Quoins

woodrat · Post by **woodrat** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 11:51 am

I purchased these on eBay after Jools mentioned them in his post on the Joining Question thread so I thought that I would put a couple of pics up here to be able to show everyone what they are. I have been using folding wedges to clamp my tops but these seem to be perfectly suited to the application.Quoins are from the printing industry and are (were) used to lock the rows of metal typeface tightly together in the press. They are very simple with a screw lifting a wedge up to spread the split blocks and apply the needed clamping pressure. Thanks Jools for heads up as I had never heard of them! I look forward to using them when I join my next top.

John

christian · Post by **christian** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 6:51 am

Hi John,

Thanks for posting these are awesome !!! I can certainly see how effective they would be for joining tops and maybe a few other applications too. might have to invest in some myself.

Cheers,

Christian.

woodrat · Post by **woodrat** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 7:37 am

Yes Christian, I think they are great. I am just passing on the heads up from Jools so that everyone can see how cool they are. Binding fingerboards is another application that comes to mind.

John

woodrat · Post by **woodrat** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:36 am

Hi All, I just joined a bunch of tops using the quoins for the first time. One great advantage is the fact that you can dial in the clamping pressure because they are screw operated. I have found some other ones on ebay.com that are a metal sliding wedge type with an internal set of teeth like cogs that you insert a cog like key into and tighten them up. I would recommend nabbing a set on eBay as they will last a lifetime. Thanks Jools for the initial heads up!

John

matthew · Post by **matthew** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:21 pm

Yeah like these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Letterpress-Type- ... 3a6314e54c

but yours look nicer. What's written on the side of yours?

(edit) I see them now

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LETTERPRESS-WOOD- ... 3a6570f60c

what was the postage to Aus?

woodrat · Post by **woodrat** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:29 pm

Hi Matthew, The postage was GBP 5.00 to Ozland. Yes they are very sweet to use and a great design. It is almost as if they were designed for joining tops!

Mine came without a key but I just welded a T piece out of 6mm rod and filed a square on it.

John

matthew · Post by **matthew** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:22 pm

OK so which one of you blighters is bidding against me?

Martin, I bet.

Lillian · Post by **Lillian** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 9:18 pm

Maybe, maybe not.

christian · Post by **christian** » Wed May 11, 2011 6:09 pm

Hey Thanks again John for the intro to these Quoins.
managed to get a whole heap last night on our beloved trademe.(see pic)
I've got a number of applications lined up for them.

cheers,
Christian.

woodrat · Post by **woodrat** » Wed May 11, 2011 7:41 pm

Wow, Christian, those are really cool! No worries about thanking me...I had a heads up from someone else so I thought that I would pass it on to everyone...when I first saw them a lightbulb went on in my head probably similar to you.

When Mike Connor saw them for the first time he went and bought some straight away too...no mucking about with him if he sees a great gizmo!

I have used them to join lots of tops and backs and I must say that they definitely make the process easier and simpler. I would like to get me some of those longer ones they look great.

Cheers to you in Kiwiland...

John

morgan · Post by **morgan** » Wed May 11, 2011 7:51 pm

Whoa, Christian you hit the mother lode of quoins there!

I must confess to having searched Trade Me when the topic originally came up but found nothing then and promptly forgot about them. Looking forward to seeing what you do with these. Top-joining assembly-line in the works perhaps?!?

joolstacho · Post by **joolstacho** » Wed May 11, 2011 11:55 pm

Knew you'd love 'em!
I know the whereabouts of a big box of them, got to work out how to extract them though.
(And don't forget quoins next time you're playing scrabble)
I've got another one with velcro and re-stringing, but you must all know that lurk ?

-Jools

christian · Post by **christian** » Thu May 12, 2011 6:59 am

Cheers Jools !!! well spotted, do we call them Jool clamps now ? hahaha
Morgs I was pretty lucky on trademe, initially the guy had them at $200, he then probably realised that no one knew what they were, and that few people would have a use for them, so I waited for a relist, a week later got them for a hundy.
Top/back gluing for sure but gluing necks up, and loads of general clamping where a bit of pressure is needed to secure wood in a jig and such, G or F clamps just get in the way sometimes.

Christian

Tonxi · Post by **Tonxi** » Thu May 12, 2011 10:42 pm

It's worth having some just to use in a sentence! " Sorry dear you can talk to the evangelists. I'm adjusting my quoins!"
"Yes I'm quite happy to see you but I also have quoins in my pocket"

Tonxi · Post by **Tonxi** » Thu May 12, 2011 10:55 pm

Tonxi wrote:It's worth having some just to use in a sentence! " Sorry dear you can talk to the evangelists. I'm adjusting my quoins!"
"Yes I'm quite happy to see you but I also have quoins in my pocket"

What about a movie? A Fist Full of Quoins ?

On a serious note they are cheap on ebay uk

woodrat · Post by **woodrat** » Fri May 13, 2011 7:20 am

Hi Martyn, I payed $20.00 AUD all up for my 1/2 dozen incl. postage from the UK so at 3 or 4 dollars each I would say they are cheap as 6 is more than enough for joining backs etc. But now with the cat out of the bag and all the luthiers in the world lining up to buy the price could rocket to new highs in the quoin market! Get in now as the quoin price could go parabolic.

Your projects are looking good Martyn.

John

ozziebluesman · Post by **ozziebluesman** » Fri May 13, 2011 7:43 am

G'day John,

I just bought 6 quoins the same style you have and indeed the price has gone up. Mine cost $30 including post from the UK. Cheap IMO!!!! I have been using the tent and tape method with success. I reckon these little devices will give you a little firmer clamping ability when joinging tops, back etc

Cheers

Alan

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Sun May 15, 2011 9:13 pm

ozziebluesman wrote:G'day John,

I just bought 6 quoins the same style you have and indeed the price has gone up. Mine cost $30 including post from the UK. Cheap IMO!!!!

Cheers

Alan

There's price spike going on alright. I bought 6 x 2" cornerstone quoins back on the 4th and paid just under $28.00au all up shipped. May be Jools and John should have cornerstoned the market before they let us in on them...

Cheers

Kim

joolstacho · Post by **joolstacho** » Sun May 15, 2011 9:18 pm

Mmmm I know, should've cornered the market (to quoin a phrase), THEN let the cat outathebag!
-Jooils

woodrat · Post by **woodrat** » Sun May 15, 2011 9:48 pm

Hi Kim, I think that it is just normal market forces...I was only in for my one purchase and that was it. I think that you will find that it was quoin collectors that are doing it!

needsmorecowbel · Post by **needsmorecowbel** » Tue May 17, 2011 5:06 pm

I've had a chance to fling a few emails around to letterpress boutiques around Australia and have found a dude who has quoins on eBAY but doesn't post them up in his store page...just checking to see they are the same design as Johns and will then post up his details if all goes according to plan. Sounds like the ANZLF is in need of a Quoin Vending Machine...

woodrat · Post by **woodrat** » Tue May 17, 2011 10:15 pm

Not another quoiney joke Stu! there is no shortage of them in this thread...but let us know about this new quoin hoarder!

....I used my quoins today to bind a fingerboard...brilliant!

John

needsmorecowbel · Post by **needsmorecowbel** » Thu May 19, 2011 7:49 pm

About $4.50 per quoin without shipping. He said he has a range of alloy, steel, etc etc
I'll post up his info once i have received parcel and all is well...

needsmorecowbel · Post by **needsmorecowbel** » Thu May 26, 2011 6:47 pm

So i got some Quoins they are very small but they were about $5.00 each for the Steel Ones, $4.50 for alloy. The eBAY vendor has a whole heap of them around 25 of the steel, 25 alloy and heaps and heaps of other sizes apparently. So if you are in the market for Quoins chase this guy up. His keys are about $8.50 but i reckon you could easily make your own. He posted them on Monday and they arrived today so the turnover was good and the service friendly.

QUOIN VENDOR:

John Collyer: johncollyer@exemail.com.au
eBAY name: nortonjohn1944

Stu

woodrat · Post by **woodrat** » Thu May 26, 2011 7:40 pm

Good pickup Stu. I have just joined 10 sitka tops and I am glad that I had my quoins...now the whole luthier world is on to them I suppose!

WoodRat

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