New Work

[Brian J. Williams]

I was just looking at Clint Jones' recent post on the #4 work he finished. Clint, you appear to be a man of many talents. I have been inspired by a lot of your postings, especially your recent posts about how to drill the hole on a replacement tote. Looking at your directions it seems so easy, but I struggled with that for a long, long time. Thanks for the advice.

Having now been taught how to accurately drill that hole, I finished a much better version of a replacement tote I'd been working on for my #6 rehab. I think it came out pretty well. And I was wondering what to do with that big chunk of rosewood I've had all these years. . . .

[Sam Yerardi]

Nice job! I've got a couple planes I need to do the same thing with.

[Brian J. Williams]

I look at my planes as users. I may be collecting users- so be it. I've gotten screaming deals on some of them (especially if they're a little rusted), and I happen to like restoring the really hashed one's to good user condition. The planes I find it pretty good condition I don't touch other than to sharpen the iron and clean the sides/soles. Others, like the #6 in the pictures above, was in pretty tough shape (and of little "antique" collector value) but looked like it had possibilities if it had a lot of work pout into it. For the record, I started (with the toe shown above) dating the tote so there was no "mistaking" the new tote for an original. It's marked-on the base- "Rebuilt 2008".

[Sam Yerardi]

I have no new tools and all of mine are restored antique planes, etc. I can't afford the LN's, etc. so I go to a lot of flea markets, etc. It's funny - I'll be in an old antique store and I'll see some saw that has probably sat there for years. I run over to it like I'm going to get it before someone else does. Crazy, huh? But I absolutely love bringing an old tool back to a new life.