Curious about planes

re expensive v. cheap

I've gone the long way round (30+ years as enthusiastic amateur), and only recently found festool.

my biggest regret - nearly all of the "cheap" power tools...
  • the lack of accuracy is frustrating
  • selling 2nd had "cheap" power tools is difficult
  • even used festool tools seem to go for near full price on ebay

I've bought several electric and manual planes - mine are ok for rough jobs;
I haven't bought a festool plane yet, but for many of the things I would previously have needed a plan for for, I no longer do
(ie I cut it exactly right and with a clean edge).

 
re expensive v. cheap

When I said "cheap" in my above post, I didn't mean to get a cheap version of a good tool. I meant, like the example I gave, to chose for a cheap solution over an expensive one. And in case of the Domino and the dowel marker, a VERY cheap vs a VERY expensive one. You can make very good joints with dowels and working with a simple marker isn't a hassle at all. I've made quite a number of cabinets that way. $790 is quite a difference I'd say. Only worth it if you're professional or a guy who's got enough money anyway.

It's a common practice for people to look for hobbies to spend their leisure time. It is also common for people to try different hobbies out until they've found the right one. All in all, people change hobbies a lot. And very often they spend a whole lot of money for nothing because after three months they decide it's not their thing. Or some other reason.

For instance, I'm a pretty advanced guitar player. About 10 years ago I decided it was time to expand my horizon by taking up the keyboard. I bought an expensive professional full size motion sensitive keyboard. Heck, I already knew music was my thing, so I'd thought it smartest to invest in a good thing right away. I liked it. It went very well, at first. But I had to stop because my finger couldn't take it. One of the bones in my hand that lead to the smallest finger was once -  unknowingly - broken a long time ago and had healed in the wrong way. It never was a problem when playing guitar because guitar playing doesn't take much force, even if you play very fast and intense. But this was totally different for the keyboard. This thing required a lot of force, especially with the wide stretches you have to make. So my hand started to hurt like hell and I had to give it up. Now I got this expensive thing here standing unused.

Or my brother. Last year he decided he wanted to make those plastic model kits of WW2 tanks and sorts. He went crazy, spent like 1000 euros in 2 months on 30 or 40 kits. In the end he got bored with it, didn't finish even one and now he stored them all away at our mom's place. Most of them unopened.
 
And this happens a lot. All I'm saying is, if you're starting out, don't go overboard spending a lot of money right away. Sometime I get the feeling, when people take up a hobby, going to the store and buying the necessary tools is the real hobby and not that thing what you're supposed to do with them after you bought them. By the way, that's a hobby that runs old very fast.

And when you guys talk about resale value, well, maybe that's true for America, because Festools are so rare over there, but it certainly isn't like that here. If you buy a new tool in the store and you want to sell it next day, unused, expect to get no more than 70% new value at the most. If you're lucky. Here, everybody lives no more then 15 minutes away from the next Festool dealer, they know how to find the store themselves. But besides Festool, I think that in America you also don't get the full price back.

It is better to find out if you really like something and then buy the stuff you might need, than the other way around. I think, if you get frustrated because the tool isn't good enough for the job, you're not cut out for that type of stuff anyway. Because if you really want to, you can also get marvelous results with cheap stuff. It is not the tool that makes the piece, it's YOU who makes the piece.

 
Sometimes, inexpensive ain't necessarily bad.

The Japanese style saw sold at Lowe's Home Centers here in the United States is made by ZETA--I've bought their saws in Japan.  It would be a good first saw to use while learning to saw on the pull stroke versus ruining an expensive saw with an inoperable kink in the blade.

10 years ago, I was the lone American sub-flunky for 10 Japanese roofers doing a renovation of a traditional style Japanese house here in Philadelphia.  The curious can google "Shofuso" for pictures of the building.

ANYway, at the end of the two month project, I gave the foreman a set of Marples chisels--the ones sold by Woodcraft, et cetera.  He told me a year later that they were good steel and he used them at home.

 
As a self taught finish carpenter and WWer I went with powertools. I started with skil and craftsman and ended up with nearly the entire Festool lineup.

I just thought that powertools would always be faster than handtools. It was alot easier to learn with powertools too. After many years of powertool woodworking with minimal handtools (marples chisels, low angle block plane, cheap combo japanese handsaw) I thought I had learned a little something about the medium of wood. I had always loved working the wood with my chisels but was frustrated with the edge holding capabilities of my marples.

PARADIGM shift! I watched the FWW video shootout between sanding and handplaning. The handplane won by such an overwhelming margin I just had to pay attention.

Got a set of LN chisels for Christmas!  ;D

Then I get a commission to build some music stands in curly maple. Everything jointed OK but when I tried running it thru the planer it tore to pieces no matter what I did.

I went to talk with Bill Kohr at Craftsman Studio. He is a seller of fine handtools and is very knowledgable in the craft. I came home with an HNT Gordon smoothing plane.

The silky smooth surface and clarity on the curly maple after planing is out of this world.

I am now making a few Krenov style planes with some Hock blades I picked up on sale from Bill.

If Im working with solid wood the only sanding Im doing is touch up or large surfaces. I havent learned how to flatten and smooth a large top yet. Cabinetry with veneers will obviously not get handplaned except for when I put on solid wood edging. I have done a couple of cabinets with 3mm solid edging and a quick pass with the handplane is all I need on the edge and it is sooo much nicer looking and much faster than going thru a couple of sand papler grits.

pic of my HNT Gordon and the base of one of the music stands

 
That looks like a nice plane, is it a pull plane like the Japanese ones.  The thickness of that blade is amazing, is it a Hock.  I have a few old Stanley planes that don't work very well & was going to tune them up & fit Hock blades & chipbreakers.  Glad to see someone agree the finish between a good handplane & a sander is worlds apart.  Oh, the stands look really nice also.

Woodguy.
 
That iron is the one that comes with the plane, made by Terry Gordon. The HNTs need a little getting used to because of the handle. It can be pushed or pulled and is very comfortable to use with the handle. Not as comfortable without the handle.

The HNT plane bed angle is 60 deg and will take nice see thru curlies in the curly maple without any tearout.

I will be making a block plane and a Jack plane soon.

BTW if any of you in the states are interested in getting some amazing curly maple at fantastic prices send me a PM and will release my source. I was hesitant  about ordering material from an online source but I had no local suppliers. The service was great and even including shipping the costs was way, way below other sellers.
 
I made my first wooden hand plane today. A Krenov style jack. Its about 17" long. The body is African mahogany with a Jatoba sole. The pin and wedge are wenge.

See here
 
Eiji,

Really nice project Eiji!  I can't wait to see it completed.  I just got a book on plane making to add to my list of future projects.
 
A site of pure tool beauty from the other side of the pond... this guy and his blog http://www.holteyplanes.com/blog/
Now to wet your appetite:-
No-982-lever-cap.JPG

10-no-982-smoothing-plane.jpg

51-No-982-smoother.JPG


Just great to read through the process and look at the pictures
 
mattfc said:
Wow looks great, I don't find wood dovetails that easy so just love the metal ones on the plane sole!

Maybe even more impressive is that those dovetails are cut freehand on a band saw:

Dovetails_On_Bandsaw.jpg
 
I'm beginning to regret even having read this thread; it's gonna cost me!!  Eiji's photos did it.  I'm about to begin building a console entertainment center.  The main visual element will be the exposed drawer fronts.  I recently found some 3/4" x 11" curly red oak stock for them.  I've many Festool sanders, but no hand planes worth mentioning.  And little knowledge in setting up and using hand planes.  I am familiar with use of hand scrapers and often use those as near last step in preparing wooden components prior to applying stain/clear coat finish.

Dave R.
 
I just made my own. After using the HNT with good success but no comfort I just had to tray and make my own. They turned out great and work really well. So well in fact I got orders to make 4 of them.

 
The small plane is a smooth plane with an 1 1/2" hock iron.

The large plane is about 16 1/2" long and uses a 2 " hock iron.

The jatoba smoother pictured below planing curly maple against the grain. and no tearout.
 
Eiji, crafting your own tools is a new level, even for you.  The results you get with them are amazing.  You should be very proud of yourself, Eric
 
Thanks, Eiji.  I've got a piece of ~2 1/2" X 2 1/2" jatoba that could be used for construction of some hand planes.
In your post immediately above, only the first photo is appearing on my PC.  Could there be a syntax issue; I recently had a similar experience when using the

Code:
[IMG][/IMG]

button.

The sides of you planes appear to be mahogany.  Of what wood(s) are the other components made, particularly the sole?

I love the way you shaped the area behind the irons.  They appear likely to be very comfortable to grip and push with your hands.

Dave R.

>
 
Thanks guys,

The Mahogany planes do have soles. The Large plane (Moby) has a jatoba sole and the smoother has a purpleheart sole.
 
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