If you could do just one premium plane...

[george wilson]

I don't recall what carbs my Triumph had. But,one kept getting the float stuck. I'd have to knock on it with a wrench to free it up.

[Winton Applegate]

carbs . . . kept getting the float stuck

George,
Rebuilding carburetors is the reason God invented the kitchen table.
So we would all have a place to rebuild our carburetors where it was warm and clean and there is lots of hot running water.
and
it is an easy way to spend more quality time with SWMBO. At least that is one way of presenting it to SWMBO.
Yah
That never worked for me neither.

Triumph GT 6+ in the 60's. A nice little car with a 6 cylinder engine and 2 carbs. But,it was really a Spitfire with a cab over the body. They were prone to tearing up rear ends

I was kind of given one of those by an employer (needed a ton of work; he was given it in lew of payment and he just wanted to get it out of the shop and out of his hair) but I had to abandon it during an emergency/long story/settling in period.
I heard they had an interesting tendency to tuck an outside rear wheel under and then hop across the tarmac during hard cornering. Independent rear suspension right ? Any experience with that ?

[Winton Applegate]

Jeff,

440 block. I used . . . daily munching of the odd foreign job on the street)

Along with the old XKE

Which one would you rather be in during a - going into it too hot - decreasing radius turn ?

[Derek Cohen]

Rebuilding carburetors is the reason God invented the kitchen table.

One of the reasons I spent 11 years rebuilding the Porsche 356A was that it could be done by someone with limited skills such as myself. Even the Weber 40 IDF carbs were doable with a manual. Dropping the engine was no different to a VW Beetle. I learned to and became reasonable at metal bumping. In the end I sold the car because the gearbox was costing me a fortune and there was no one around to work on it (successfully, that is - many promised and did a shoddy job .. I went through three pinion rings).

That was about 5 years ago now. I immediately regretted selling it, and eventually used the proceeds (which had increased quite a bit over the original outlay) to purchase a very good used Boxster S (triple black). I wanted something reliable now. The irony is that I have never seen the motor - you cannot get to it, and everything is now measured by a computer.

This is such a sweet car. Very powerful but an absolute delight to drive along twisty roads at speed. Top down is my therapy. My wife is making hints at something a little taller off the ground, however, saying it is difficult to climb in-and-out of of .... I guess that I may have to look for a new co-driver ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

[george wilson]

The Triumph rear end had universal joints on either side of the differential. Same rear end as the Spitfire(which is why the big 6 cyl. engine broke them!) I never cornered hard enough to tuck a wheel.

This thread is entirely off track. We ought to get back to planes.

[Tony Wilkins]

This thread is entirely off track. We ought to get back to planes.

true... So whose had a Cessna or Piper

[Winton Applegate]

true... So whose had a Cessna or Piper

er . . . . yah . . . but you mean who's had a Cessna or Piper
with
a hand made built in wood cabinet with dovetails for smuggling contraband high dollar hand planes past custom duties . . .
right ?
(( pst just go with me here we gotta get past the moderator))

[Jeff Heath]

Jeff,


Which one would you rather be in during a - going into it too hot - decreasing radius turn ?

I think that answer is obvious! Mopars were designed to go very fast in a straight line (as I know you know). Turning, not so much. My 928 handled well, but not as well as my 911. Fastest car I ever owned and drove was a Viper, by far. They are absolutely amazing, but sadly, now are silly money. That car blows the doors off of any previously mentioned. When they first came out, they were in the $50K range, which is a lot of money for a car, but a far cry from $160K (current offerings).

My days of fast cars and go-fast boats are in my rear view mirror. I'm more into cruisin', now, and I limit my pleasures to American made.....a personal choice.

[Winton Applegate]

My 928 handled well, but not as well as my 911.

I will show my ineptitude here and say that that surprises me being the 928 is so well balanced with the transaxle in back and engine up front. I always thought the the 911's had a strong tendency to spin around and be most in their element when going backward down the road. But what do I know; I ride a bicycle most of the time.

Fastest car I ever owned and drove was a Viper, by far. They are absolutely amazing

Sounds like I missed out by not learning more about them.
As far as George's reference to FLOW . . . vipers always looked . . . to me . . . like they were about to break in half in the middle. I couldn't look at them for long.

That car blows the doors off of any previously mentioned. . . . originally priced at $50K range

That is a serious world beater there.

My days of fast cars and go-fast boats are in my rear view mirror. I'm more into cruisin', now

Yah, just as well. As I always think when I see someone blasting by in traffic in a piece of junk :
"Why don't you get a real car and go some place with it where you can drive it at it's potential
or better yet
buy a baby jet plane if you want to go "fast"."

Thanks for telling me/us about your smooth rides.

[Larry Edgerton]

He (Scott) has a table for sale very basic table for like 4 grand on his website. I do not begrudge him profit, but his prices seem a little steep. However, he has a backlog of orders so more power to him.

Nothing against woodworking celebrities, but woodworking seems to be more about selling premium webpage memberships than actually building things some days....

I'm on my third table in a row just now, and all of them are over $4,000. $4000 is not really an astronomical number when figured by the hour minus the cost of materials. I am certainly not a celebrity. When the hours are added up I make more on kitchen cabinets, but I have less fun.

The plane question is tough as I have never thought of spending $1000 on a plane.

[Brian Thornock]

I have only one "premium" plane, and that is a Veritas LA block that was a manufacturing second. However, I do enjoy building infills. I have a couple going one right now. If it were me, I would spend the $1k on materials to build myself a whole stable of infills with exotic woods and high quality metals...like brass . That stuff has gotten pretty expensive lately, to the point where if I make a lever cap out of it, it can be the single most expensive component of the plane (depending on infill wood). I like the art as well as function of infills.

[Chris Hachet]

I have only one "premium" plane, and that is a Veritas LA block that was a manufacturing second. However, I do enjoy building infills. I have a couple going one right now. If it were me, I would spend the $1k on materials to build myself a whole stable of infills with exotic woods and high quality metals...like brass . That stuff has gotten pretty expensive lately, to the point where if I make a lever cap out of it, it can be the single most expensive component of the plane (depending on infill wood). I like the art as well as function of infills.

I wish I was skilled enough to build one....sigh...I need to start a thread on vintage infills, but I have a couple of modern planes I want first. Just finished paying Mr Ron Bontz for a Half back saw, so an infill is out of the budget right now.

Enjoying the Half Back, though!

Chris

[Jon Snider]

Just ONE??? That's like asking me to eat just one potato chip out of the bag, or one spoonfool of ice cream, or one chocolate chip cookie. I really don't believe it's even possible.

That said, wow, I do love my LN #4 bronze, but that means I'd have to give up my LV bevel up smoother, which I also love, and the blades swap with my other LV bevel-ups, but if I can only have ONE premium plane, I am going to go with the LN #4. This does mean I get to have other old Stanleys, right? I mean, if I can't even have old Stanley #5, #7, etc., then please just shoot me and don't torture me to death.

Oh wait... the LV shooting plane... you know what, I think I would keep that one because I can tune a Stanley #4 to do close enough to as good as the LN (close enough, mind you- not better) but the shooter has taken my joinery to new levels. I don't think I can replace it. Sure, I could use a Stanley #5, but not with different blade angles for end versus straight grain. Also the shooter can become a jointer on a very long shooting board. I'm going to change paddles mid-stream- I'd keep the LV shooter.

Oh wait.... my beautiful LN bronze block plane would have to go then??? You know what- I hate you. Why even suggest such a thing as only ONE premium plane???? Are you real, or was this thread started by my wife? (HAHA)

Malcolm, I know this is really old but was diffing through searches of custom planes (thinking of building my own) and found this. Just wanted to say I always enjoy your posts. Always courteous, enthusiastic, and fun to read. Thanks for making my time on SMC better. Happy holidays.

jon

[steven c newman]

I would settle for a Stanley No. 55...with ALL of the cutters, plus all the Hollows and Rounds that were made for it AND the #45...don't forget the Nosing set. I think that should about hit the $1K mark....

[Osvaldo Cristo]

If you could get just one more premium plane...by building it yourself or buying it, what would you do?

Assuming you had the skills to build the plane, or perhaps set the cap at $1000 to keep out the exotic infills and Bridge city tool works.

So, what hand planes do you dream about? I have really been lusting after the work of Scott Meeks.

Chris

Actually it was not so difficult for me: I went to LN bevel up Jack plane and five irons: straight 25°, 35° and 90°. One 35° camberred. One toothed iron.

Plenty glad with it.