Non-anglophile plane sources?

Re: As long as you`re asking...

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi Bob,

I've already asked about that. It's a cam (excentric) action holdfast called (translated from French) a "silencer". Apparently you still have to give a light mallet tap to set it, then you turn the handle. They seem to be common in France.

Thanks Frank

Bob Hackett(Mainely,Bob)

>Any leads on a point of contact?

MB

Re: Thanks Frank

Frank D. in Montreal

>Soory Bob,

I'm not sure what you mean...leads on point of contact?

Update on the Peugeot pull scrub

Frank D. in Montreal

>I asked my friend Phil (the guy who owns the long rabbet plane and the holdfasts--he has over 600 planes!) about the Peugeot scrub and he told me that it was not made by Peugeot. He says the blade is Peugeot but the body is a reproduction of a Roman plane of the kind that might have been used until the end of the Middle Ages. Still looks very nice though.

Roman plane eh? very interesting Thanks

Dave Thompson

>

Thanks

Dave Thompson

>Thanks for all of the helpful replies.

Wolfgang, nice site. I'm glad someone takes the interest to collect and post this kind of info on the web. I had heard of fischer-darex, but in the context of premium carbide Fischer forstener bits, which I have and very much like. Didn't know they made planes. I couldn't get beyond the initial construction page.

Chris, nice pics. I take it you spent some time in China. As a tourist, it's not easy to find some of the things in your shots. Thanks for sharing.

Marc, thanks for sharing the photo.

Dave

New toolmakers in Europe?

Wiley Horne

>Hello Wolfgang,

I have a question for you, or for others who may know: The revived interest in handtools in the English-speaking world has led to a number of small toolmaking firms--many of them one-person firms--in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US (alphabetical order (<:).

One might expect something similar to happen in continental Europe. Of course, the two situations are not quite the same, because there are major manufacturers in Europe still making quality handtools. ECE makes an excellent range of planes; Auriou, rasps and gouges; Kirschen, gouges and chisels; Stubai, gouges; Pfeil, gouges and chisels; Vallorbe/Grobet, files; and there are still bowsaws to be had that work. There are others of course.

But my question is whether small firms making premium quality handtools are beginning to appear on the landscape?

Wiley

Re: New toolmakers in Europe?

Marc in Luxembourg

>Wiley,

As far as I know, no new small toolmakers on the horizon. That depends on a much different starting situation. First of all ww's galoot market is very small. In Europe you have a lot of different languages. It is tedious to come on market with a product, because you have to be present in I'd say german, french and english. Second bureaucracy; there is alot of papers you have to own or do. You need to be master furniture maker to run a ww business, to have a trading license...

Regards, Marc

Changing mentality?

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native in FL. Exile :~(

>I spoke to a neighbor this afternoon and he said: If you don't have a machine (i.e. planer or jointer) you can do nothing.

Marc, I found that to be a stunning statement. I cannot believe that somebody in your part of the world would say that.--or any other part for that matter. The evidence is everywhere of what can be done without a machine. There are magnificent buildings all over Europe there that are thousands of years old and are still standing and in allot of instances still used that where build entirely with hand tools. How can "modern man" make such a ridiculous statement such as that is beyond me.

I remember when I was in the military I'd need to get something done and everybody would say "Can't do it, the computers are down". I knew right than that we where in deep trouble as a human race.

Todd O.

Re: Changing mentality?

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi Todd,

I think that's just progress. Rousseau said once (this has stayed with me ever since) that with technological progress comes a regression. So in other words what makes us stronger also makes us weaker. Computers have allowed us to do an infinite number of htings we never dreamed of., but when they don't work we are worse off than before. Same with cars: no gas and we're worse off than when there were no cars. Same with electricity etc. In other words, we seem to lose capabilities when we rely on technology to do things, so once the technology is gone we are in fact handicapped compared to our ancestors. Makes sense to me.

Marc's statement doesn't surprise me after what I've learned about hand tools in Europe in the last week (the thread here sparked a long discusion on another board). Aparently tools were never revered as they have been in Anglo-Saxon culture. They were always functional but expendable and made as cheaply as possible. What really counted was the work that came out of a shop. In the nineteenth the drive for profit increased for several reasons, and machines started slowly replacing hand tools until the sixties (or so) when hand tools were just about totally eclipsed. A friend of mine who is quite knowledgeable about French hand tools said that hand tools are still generally held in low esteem, and he has even seen cabinet shops with NO planes or even CHISELS!!! So the current hand tool revival, if we can call it that, is certainly not catching on as fast in all parts of the world.

Re: Changing mentality?

Stephen Kirk in Quakertown PA

>I work with the little binary beasts all day, and when starting new development projects, I've started asking if they really need a system created. People seem to have forgotten that there is any other way to do things other than with computers or machines. I used to build my own computers, but these days I despise having to take the time to update my adware scanners, because we seem to have added complexity for no reason what so ever. Maybe that's why I'm liking hand tools more and more.

I was just asked if I had a pneumatic nailer that I could loan out. I don't, so I can't. But, my friend is just framing out his basement, and has found hammering nails to be too hard. That struck me as to just how far we've gotten from any form of physical labor, or anything that requires a bit of practice.

Of course, I'm waiting for gas to get really expensive, and then all the golf course will turn into watering and grazing points for the horseback riders.

There's a lovely science fiction story

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>from the 1950's about this guy who discovers arithmetic. He's doing multiplication and division while all the boffins stand around him, checking his work on their handheld calculators (mind, this was YEARS before the first HP calculator), and expressing awed amazement that he's right.

Re: Changing mentality?

Mike L (Orange County, CA)

>"...with technological progress comes a regression. So in other words what makes us stronger also makes us weaker..."

Not only technological progress but also biological progress. Despite our enlarged craniums, without our modern 'tools', we're ill-equipped for survival in the wilds.

Regards,

Mike

Re: Changing mentality?

Thom D

>Obviously even over here you have the same thing. Sure there are lots of hand tools, but there aren't many serious shops turning out stuff with them. So if you did your survey as an outsider to the scene you would not find much evidence to support hand tools. When one even thinks about power tools these days, I have to wonder if there wouldn't be a better CNC approach, even hand served power tool seem arcane ludite. Hand tools make sense only if you define the objective in terms of them. Like you really want to have something with hand executed joints and lots of hand tool marks.

As far as europe is concerned, I remember climbing in the alps in the 70s, it was tough to get anyone to take free climbing seriously. They didn't get the idea of not using the gear for support if it interfered with speed. That changed. There appears to be a fair bit of interest in ancient craft in europe. I don't have a good picture of what is happening in France though. About the only thing I saw was on some Woodwright episodes. Anyway, if I have to choose between fast food but slow furniture, or slow food but fast furniture, I'll take the slow food every time!

Re: Changing mentality?

Mike Fitterling

>Yep, I have seen the same thing, of course. It seems that we now serve technology, rather than it serving us. Ironic.

Re: Changing mentality?

Chris Scholz

>I strongly disagree.

IMHO technology has helped us in the "developed world" to achieve the standard of living that we have today. The sad thing is that technology has not helped us to build better hand tools.

Chris

Re: Changing mentality?

Marc in Luxembourg

>Todd,

You're right. Everything has to work fast, professional and without sweat nowadays. Everything else is suspicious. Look at the tv-shows, where they build a dining table in one day, poor quality, but great because finished inbetween 4 hours.

If I build a duck for a child , a book shelf, a slate... most people like and admire, but rarely one wants to ask how many hours worked on.

Marc

Marc, what's a duck?

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native in FL. Exile :~(

>Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I can see it coming, Oh Lordy, I can see it coming.

Todd O.

Re: Changing mentality?

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native now in Jax Fl.

>without our modern 'tools', we're ill-equipped for survival in the wilds.

That's exactly right Mike. With each passing generation we are becoming more and more removed from Nature, and we are at the point now where most of todays people are so far removed from it that they fear it. If you where to take 1000 randomly selected people and put them in a wilderness with two weeks most of them would be dead.

Another result of this "fear" of Nature mankind has a tendendicy to destroy what he fears/dosen't understand.

Todd O.

Todd, here it is coming

Marc in Luxembourg

>Didn't you see it in walnut? I guess you saw it in the oven... with a fine crust and potatoes, but that'd be OT.

Sorry for that, Marc

German duck?

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native now in Jax Fl.

>Well, ask a silly guestion eh. ;~)

Soild brown?

Nice little pull toy Marc, bet the children really love it. I think it would look nicer with some realisitic colors tho, but still it's nice. I'd get some non-toxic paint for it, and I bet it would really POP to life.

Nice job carving out the bill, look quite realistic. Needs more color tho.

Todd O.

Quack, Quack.

Haven't you ever seen a female mallard?

Bill Houghton, IT IS Spring in Sebastopol, CA

>Color not far away from that.

Cute, cute duck, Marc. Very nice work.

Re: Haven't you ever seen a female mallard?

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native now in Jax Fl.

>Sure I have Bill, but even those have a little bit of add'l colors.

Just to be clear, I wasn't being critical of Marc's duck, I was merely offering a creative suggestion, tho it may not of come out sounding that way.

I remember what I was a small child I had a few pull toys and I loved them to pieces. One was a articulated dachsund, and the other was a frog that had a large spring in the middle so it actually hopped.

Todd O.

Great Todd, but how...

Marc in Luxembourg

>did you know it is german walnut? French, belgian and luxemburgish are the same. I have to pull my hat ;-)

It pops to life, when it is pulled, because it lifts the tail at every rotation of the wheel :^)

Have a nice weekend,

Marc

Questions about China...

GolfSteve in Calgary

>Wow, Chris...I browsed through your album and it looks like you've had some great experiences there. Where is Lijiang located? I'd look it up on Google earth, but my experience is that there would be twenty "Lijiang's" an undoubtedly I would look at the wrong one.

Are you working in China or were you there on a holiday? I'm currently working in Fushun (the one NE of Shenyang just above North Korea...with the huge coal mine in the middle of town; not the Fushun West of Shenyang...with the huge coal mine in the middle of town). Unfortunately Fushun is an industrial polluted hell-hole and my life is so micromanaged by my Chinese hosts that I haven't had a chance to get into the country or smaller "villages" to get a feel for the countryside.

I've asked my hosts about woodworking, but all I get is blank stares and confusion in return. I'm not sure if this is due to poor translation or cultural differences, if this is due to the heavy industrial nature of the town (ie. no one in their right mind would pursue woodworking as a hobby), or if I have broken some ancient Chinese taboo and will now be sent to a Chinese re-education facility. :-(

Cheers,

Steven