PLANES????

Re: PLANES????

Jack Guzman from Maine

I'm not quite sure what you are asking. If it is why people collect old planes I can't answer that. If the question is why we like old planes I can speak only for myself. I love old hand tools of all sorts. I like to buy neglected hand planes and make them work again. When it comes to woodworking I prefer doing the tasks with an old tool made when quality was important. My go to block planes are both stanleys . One a 65 and the other an 18. These planes do the job so well I've never seen a need to spend money on more modern version. I also love the way they look and feel. I could go on about hand tools. Drawknives,fray braces,eggbeater drills,etc. I just love old tools.

I dont collect planes.

Bruce, a MN Galoot

I have 25-30 or so, but I use them. They predate electric equivalents, and every one of them is quieter.

Re: PLANES????

jessecloud

I'm not a collector, but I have several planes. Some are old some are new. I really like the Lie-Nielsen and Lee Valley planes, but somehow in every project I wind up pulling out an old Stanley when the going gets tough.

The urge to "collect" is widespread, I guess related to pride of ownership.

BTW, I'm at the age where many of my friends are choosing to downsize and need to cast off lots of stuff. Its sad how often they discover no one wants their prized collections.

On the other hand, a well chosen collectable hand-plane can sell for a spectacular price.

Some collect, some use, some do both...

John in NM

Planes are vastly useful, the two things I use them for routinely is hand fitting of parts and for flattening/finishing boards too large for my PM100 planer, as well as doing the same for large glued up tops. One could do that with a belt sander if one were so inclined. There are other ways of doing just about everything in the shop, planes are just one of the options.

I also use splitting mauls for firewood as opposed to a log splitter. Even when I was splitting a lot of it a couple years ago I preferred the mauls because spending a few hours sawing and splitting firewood was a nice feeling of doing something useful after 8 hours at a paying job that did not seem so useful

I think its really just a matter of perspective in my case. I try various methods of doing just about everything until I hit upon one that I really like and then I stick with it.

Re: PLANES????

JL

I have a couple of #5 planes that might be considered "vintage".

They work quite well. I've sharpened the blades at different angles for different uses.

I have several planes of other sizes (#3 and block planes for small, precise work, #4 as it is smaller and agile).

If you do hand work, planes are "handy". I also use spoke shaves and draw knives.

Re: PLANES????

TomD

"Was lurking another wood site & there was pic of different size planes. I'm sure every one of the ''collectors'' had every electric ww machine he ever wanted.

WHAT IS THE GREAT INTEREST IN THESE OLD PLANES???"

This is a very unclear question. Do you mean old as in any plane that is not electric? Are you talking about modern metal planes, that come in different sizes, or older wooden planes?

1) There is no set of modern woodworking tools including 5 axis CNC that produces what can be produced with old tools. So if you want to do certain things, there is no practical method of doing them that does not rely heavily on hand tools. And this extends across multiple cultural frontiers whether you work in German, French, Japanese, etc... traditions.

2) Hand planes can do things cheaper and often faster than power tools. The reverse is also true. A Reinhard precision table saw is 10s of thousands of dollars, but a shooting boards and plane could be built for under 50 dollars, and prepare parts to similar precision.

3) Hand tools are often easier to use than power tools. The reverse can also be true.

4) There are cases where hand tools/planes are the safer option.

If you are asking about wooden planes... Basically they are better than metal planes, or often there is no metal plane equivalent. There could be metal equivalents, but when you look at what people want for them1-4 thousand dollars, usually for something fanciful that was never a commercial reality, you can see what a 20-40 dollar plane that takes 90 minutes to make the plane and the blade, might seem worthwhile. I have gone both ways, but my experience is that in most parts of the country you are better off making planes than restoring them. Some parts of the country never had many higher level workshops in them, or the good stuff has been scooped up.

A lot of the arguments around planes are not on a practical basis. When I started in the 70s, most hand tool woodworkers aspired to have a power tool shop with hand tools in it. The objective was theoretically driven by practical considerations. There was more emphasis on design back then and you had the tools you needed to get what you wanted to do. Today, a lot of people at least talk a good game about being hand tool only workers. So you sorta have camps. And hand tool use has morphed along some odd lines that really are not driven by practicality. More by consumerism driven by Youtube. But a hand tool only shop can be very practical. It depends on how one approaches the work. The 70s through to the internet times, fine woodworking was controlled more by the idea of a professional woodworker, like a Krenov, or Klausz. Today it is driven more by hobby woodworkers, which in some respects is more what people were actually up to all along. These days there are a lot more options.