Popular Woodworking 2006-08 № 156, страница 54

IC

Infill Handplanes

We spend three days with the world's most expensive planes. Are they just jewelry? Or do they work better than your plane?

There are times when I wish I could find my first handplane. It was, by most standards, an utter piece of junk. I had bought it after college during a late-night run to Wal-Mart, and my purchase was guided by the fact that it was blue, cheap and the only block plane I could find on the shelves that evening.

So it was surprising (then and now) that the tool actually worked quite well. It didn't have a blade adjuster, the sole was rough and the steel in the cutter was as gummy as Juicy Fruit. But when I put the tool to wood it made that sweet "sneeeeck" sound of a perfect curl of wood being sliced from its mother board.

It was the first step in my j our-ney. In the last 13 years I've slowly upgraded my handplanes. After buying a Stanley jack plane, the blue plane went into my carpentry toolkit. Then it went into a box in the basement. And now I can't find it. Occasionally I do get a pang of longing for it. But never have I wanted that block plane more than the day I pushed a $6,600 Karl Holtey A13 infill plane over a piece of curly maple.

A custom-built Holtey A13 is for many handplane enthusiasts the pinnacle of the planemaker's art - perfect in form, function, fit and finish. And when I first used the A13 I got the same sort of heady feeling you get when you master a handplane for the first time. However, like any buzz, after about 20 minutes of work with the A13, the buzz wore off and I began to think (somewhat) rationally about this beautiful piece of steel and brass under my command.

I set the A13 aside and picked up a plane made by James Krenov, the author of "The Impractical Cabinetmaker" (Linden) and planed the same piece of irascible maple. Then I tried a $2,800 Sauer & Steiner panel plane, a Bill Carter jointer plane, a $1,300 A13 from Darryl Hutchinson, a small $775 smoothing plane from Wayne Anderson and more infill planes from custom builders Robert Baker and Brian Buckner.

That was a very good day.

by Christopher Schwarz

Chris is the editor of Popular Woodworking and has two DVDs on using handplanes and other traditional tools. They are available through Lie-Nielsen Toolworks (800327-2520). Contact Chris at513-531-2690 ext. 1407 or chris.schwarz@fwpubs.com.

Before you wonder if I've won the lottery, let me explain. Many of these planes (and a dozen more) were loaned to us by a generous and trusting man named John Edwards. Edwards, a retired automotive engineer from Detroit, amassed his collection of modern handplanes after years of saving and careful purchasing. He and I are both handplane geeks, and so we got together in February in the magazine's shop, tuned up these planes and put them to work, deliriously making shavings on boards both mild and wild.

We also invited many of the makers of these tools to have a look at the planes on a following day. See the story "Mavericks for a New Era" on page 59.

After three days of using these tools, I recorded my impressions in a legal pad, took some photos and now am ready to share what we found. There were a few surprises, some disappointments and a small revelation at the end. If you've ever gazed longingly at some of these beauties on the internet or at woodworking shows and wondered "But do they work well?" you're about to find out.

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Popular Woodworking August 2006