Will Rehab Help???
I think it may just be an addiction. When I purchased the horned German plane a couple weeks ago on eBay I swore that would be the last one for a while. Quite a while. In my last post you saw the pictures inside the drawers of my craftsman chest. There's just no more room at the inn. But there has been one more style of plane I have been seriously thinking about though. Well two more actually, the other being a router plane, but I can wait with that one for a while . . . unless an incredible deal comes by . . . Muhahahaha (that would be an evil laugh)
The plane primarily occupying my recent obsession is a plow (or is it plough) plane. This was primarily fueled by two bundles of kindling and oil. One is the blog Matt's Basement Workshop, where I was cruising around and checking out some older content the other day and watched one of his older pod casts on the very devil I had been dwelling upon. He was using a very nice Veritas Plow Plane and it was very convincing to me. The other fire-starter is a little bit of info I read about a while ago, that said the primary means of side joining boards in medieval times was a simple tongue and groove or a groove and spline joint (as opposed to modern biscuits) Now I have not had the chance to verify this with any recent research, it is something I remember reading and I don't even really remember where for sure, but it does seem to make sense to me.
The eventual purpose of my recent push into more hand tools and away from my hybrid roots is the ability to try to recreate medieval woodworking in a demonstration type setting, the ability to join boards this way would be important. I have a filister plane to create the tongue, but the groove from the plow plane would be the missing link here. After talking it over with my wife I have begun the search. First I looked at a nice new Veritas, but at $225, it is out of my league right now. I found another off brand for around $150. and several on eBay for various prices. Needless to say the search continues and I will decide on something sooner or later here. When it gets here I will have something to say about it I'm sure.
The thing is when you are looking for planes, you see lots of planes, and you kind want to see them all. If you're a woodworker, or similarly on day release from the local asylum, I probably don't need to explain it to you. If it's not planes, it's always something else. I've seen plumb bobs, router bits, and hand saws. Everyone has something and I fear that I may be falling under the influence.
Hi I'm Derek and I'm a plane-a-holic. . .
So then, to place it into recent terms where I used the line, "Once the avalanche starts, it's too late for the pebbles to vote." The pebbles are the search for single plow plane option that balance a reasonable price (as I see it) with quality. The avalanche that follows is finding some irresistible opportunities in planes I'm not directly looking for.
Tonight I made an eBay purchase of a pair of planes, a #5 and #6, They may or may not be Stanley by the limited description, but the pictures were enough to convince me this pair would be a reasonable tune up job and would be ready to go. Over all, with shipping and handling, I'm out around $20 counting shipping and handling, and since I already have a #5, if I decide I don't need another one, I'm sure I can my $20 back by selling it. But my avalanche here is that I had just finished tuning and setting all my planes to usable form, and now I have two more to work on that will be in the mail, and coming my way soon.
In the end, I suppose that spending $20 on two planes is a deal too good to pass up, even if they end up just for parts, but that's not really the point. The troubling thing is that I almost couldn't help myself when I saw them, This may be a slippery slope.
Cheers.
Oldwolf
The plane primarily occupying my recent obsession is a plow (or is it plough) plane. This was primarily fueled by two bundles of kindling and oil. One is the blog Matt's Basement Workshop, where I was cruising around and checking out some older content the other day and watched one of his older pod casts on the very devil I had been dwelling upon. He was using a very nice Veritas Plow Plane and it was very convincing to me. The other fire-starter is a little bit of info I read about a while ago, that said the primary means of side joining boards in medieval times was a simple tongue and groove or a groove and spline joint (as opposed to modern biscuits) Now I have not had the chance to verify this with any recent research, it is something I remember reading and I don't even really remember where for sure, but it does seem to make sense to me.
The eventual purpose of my recent push into more hand tools and away from my hybrid roots is the ability to try to recreate medieval woodworking in a demonstration type setting, the ability to join boards this way would be important. I have a filister plane to create the tongue, but the groove from the plow plane would be the missing link here. After talking it over with my wife I have begun the search. First I looked at a nice new Veritas, but at $225, it is out of my league right now. I found another off brand for around $150. and several on eBay for various prices. Needless to say the search continues and I will decide on something sooner or later here. When it gets here I will have something to say about it I'm sure.
The thing is when you are looking for planes, you see lots of planes, and you kind want to see them all. If you're a woodworker, or similarly on day release from the local asylum, I probably don't need to explain it to you. If it's not planes, it's always something else. I've seen plumb bobs, router bits, and hand saws. Everyone has something and I fear that I may be falling under the influence.
Hi I'm Derek and I'm a plane-a-holic. . .
So then, to place it into recent terms where I used the line, "Once the avalanche starts, it's too late for the pebbles to vote." The pebbles are the search for single plow plane option that balance a reasonable price (as I see it) with quality. The avalanche that follows is finding some irresistible opportunities in planes I'm not directly looking for.
Tonight I made an eBay purchase of a pair of planes, a #5 and #6, They may or may not be Stanley by the limited description, but the pictures were enough to convince me this pair would be a reasonable tune up job and would be ready to go. Over all, with shipping and handling, I'm out around $20 counting shipping and handling, and since I already have a #5, if I decide I don't need another one, I'm sure I can my $20 back by selling it. But my avalanche here is that I had just finished tuning and setting all my planes to usable form, and now I have two more to work on that will be in the mail, and coming my way soon.
In the end, I suppose that spending $20 on two planes is a deal too good to pass up, even if they end up just for parts, but that's not really the point. The troubling thing is that I almost couldn't help myself when I saw them, This may be a slippery slope.
Cheers.
Oldwolf
They look good to me. For that price, you can't go wrong. The 6 looks pretty good, the 5 looks like a beater but should clean up well. Sometimes it is better to have the ones that are not too pretty so that you don't mind using them. I have never used my Record circular plane that is still in the original box....
ReplyDelete(Enter the support group from hell...) :)
Look at the bright side. There are only a few more sizes. Discounting the #1 which is a toy, you need to get the 2,3,4,4-1/2,5,5-1/4,5-1/2,6,7,and 8.
Oh, by the way, they come in plain and corrugated bottoms. Also you realize that there are high and low knob versions....
Then there are the Bedrock versions (put a 60x in front of all those numbers)
Then you get to the specialized ones.....
A #95 edge trimming, a few Rebate planes, Bull nose, chisel, match...
Oh, you can get the #45 for the plow and tongue and groove stuff, but you might like the skew bladed versions....
You do know there are 2 sizes of Stanley router planes don't you?
Don't forget the scraper planes.
Seriously, that looks like a good deal. After the initial thrill of the hunt, you will probably settle down to maybe 4 bench planes that you use often. Which 4 will depend. Myself, I like my 5-1/2 which is between a 5 and a 6. Feels good for general stuff. I have one jointer (big honking woodie) and a high and low angle block planes. A few other wooden planes sprinkled in for good measure. I played the game and went down the numbers. Actually had every size except a #1. I do have a #45 (well, two actually) and a few strays that I have picked up along with a really cute #2c that I couldn't part with.
Seriously, when you get to try out and see which ones feel good to you and you use a lot, the spares make really good trading material for filling out your working set. You could probably turn around either one of those you picked up and get your money back with them marketed well. That is the real trick. While you are looking around and filling out your own set, you can find some really good deals that you can use to fund your habit.
You know David, I love your sense of humor and your support . . . but I think it may be time to dust off that Record circular plane and make some shavings . . . I think I can hear the tool begging to be used from here :)
ReplyDeleteThe planes are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Can't wait to see how they fare against the picture and see how much elbow grease will be needed.