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Dave Anderson NH
06-23-2003, 1:00 PM
I was down in the shop yesterday afternoon putting a coat of shellac on a rosewood marking knife handle when the front doorbell rang. Now no one uses our front door except maybe when the kids come to trick or treating on Halloween. I went up the half flight of stairs and opened the door. Standing there is a woman with a postal service badge and an express mail package for me. Since I'd been tipped off by email, I knew it was from Steve Knight of Knight Toolworks. EXCITEMENT REIGNED!!

Back in the bench room I opened the box, removed the packaging, and there were two wonderful planes. The first was a 24" long razee jointer with an adjustable mouth and the second was a coffin bodied smoother also with an adjustable mouth. Steve had noted in his email that he had been rushed and the jointer needed some sole work, wax, and a sharpening of the the iron. That's the posterior byproduct of a large male bovine!! I put in the iron and wedge, adjusted, and started taking shaving at .0015" without waxing, any sharpening, or touching the sole. Being somewhat anal and wanting to give a real test I waxed it up, honed the iron scary sharp to 2000 grit and tested again on poplar, mahogany, and a small chunk of ebony. This time I got lace shaving as low as .0005". Hmmm, maybe the iron did need some work. LOL The smoother worked just as well without any touchup at all.

The down side of this whole thing I that I only have these planes for a week. I'm demoing them at Canterbury Shaker Village this weekend and then they get donated to the Homestead Woodworking School as part of Steve's effort to put his planes in schools. If you can make it to Canterbury this weekend, you can try these nice new toys-er tools out.
Given my results, I suspect that before the summer is over my wallet will be a bit lighter and my plane rack will have an addition. I'll try to take and post a picture tonite.

Roger Myers
06-23-2003, 2:59 PM
Dave - got your phone message! Don't wear out the planes this weekend...leave a little for the school.
I'm not leaving for NY/PA until Friday, and I'm planning on stopping at Irion on Monday...got an e-mail from them over the weekend, and tehy are expecting me....Hope to find a nice wide piece of figured cherry with my name on it!!

Doug Littlejohn
06-25-2003, 3:37 PM
Steve sure does make real nice stuff. And the care he has is so evident in what actually gets delivered after you've bought one.

Sounds like a nice time ahead in trying out those two planes. Did I mention the rest of us are drooling ??