The amazing thing is that people pay lots of money for these things.  

I couldn’t though

1) my religion forbids it

2) my galoot upbringing says that a sharp plane can be made from any of the
stones at hand, and if I were to be so picky, a Brent Beach (c) jig

3) my library of ‘old fashioned’ ideas says that a v grooved sticking board will
yield the same result at the cost of repurposing some scrap

4) Before I knew any of the above, I just made a few sets from left over parana
pine (it wasn’t banned then) and they’re mostly still going.

5) Using a cross grain timber for a chopstick seems to invite permanent ingress
of bug harbouring fluids.

6) the yorkshireman is happy to regard chopsticks, when correctly made from
bamboo slivers, as the ultimate in eco-friendly eating irons.


I admire bridge tools though.  I’d never have faith that there were enough
idjuts to buy such stuff. Must come from generations of that american snake oil
sales training that seemed to be a tradition of the West.


Richard Wilson
Northern Galoot.