Popular Woodworking 2006-08 № 156, страница 57

KARL HOLTEY NO. 98

Sole length: 9V2"

Weight: 4 lbs. 3.7 oz.

Pitch of iron:22°

Mouth opening: About ¹/64"

Iron:S53 steel, .176" thick, 2¹/s" w.

and it was a groundbreaking tool when he introduced it. It was one of the first modern "bevel-up" smoothers, and Holtey's trail-blazing has led to a surge in the popularity of this style of tool.

That said, for a variety of reasons, the No. 98 was my least favorite of the Holtey planes I tested. The adjuster, while ingenious, is fiddly when it comes to installing the iron in the tool. The iron is bored with a series of holes. You drop the iron onto a pin that projects from the plane's adjuster. Because the hole and the pin have a tight fit, it took me a good deal of messing about to get the iron in place on the pin.

In use, the tool is remarkably balanced and has a sleek modern look that appealed even to my traditional tastes. And it performed admirably. With a steep 38°

My frustration with the No. 98 was in getting the iron to Here you can see drop onto the pin shown here on the adjuster. It took much of the two A13s -fiddling. Once in, however, the tool is a sweet user. on the right.

the differences between the front buns ■ Holtey's is on the left; Hutchinson's is

microbevel on the cutting edge, the resulting 60° pitch made it a formidable smoothing tool.

Classic Planes A13: A More Affordable Workhorse

Like Holtey, Darryl Hutchinson of Devon, England, also makes a version of the Norris A13. Hutchinson's plane is similar in form to the Holtey plane, but it's different in the details. Overall, the level of fit and finish and perfection is lower. But considering that Hutchinson's A13 costs about $1,300 - about one-fifth of the Holtey A13 - it's a value among premium tools.

The plane works remarkably well - as anything costing more

Darryl Hutchinson's A13 (right) with a Ray Iles A5. Both are English makers and produce tools that very much evoke the classic infill planes of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

than a grand should. It has a fine mouth and high pitch to the iron, which make it ideal for fine finishing cuts. Because of the vast price difference, it's not really fair to compare it directly to the Holtey, so here are my general impressions. The tote is pretty comfortable, though it had more flat areas than I like - I wished it were more sinuous. The front bun is sizable and I didn't find it as comfortable as an old-fashioned Stanley-style front knob during long planing sessions.

The adjuster works quite well and had little slop in its mechanism. I found it remarkably easy to get the plane running smoothly and making very sweet cuts. It's not a fussy tool.

There were some minor cosmetic things: The bed of the tool is essentially unfinished and is covered in file marks. Among its premium-priced peers this is unusual. And there were a few drips of finish in the channel for

CLASSIC PLANES A13 BY DARRYL HUTCHINSON

Sole length: 9"

Weight: 5 lbs. 15.5 oz.

Pitch of iron: 50°

Mouth opening: Less than V64"

Iron: A2 steel, .192" thick, 2V4" w.

Contact: classicplanes.com

or (UK) +44 01647 441015

the adjuster. All in all however, the tool is quite solid, unpretentious and ready to go to work. I quite liked it.

Bill Carter A1: Beyond Massive

Bill Carter is another English tool maker, and he was probably the earliest of the modern infill makers. His hand-built infill planes have inspired toolmakers all over the world since he started building in the 1980s.

The jointer plane I used for this article is, like most Carter planes, a work of art. Carter has an excellent and eccentric eye: The dovetails in the sole are filed in the shape of a cupid's bow and he has a reputation for adding images of elephants to the sidewalls of his tools. Plus, though all his tools are obviously new, Carter ages the metal and builds them with a decidedly old-world charm.

This jointer plane is as interesting as the man who built it. The story goes that Carter built it first as a 36"-long tool, but when he took it to auctions and tool sales to show it was simply too long to fit into the allotted space in his car. So Carter chopped a bit off each end. He sent the "offcuts" to Edwards when he bought it and suggested Edwards use them as (wait for it ...) sanding blocks.

This jointer plane has the presence of a museum piece. The metal

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