying around, it feels great to be able to build something instead of having to buy it from the store.
P.S. Neat idea; happy 40th birthday!
I’ve recently been exposed to the world of woodworking and hand tool woodworking. It’s a craft that I respect greatly and I find a lot of contentment in. I’m excited to start building a tool set and continue my journey in woodworking.
love this idea of giving a way a set of tools to keep this craft going and help someone out. thanks a lot!
A few months ago I started obsessively watching online episodes of The Woodwright’s Shop. My 7 year-old started wanting to build things right away. So for his 8th birthday, his grandmother bought him a little tool set and a wood project kit. So far, he has built a tool tote and a wooden chest with a hinged lid. I have been checking out woodworking books from the public library and dream about someday being able to make clocks, chairs, and tables. I would love to have a beginners set of nice tools to get me started with a hobby my son and I can share together.
Me Me Me oh pleassssssse me! jumps up and down wildly
Woodworking keeps me sane in the wintertime, but I’m beginning to hate my second-hand planer, and I’m not mechanically gifted enough to change the blades on my second-hand jointer, so I really want to learn more about using hand tools.
Woodworking is something that I have always been around. At an early age I can remember watching my grandfather build homes, barns, furniture, and an occasional toy for one of us kids. I believe that he, as well as all of us, leave a legacy for the next generation. We all have a choice in exactly what that legacy will be. I choose to extend the legacy that my grandfather has created, and extend that to be one with greater talents, bigger projects, more refined products, bolder designs, and most importantly(and hopefully) even more appealing to the generations to come. These tools would be a handsome way to continue my pursuit.
TO SUM IT UP FOR YOU WOODWORKING IS A PASSION, A WAY FOR ME TO LET MY INNER CREATIVITY OUT TO DESIGN A ONE OF A KIND PIECE OF WORK. ITS RELAXING!
Woodworking gives me a chance to get away and lose myself in the moment. I don’t have a lot of tools or space at the moment, but I am going to be looking at moving into a larger place shortly and set up my own shop. These tools would greatly help me setup my shop.
Woodworking is in my blood. I remember watching my great grandfather use a hand plane to flatten a board and just watching those smooth thin shavings fly off the wood. Unfortunately my great grandfather died when I was fairly young and no one else in my family is interested in woodworking.
I’ve begun bringing woodworking back to the family but as we all know this is an expensive hobby, especially when you and your wife are in college and expecting their first child haha! So far I have very limited and low quality hand tools, I so wish I could have found my great grandfathers planes and chisels, I know they were tuned perfectly and very high quality.
Anyway that’s what woodworking means to me, family. I want to bring it back into the family and hopefully someday pass it on to my expected child 🙂
Thanks for this awesome give-away
I use woodworking as an outlet for my creativity and simultaneously please my wife by working on things for her…. Which is an ever growing list.
Thanks
I am new to woodworking, just completing my first project, a changing table for my first kid on the way. For me this process has allowed me to create some thing that will out last me, something that I can pass down. It has allowed me to create something of higher quality and performance than I can buy
After years of doing repair and upkeep for soldier barracks – imagine frat house on steroids – I have a passion for creating with my hands. Woodworking has always been a natural stress reliever for me and every opportunity is a blessing. Although,working at home has always been an issue. It seems now-a-days,old hand-tools immediately fall into the antique Smithsonian-like relics that should be mounted and displayed for all to look at and contemplate the past. Trying to find quality tools at affordable prices is a daunting task when trying to balance a budget and the wife needs to color her hair – “happy wife happy life…” or so the saying goes.
Having a basic set of tools would be greatly appreciated. Anyone starting out would love to have a set like this. Your generosity is truly appreciated. It is an unusual kindness. Thank you… even if only for the opportunity.
I started working with wood as a kid with my dad and have been doing it for the last 40+ years. 8 May is my birthday so I think this would be an awesome birthday present for me.
Thanks for the give away.
Hey,
Nice giveaway. I stated woodworking in high school but have been around it since I was a kid going to my grandfather’s house. I did woodworking right up until my parents sold the house when I was 22. Well 18 years later I have a house and my wife lets me have part of the garage for tools. Woodworking has always been a great way to get away from all the noise of the day and there’s just a sense of satisfaction that come with knowing that you built something from nothing. I tend to have one of the same habits as my grandfather – I save a lot of little cut off pieces because you never know when you’re going to need it. It’s funny but when I get stuck on how to do something I always think OK – how would grandpa do this.
I recently began some small woodworking projects following the passing of my uncle who was an accomplished woodworker and handy man. Woodworking to me represents a way to hold on to his memory by trying my hand at the skill it took him a lifetime to master. I’m also finding it to be very rewarding. The feeling of accomplishment you get when you complete a project is truly second to none. I take a great amount of pride in what I create. While my project resume is still on the short side, this set of tools would afford me the opportunity to pursue my future woodworking projects thus giving me a chance to further strengthen the memory of my late uncle.
Here’s hoping there is a lovely set of hand tools coming my way in the near future, thank you for your generosity.
Woodworking means a certain level of self-sufficiency by not being limited to what you can buy at a store. If you can dream it, you can draw it, you can make it. It is also a fundamental skill to civilization which gives it an unique appeal, especially the realm of hand tools, that is undeniable.
I’ve only been fiddling around with it for a year or so, with a rather limited tool box. This give-away would give my garage shop a real kick-start.
Woodwork allows me time to re-center myself while producing something tangible.
I would love to win these tools as they’d let me learn woodworking better. I need to build a new spice rack!
I’ve got a few modest power tools, and I would love to have the chance to learn more about hand tool woodworking. Selected or not, thanks for sharing!
Time is up and comments are now closed for entry into the giveaway. Thanks for entering everyone! I will announce the winner here today at 5pm PST. Check back in to see who won…
Okay everyone the moment you have been waiting for…Congratulations to Mike F. as the giveaway winner!