Any wooden plane builders here?

[Derek Cohen]

I'm not doing this type of planes anymore. I had a chance to meet one of Redwood college students who went there during Krenov times. He had a plane by James himself, all dusty from sitting on top of a tool cupboard. Still recall my surprise, like, isn't that your violin or something, don't you listen to the music of shavings in the air as weather changes outside and violins change their voices? He was like nah, I have other planes — and indeed he had, a good lineup of Lie Nielsens, but his primary planes and chisels were Japanese. It was during my Krenov phase, and he let me try it. My expectation was that I'd levitate at least 5" while using it, but no, it was just a sharp plane. Not even particularly sharp, just sharp, which is totally adequate for someone doing 90% machine work. I already could sharpen better at that time, so suddenly Krenov waxing poetic about laminated planes lost its spell. And after making a few myself and realizing all their limitations and problems, I decided it's a dead end for me.

Jack, I don't have a bias against Krenov planes because they have laminated sides. They worked well for Jim Krenov. I imagine he knew how to sharpen.

Actually I know how well he sharpened as I have one of his planes, which came to me with a newly sharpened blade, complete with shavings he made.




Here's one more woody I made, a bridle plough plane (was featured in FWW a few years back) ...







With a full set of NOS irons ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jack Dover]

They worked well for Jim Krenov.

That's exactly what I'm saying, Derek. They worked for Jim and they should work for anyone who follows Jim's methods, which are predominantly machines. This is not a secret, Krenov was open about it in his books. It's just my ways are different, and I need a plane that's longer, wider, has a tote, has a blade holding system that doesn't require a massive iron assembly and can do more than just finish planing a board. Or in other words it's not the fact that ones are glued, but the others are chopped, it's the ergonomics that follows the form. The fact that you made some of yours toted and generally following the traditional construction kinda tells that you have your own ways of working wood, not exactly krenovian. Maybe if I'd be working different woods or had a different shop - I would work differently too. Maybe one day I will.

Did James knew how to sharpen? Definitely, since this is the key factor that makes any plane work. Was he better than me in this regard? I doubt it, he wasn't worse for sure. Sharpening is such a basic skill that pretty much every craftsman with a few years of experience is as good as any other craftsman who bothers to put even a little bit of awareness into the moment. It's all about being methodical, that's all.

Also I've switched to traditional planes not because they're inherently better, but only because I want to learn traditional plane making and because their forms fascinate me. This is a personal preference, I didn't mean to say everyone should switch to English jacks. Btw, gluing a plane together isn't something new, this method has been know for at least a couple of hundred years, it's just these planes didn't survive. And who cares whether these planes survive or even outlive its maker, as long as the piece does? I don't, pretty sure you don't either.

[Scott Winners]

FWIW the wooden plane blanks I offered some months ago are all spoken for. In the future I will accumulate suitable blanks, season them, and watch for wanted to buy threads in the for sale section here.

This is a tinier niche product in what is already a tiny niche market.

[Jack Dover]

I did some back of an envelope calculations and my estimate that there's about 1000 people across the USA that are interested in planemaking that assumes chopping in one way or another (I've calculated unique bids for planemaker related supplies, incl. wood and tools). This is enough to create a pressure on a small market niche so prices skyrocket (LN floats go for x2 original price easy), but apparently not enough for anyone with means to invest into supply side.
What I'm trying to say is that you could list the blanks on ebay, but with a very specific title, e.g. "Jack plane body blank/a plane billet" etc.

I'd be all over your PM, it's just a few years back I bought a whole beech tree that was QS for me, so wood isn't a blocker. Any chances you have tapered iron blanks?