Popular Woodworking 2009-02 № 174, страница 52

Supplies

D.L. Barrett & Sons Toolworks

705-739-8905 or

dlbarrettandsons.com

112 Wessenger Drive

Barrie, Ontario, Canada, L4N-8P5

The right.

messing with vintage

s that come with the Barrett plow plane are a joy, especially if you have been ?s for so long. The irons are well ground and properly shaped.

tricky it had been to line up the iron and skate of the tool.

A New Company and College

Meanwhile, Kyle's father had also been making planes in his one-car garage, and with Kyle's interest in toolmaking ignited, Dan decided to start making planes for sale under the name D.L. Barrett & Sons.

Kyle, Dan and his younger brother, Jeremy, all work in the shop, which is filled with all the basic woodworking machines, plus a small milling machine, metal-cutting band saw and metal lathe.

As of now, the company offers three kinds of plow planes and three bench planes. In the works for the future are fillister, dado and moulding planes - most likely complex moulders. The plow planes come with a full set of eight tapered A2 irons, made by a Canadian company, which are also things of beauty. They taper gracefully from Vs" thick to Vs" thick at the ends. The unbeveled faces of the irons are remarkably flat and the V-groove that rides the plow's skate is crisp.

At the time of the interview, Dan and his sons were building nine tools: four Mathieson plows, three V-plows and two open-tote jack planes. But the plane-making work is sometimes interrupted by homework. That's because Kyle hasjust started in the tool and die-making program at nearby Georgian College.

"It's really neat, actually," he says. "Already I've learned so much about metalworking. There is so much more you can do to make

ishes the two-year program, he's not sure what he'll do.

"I don't know if I'll have enough skills to go out on my own as a toolmaker," he says. "I'm 18, and I'm not sure where I'm going yet."

A Remarkable Worker

I hope Kyle continues as a toolmaker. After the contest ended, 1 asked him to build one of his plows for me that would be a worker in my home shop (instead of a trophy on the mantle). At the time I didn't even ask the price, though 1 consider the $1,875 (Canadian) price tag for the base model to be fair considering all the handwork and the full set of irons included with the tool.

The plane Kyle built for me is only slightly different than the prize-winning bridle plow. Instead of steel, mine has a bronze bridle mechanism. And it is signed "D.L. Barrett &

Sons." Plus -1 have to be fair here -1 think my plane is even better than the plane that won the contest in February 2008. (Dan agrees with me, by the way.)

The plane feels like it is ready to go to work as soon as you pick it up. Unlike other plow planes, the controls of a bridle plow are remarkably intuitive - even power-tool woodworkers who pick it up understand the mechanism immediately.

All the brass fittingsare perfectly mortised into the brass and ebony parts. The beech wedge is a seamless fit into the stock.

How does it work? 1 hate to think that anyone will buy one of these planes and put it in a glass display case. The D.L. Barrett &r Sons plane is graceful and nimble in both hardwoods and soft. It is easily the nicest plow plane I have ever used.

Which begs the question: What did Kyle do with the tool that won the contest?

"It's in the shop," he says. "We have it in a place to keep it up out of harm's way. But I always like to take it down and use it." PW

Christopher is !/K'«//for of Popular Woodworkingantf Woodworking Magazine. You can visit his personal web site to read more about tools at LostArtPress.com.

After a week of studying blueprint reading or machine processes, Kyle can be found in the shop with his family working out some of the details of his planes. But after Kyle fin

Superb spirals. The proof of the plane is in the thick, to get the work done quickly, so a stable tool that cat

spiral shavings that peel off the board. You w i take a heavy shaving is a must.

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