Non-anglophile plane sources?

oops Above question for Chris Scholz

GolfSteve in Calgary

>I guess the thread has scrolled off the page so this message is a bit out of context.

Re: Questions about China...

Chris Scholz

>I don't hang out here too often and have not figured out how to contact you directly. Hope this is of some interest to the group.

Lijiang is in Yunnan Province, Unesco World heritage site #811. If you get a chance, it is worth the trip.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/811

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lijiang_City

I was traveling with my girlfriend (who is Chinese) and her family.

There is a rich tradition of exceptional woodworking in China.

I am as amazed as you that 1) little appears to be known about Chinese woodworking tools and 2) as the country continues to modernizes traditional woodworking skills rapidly disappear. Folks probably simply don't comprehend why/how "rich" Westerners would be interested in old fashioned hand tools.

I am compiling a writeup on my trip and will post on http://www.oldtoolsshop.com/ as time permits.

Chris

Re: Questions about China...

Thom D

>I'd be interested. The Japanese tool culture is well know. Apparently it generally lagged the mainland, and the mainland aesthetic is comparatively ornate. Both of which seem to bode well for the mainland tool culture.

As you know, "Chinese" tools are making inroads in the West. You can get the handle planes quite widely, and the chisels are sold at Dicks. I would love to see the Chinese joinery bow saws sold.

I have done some limited experimenting with this stuff since a long while ago when Jason Beabe wrote an interesting article for FWW, and later followed it up with some stuff on his own take down from those experiences. I made a saw like his and generally goofed around. It seemed like maybe he would take it to the level of a book, but nothing happened.

We have a number of very tallented woodworkers from that culture working over here. So far all we have from that is a book on power tool joinery, like coals to newcastle. So there is still a lot to do, if anyone could bring it alive.