Recent Neander tendencies.....
Terry Hatfield
>Howdy everyone,
Recently I got bit by the bug...you know the one. I decided to give hand planing a try. The rest is history as they say. I see know why they call this a slippery slope...more like teflon coated if'n you ask me. I've been reading the forums daily and I sure enjoyed the WC Hand Tool Chat this week. I've also got a stack of books and I have been plugging away at trying to learn this. There is more to it than meets the eye!! I have a friend in Florida that does a great job tuning up the old Stanleys. I got a couple (#4 and #5) from him. Now at least I can see what the others I have bought should be like.
I've got enough planes, scrapers and sharpening stuff now that I decided I had to have somewhere nice to store them. I debated about building a cabinet to hang on a wall but I've really got no walls left to put it on. I decided that a bench revamp was in order. I built a Shaker inspried bench a couple of years ago and it has served me very well for the corded tools adn assembly work. I quickly discovered it is REALLY nice for the hand work. Here is a pic if anyone hasn't seen it a thousand times already.
I cleaned out Kreg jigs(sorry)and such from the bottom drawer and made slide out trays in the right side of the bench for all that stuff as well as what was already in there.
The back side upper try I designated for my sharpening stuff since I have to access it much more regularly now.
I made an insert for my newly crowned "plane drawer" to properly hold the goodies. I've been trying to get everthing arranged right for the last few days and I used my Friday off to get it done and installed.
It's just a piece of 3/4" white oak ply with white oak scraps for dividers. It took a while to figure out the right configuration but I'm pretty happy with the results.
This Neander stuff is pretty cool!! I'll be hangin' around and asking stupid questions once in a while if ya'll don't mind. I've already learned a ton from just reading and I've certainly enjoyed the "corded" portion of the "Island" for a long time. Look forward to making some new Neander friends.
Terry