Lie-Nielsen Toolworks
Encyclopedia
Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, Inc. is a family-owned business, established in 1981 and based in Warren, Maine
. It manufactures a range of hand tools, primarily for woodworking, based on traditional designs. It is best known for its hand planes
. Thomas Lie-Nielsen is the founder and CEO of Lie-Nielsen Toolworks.
#95 edge trimming block plane
, Ken Wisner, was ready to leave the business, so Lie-Nielsen acquired the tooling, plans and components necessary for producing the #95.
Lie-Nielsen moved from New York to a farm in West Rockport, Maine, and began production of the plane in a tiny back-yard shed
. The first of the new planes was delivered to Chinn in the autumn of 1981.
A few years later, Lie-Nielsen moved into a 384 square feet (35.7 m²) workshop on the farm, and started production on his second plane, the skew-angle block plane. In 1988, as business grew, Lie-Nielsen bought an 8000 square feet (743.2 m²) building in the town of Warren, Maine, which the company still occupies. In the mid-1990s, Lie-Nielsen moved the entire production to a 13000 square feet (1,207.7 m²) facility.
Today, the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks products compete with mass produced tools from companies such as Stanley and Record, with sales in the order of 20,000 tools a year. The acquisition of the Independence Tool Co. in 1998 added hand saws to the product line, which has further expanded over the years to include over 50 different models of planes, in addition to spokeshave
s, socket chisel
s, screwdriver
s, marking and measuring
devices and workbench
hardware.
and ductile iron
castings, and cryogenically
treated A-2 steel.
Manganese bronze, a very hard, strong alloy, is the material of choice for Lie-Nielsen tools because it is heavier than iron, doesn't rust, and won't crack if dropped. Where the use of bronze would result in excessive weight in a tool, ductile iron is used instead.
Lie-Nielsen products are expensive when compared to the mass produced items from the likes of Stanley
and Record, but these higher prices are often defended by comparing them with the prices paid 100 years ago for such things as Norris infill planes, which could cost up to "a couple of weeks' wages".
Warren, Maine
Warren is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,794 at the 2000 census. It includes the villages of East Warren, Warren and South Warren, the latter home to the Maine State Prison and minimum security Bolduc Correctional Facility....
. It manufactures a range of hand tools, primarily for woodworking, based on traditional designs. It is best known for its hand planes
Plane (tool)
A hand plane is a tool for shaping wood. When powered by electricity, the tool may be called a planer. Planes are used to flatten, reduce the thickness of, and impart a smooth surface to a rough piece of lumber or timber. Planing is used to produce horizontal, vertical, or inclined flat surfaces on...
. Thomas Lie-Nielsen is the founder and CEO of Lie-Nielsen Toolworks.
History
In the late 1970s, Thomas Lie-Nielsen worked for Garry Chin's company, Garrett Wade. In 1981, Garrett Wade's supplier of an adapted StanleyStanley Works
Stanley Black & Decker , formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a manufacturer of tools and hardware and provider of security products and locks headquartered in New Britain, Connecticut...
#95 edge trimming block plane
Block plane
A block plane is a small woodworking hand plane which typically has the iron bedded at a lower angle than other planes, with the bevel up. It is designed to cut end grain and is typically small enough to be used with one hand....
, Ken Wisner, was ready to leave the business, so Lie-Nielsen acquired the tooling, plans and components necessary for producing the #95.
Lie-Nielsen moved from New York to a farm in West Rockport, Maine, and began production of the plane in a tiny back-yard shed
Shed
A shed is typically a simple, single-storey structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop....
. The first of the new planes was delivered to Chinn in the autumn of 1981.
A few years later, Lie-Nielsen moved into a 384 square feet (35.7 m²) workshop on the farm, and started production on his second plane, the skew-angle block plane. In 1988, as business grew, Lie-Nielsen bought an 8000 square feet (743.2 m²) building in the town of Warren, Maine, which the company still occupies. In the mid-1990s, Lie-Nielsen moved the entire production to a 13000 square feet (1,207.7 m²) facility.
Today, the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks products compete with mass produced tools from companies such as Stanley and Record, with sales in the order of 20,000 tools a year. The acquisition of the Independence Tool Co. in 1998 added hand saws to the product line, which has further expanded over the years to include over 50 different models of planes, in addition to spokeshave
Spokeshave
A spokeshave is a tool used to shape and smooth wooden rods and shafts - often for use as wheel spokes, chair legs ,, self bows,and arrows. It can also be used to carve canoe paddles.-Modern:...
s, socket chisel
Chisel
A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it.In use, the chisel is forced into the material...
s, screwdriver
Screwdriver
A screwdriver is a tool for driving screws and often rotating other machine elements with the mating drive system. The screwdriver is made up of a head or tip, which engages with a screw, a mechanism to apply torque by rotating the tip, and some way to position and support the screwdriver...
s, marking and measuring
Metrology
Metrology is the science of measurement. Metrology includes all theoretical and practical aspects of measurement. The word comes from Greek μέτρον , "measure" + "λόγος" , amongst others meaning "speech, oration, discourse, quote, study, calculation, reason"...
devices and workbench
Workbench
A workbench is sturdy table at which manual work is done. They range from simple flat surfaces to very complex designs that may be considered tools in themselves. Workbenches vary in size from tiny jewelers benches to the huge benches used by staircase makers...
hardware.
Construction
Lie-Nielsen uses manganese bronzeBronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
and ductile iron
Ductile iron
Ductile iron, also known as ductile cast iron, nodular cast iron, spheroidal graphite iron, spherulitic graphite cast iron and SG iron, is a type of cast iron invented in 1943 by Keith Millis...
castings, and cryogenically
Cryogenics
In physics, cryogenics is the study of the production of very low temperature and the behavior of materials at those temperatures. A person who studies elements under extremely cold temperature is called a cryogenicist. Rather than the relative temperature scales of Celsius and Fahrenheit,...
treated A-2 steel.
Manganese bronze, a very hard, strong alloy, is the material of choice for Lie-Nielsen tools because it is heavier than iron, doesn't rust, and won't crack if dropped. Where the use of bronze would result in excessive weight in a tool, ductile iron is used instead.
Lie-Nielsen products are expensive when compared to the mass produced items from the likes of Stanley
Stanley Works
Stanley Black & Decker , formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a manufacturer of tools and hardware and provider of security products and locks headquartered in New Britain, Connecticut...
and Record, but these higher prices are often defended by comparing them with the prices paid 100 years ago for such things as Norris infill planes, which could cost up to "a couple of weeks' wages".