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Thread: Am I Crazy?

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Vancouver Canada
    Posts
    716
    I have a little of all three!
    2 older Stanleys, a #3 with a replacement Veritas blade and cap. and a #6, dead stock.
    Finally got rid of a #5 Record, and replaced it with a Veritas 5 1/4; Replaced 2 #4 Records with one Veritas Bevel up smoother and a low angle smoother (ie 4 1/2).
    They all feel fine to me.
    Around here, (Vancouver, Canada), junk on Craigslist sells for about half of a Veritas; A really good example costs nearly the same. Why bother?
    Young enough to remember doing it;
    Old enough to wish I could do it again.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Helensburgh, Australia
    Posts
    2,700
    I inherited a few planes from my Dad and they might have been his Dad's but everyone of them was assembled using different brands of components, they worked OK but my OCD had a bit of trouble dealing with the bitzas that they were. After picking up an LN plane for the first time and feeling the weight of it I decided that new planes weren't for me due to the weight and I was actually disappointed I could not buy a few. The only place I might see the added weight as an advantage is in a shooting plane where the mass keeps it moving. I am still using the bitzas.
    Chris

    Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    N. Idaho
    Posts
    1,621
    The only variation on theme here I'll offer is that I've found money spent on jointer planes to be a good value compared to bench planes b/c they are much tougher (for me) to tune to high performance. Agree with the OP on the LN 60 1/2 for the same reason- just tougher to tune up a LA block plan to the same level.
    "You can observe a lot just by watching."
    --Yogi Berra

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    New England area
    Posts
    588
    The notion that accuracy needs to be inherent in the tool is a machine-tool concept that doesn't apply to hand tools. Most hand tool woodworkers seem to port this attitude over in the switch to hand tool woodworking. This is unfortunate in my opinion.

    If you can determine where wood needs to be removed, then it doesn't usually take an incredibly accurate, perfectly machined hand tool to do it. If you think it does, you're missing a good part of the advantage of working with hand tools in the first place.

    WWII and earlier Stanley planes are a pretty safe bet.
    Last edited by Charles Guest; 09-23-2018 at 7:57 AM.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Princeton, NJ
    Posts
    7,254
    Blog Entries
    7
    It depends on what’s not accurate about it. I work with wooden planes most often, and you pick your battles at times with them. If you adjust the sole constantly you will be in need of a new wooden plane sooner than necessary. Same applies to iron bodied planes in that they can work fine without being made into a precision instrument. That however depends on how the are out, not just not being perfect.

    I did a presentation last weekend and made the point that machine tool work relies on a different preparation than hand tool work. Same idea, you need to know where the perfection is absolutely necessary and where it isn’t.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Longview WA
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    27,347
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    The notion that accuracy needs to be inherent in the tool is a machine-tool concept that doesn't apply to hand tools.
    Maybe never having had much time with power tools has made my hand tool journey less reliant on the precision of each tool.

    My concern about the precision of a tool is when boring a hole for a dowel. If they are too tight, something might split. If they are too loose it may not hold. Before dowelling my dowels our checked for size and a bit is chosen to match. Auger bits tend to vary in size depending on the maker and the intended use when they were made.

    For my planes the most concern is for my smoothers. They need to be able to take a very fine shaving for the final surfacing. It is nice to have a perfectly flat sole on a jointer, but it will work fine as long as it isn't warped beyond being predictable in use.

    IMO the mistake many folks make with a plane is to try and fix it before they use it. Was it Will Rogers who said, "if it ain't broke, don't try fixing it."

    More important to me is repeatability in that a tool will work the same way today as it did yesterday and it will tomorrow. Knowing how a tool will perform and how to control it in its work is what makes for precision with hand tools.

    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 09-23-2018 at 11:53 AM.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Edmonton, Alberta
    Posts
    350
    I think this is true of a platform such as instagram, where the better known or more followed individuals then get sponsored by various companies and keep advertising new products.

    I don't see why it should be this way in these forums, but I definitely get the vibe that Prashun mentioned from certain individuals here, repeatedly.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    twomiles from the "peak of Ohio
    Posts
    12,120

  9. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post

    IMO the mistake many folks make with a plane is to try and fix it before they use it. Was it Will Rogers who said, "if it ain't broke, don't try fixing it."


    jtk
    Some folks copy without understanding the why. Many threads talk about flattening the back of a chisel or the sole of a plane. Then there were people who asked or SHARED how they flattened the back of a new Veritas chisel they just bought. More than once, here or elsewhere, Rob Lee had to show up to clarify that those chisels could not be humanly (by hand) made flatter.

    Simon

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Longview WA
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    More than once, here or elsewhere, Rob Lee had to show up to clarify that those chisels could not be humanly (by hand) made flatter.
    There are some things a machine can do better.

    To paraphrase what was said in a previous post, "you can't fix something that isn't broke."

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  11. #26
    I tried a few LN planes at a hand to event a few years back. They were the shiny bronze ones. They were nice, but I couldn't see the reason for the extra weight. I preferred the lighter old Bailey's I had at home, friendlier on the back and the hands. I think that might have been back in the days were people thought planes needed to weigh as much as a cinder block and have irons thicker than your thumbs. Hopefully we are coming out of that. Planes were a pretty mature technology by WW2, and there really aren't a lot of improvements left to be made in them (and that is coming from someone who likes to constantly fiddle with things to make them better ).

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Longview WA
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    I tried a few LN planes at a hand to event a few years back. They were the shiny bronze ones. They were nice, but I couldn't see the reason for the extra weight.
    My feelings on this are about the same. One of the things liked about my pre 1900 Stanley/Bailey planes is the castings are lighter than the later later planes.

    My LN 60-1/2 is a fantastic plane, but it is a bit heavy for me.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

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