Holtey Planes?

[Chris Padilla]

http://www.holteyplanes.com/

:eek: Anyone have the $$$s for these planes? W O W ! ! :eek:

They must be magical or have tight enough tolerances to make the space shuttle or rebuild a Formula F1 engine! :D

Some serious eye candy...just sharing. :o

[Manny Hernandez]

Jeez Chris!
Those are for people that have more money than sense!
or how about
I could do just as good work with a flea market plane and use the rest of the money to buy a car!
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[Bruce Page]

They is purty tho

[John Weber]

We discussed them at bit during my class at Marc Adams. It was generally thought a LN 4-1/2 with a high frog would perform almost as well, at a fair bit less cost. LN also has a new chip breaker that is supposed to help a bit as well. I believe someone said, (maybe David Charlesworth) it takes two full days to shape the wood.

Come on Lottery.

John

P.S. Chris if you ever slip totally to the dark side you could trade those MM's for some planes...

[Dave Anderson NH]

I had the opportunity to play with a Holtey mitre plane up at Garrett Hack's house last year. It is very well made, fabulously finished and performs flawlessly. I don't ever see myself buying one however, even if I hit the lottery or somehow came into big money. I'd be intimidated and afraid of scratching or dinging it and marring the finish.

I think I've said it before- we are now in a Rennaisance or second Golden Age of hand tools. There are plenty of truly fine modern makers out there on both sides of the Atlantic. If interested you might want to search for planes by Steve Knight, Bill Carter, Wayne Anderson, Sauer and Steiner, Steve Thomas, St James Bay Tool company, Shepherd Tools, Clark & Williams, Ashley Isles, and I know I've forgotten a couple of more makers. Many of these makers offer great quality at a fraction of the Holtey prices. There's no reason for the serious hand tool woodworker to settle for second rate junk if they are willing to spend a pricey but no unreasonable amount of money. As a reference, I looked at my tool inventory. I currently have about 3 1/2 times as much invested in hand tools as in the powered stuff. It would be worse, but I have been fortunate enough to acquire thru inheritence, auction, and flea markets a good selection of used tools.

[Tyler Howell]

mmmmmmm! Eye candy.:cool:

[Mark Singer]

The are like a 360 Modena Ferrari...pretty to look at ! but once you have one it just sits in the garage!

[Ken Garlock]

For that kind of money, I will keep it over here and buy from Bridge City Tools. The cost is half, and I will bet that 9 out of 10 users can't tell the difference. Actually, I would rather buy from L-N, and buy two at BCT prices. A tool is for using, not for looking at; women are for looking at :)

If someone wants to buy a couple Holtey, a couple BCT, and a couple L-N, I would be willing to conduct a double blind test, and get back to you in about 5 years. :D

[Manny Hernandez]

It's always interesting to see the responses when someones post references Holtey or other high end planes. Obviously my post above was in jest. Chris and I were discussing some other issues when it turned to handtools and I told him I own some of Karl's planes. It seems most responses assume the buyer of such planes is after "the ultimate" plane. Well in a sense yes, but not heavily weighted on performance. I think of these things as functional eye candy. I can't speak for all Holtey owners, only myself and a couple others, but we are not naive enough to think these things are the Holy Grail and will outperform anything else out there. I will say that infills in general will outperform my other planes in certain applications. In my opinion, learning to properly sharpen the iron and tune the sole will buy you a whole lot more performance than anything else. I often hear the "Well I can buy X brand and it will work just as good and I save a lot of money..." Obviously saving money was not a concern when I bought all my Holteys. On the other hand if it's performance and money I'm concerned about I'll just take some scraps from my scrap bin and an old blade and make a Krenov style plane that will be just as good or better than anything purchased and if I want the edge to last longer I'll increase the bevel or buy a better blade. No disrespect meant to any of the production plane makers of course.
Yes, they all reside in my shop. I do use them if a high angle plane is needed. I don't set them on a pedestal just to look at. I do take extra care, meaning I wipe off the sweat that drips on the plane.

[Michael Perata]

Manny

"Obviously saving money was not a concern when I bought all my Holteys."

...ah, the good ol' days before everyone's options got wet.

[Alan Turner]

I am only a window shopper when it comes to the Holteys. Wonderful stuff, but over my price point by just a bit! Joel, in NY, has a 1/3 size miniature of the smoother, also made by Holtey, and I think it is 4K or so. I have seen it, but not touched it (I wasn't invited to). Amazing workmanship. I'm with John and the lottery on this one.
Alan

[Chris Padilla]

I had a chance to hold, touch, rub, drool, and kinda work with the one Manny brought (which one was it that you brought, Manny?). It was hefty but glided along a piece of wood (didn't take any shaving) once you got the weight moving. However, once it started moving, it felt like it would just take off on its own. Amazing.