Honorable Mention at Del Mar fair

[Juan Hovey]

Results were posted earlier tonight in the "Design in Wood" juried competition at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar. Among a dozen entries in the "Traditional Woodworking Accessories" category, I received an honorable mention for this No. 3 infill in Honduran rosewood.
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[Prashun Patel]

Wow thats beautiful. Congratulations. Can you post some more pix at different angles?

[Juan Hovey]

Prashun - Many thanks. I've added photos to my earlier post - and see my earlier post for details about the plane.

[Frederick Skelly]

Congratulations Juan!

I always enjoy seeing your work!

Fred

[Jim Matthews]

The front tote is nice.

I like the large flat on the rear tote
that's the place where a plane registers
most firmly for the user.

Do all your rear totes have such a fine
top horn? It's delicate.

kudos

[Juan Hovey]

Frederick and Jim - Many thanks.

Jim - The design of both tote and bun is deliberate. My theory is that when you plane a board, what you're really doing is balancing the thing front and back on the tip of the iron, and everything about the plane ought to make it as easy as possible to get the job done.

I want the fingers of the front hand to wrap into the big mouth of the bun, and I want the hand in back to come to rest not behind the tote, as it would on a traditional plane, but above and behind it, with the web between thumb and first finger nestled right up under the crown. In this way, the forearm, wrist and hand form a straight line vectoring on the tip of the iron, and with either or both hands you can push down, push forward, or lift up as necessary to create the shaving you want.

My goal in making a hand plane is to marry design and mass in a coherent, focused whole. Even a traditional plane has mass, and all that steel and brass in my planes just adds to the heft of the thing; the plane I sent to Del Mar weighs something like four pounds, and my No. 4 and 5 planes weigh even more. But I want the mass to do the work of planing a board, not the muscle of the user, and if in pursuit of that goal I make a plane that's nice to look at, that's a plus.

As for the horn, or as I call it the crown, it's more than a bit risky, and on what I call my shorebird planes (see photo) - so called because the crown reminds me of the birds my wife and I see on our Sunday afternoons at the beach north of our home in Santa Maria, CA - the crown is even riskier. All I can say is that I've never been a gambler, but I'm not afraid of risk.
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[Jim Koepke]

Congratulations Juan.

jtk

[Phil Thien]

Man, if that thing scored honorable mention, I'd sure like to see anything that would have beat it. That is a work of art!

[Don Rogers]

Great design and workmanship. You obviously have talent in those areas.

Should have received more that "Honerable Mention"

Don

[Wayne Taylor]

I agree with Phil. That is beautiful!

[Mike Henderson]

Congratulations. The Del Mar competition is very high level. To place there is quite prestigious.

Mike

[Bruce Page]

Tough competition. I looks like a Blue Ribbon winner to me.
Very nice.

[Evan Patton]

Wow if that was honorable mention, there must have been some pretty stiff competition. It's gorgeous.

[James Baker SD]

It is beautiful. I am one of the lucky ones, I'll get to see it in person when I do my tour of duty as a docent at the show, reminding people "please don't touch the exhibits" :)

[Jim Matthews]

This second design is less elegant
but likely to last the life of the owner.

Fine things such as the "crown" in your first plane
are analogous to the horns I'm forever refitting
on old handsaws.

They're the first things that break.

[Stew Denton]

Juan,

Spectacular Job! Absolutely beautiful work.

Stew

[James Baker SD]

Figure in wood much nicer seeing it in person than in your photos. Very beautiful work.

[glenn bradley]

I'm also with Phil on this. That thing is a beauty to behold. Congrats.