Indy Fest Hand Plane Contest

Nice writeup, Jim

Ellis Walentine


>Thanks for the fine write-up. That was definitely a serious competition. I feel privileged to have placed.

Cheers,

Ellis

Re: Thanks Jim

Mike Hamilton


>Thanks for the kind words Jim. The Knight smoother I have was won this summer at 5 Barns, as a matter of fact. Mark in Indy seemed pretty new to hand planing (he picked a great one to borrow) and I am always looking to push fresh troops down that slippery slope. No turning back, he's one of us now!

Two things I've picked up from these contests:

Bevel up planes seem consistently great

Water stones seem to give me a better edge than anything I do at home

So my prize is about to be spent on water stones and I'm starting a bet pool on how long it'll be until Moses owns a bevel-up jack or smoother (you in?).

Regards,

Mike Hamilton

Plainfield, IN

Re: Thanks Jim

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native, Presently Away


>Jim,

Very enjoyable writeup, not to over wordy. :~)

I like the looks of the planing horses that where used. Looks like one of thenm has a holdfast stabbed into the ground to help hold it down. Was this a rock steay set up?

I am curious to know if the issue of creating any "humps" came into play as DC was discussing a few weeks ago, aand how it was dealt with if so.

Mike, your a true Sportsman allowing Mark to get the Knight. Even tho you have one already there is no doubt that you could of found use for a second one, but you chose instead to use it as Slope Grease. You rate a Perfect 10!

If tho I wasn't there, I'd still like say Thanks to all the prize donors, certainly very gracious of them and it should'nt go unheeded.

Todd O.

And the winner is.........

Mac in Indy


>............everybody who participated!! We had more fun than is probably legal in some places.

Kudo's to Moses for setting up the plane contest, Ray & Lynn for hosting that motley crew, Jen for helping get the Indyfest rolling this time, God for the most excelent day we could have asked for, Jim for the great report the other competitors for keeping it fun! Most of all THANKS to the prize sponsers for supplying such great prizes! Heck I'd do it for the bragging rights but don't think for a minute I mind getting a prize like the #2 LN plane that I chose. It fills in one of the many gaps in my LN collection.

Now about that shaving..........as Jim reports the thinnest single measurement of the 9 taken on my shaving was 0.0003". Balance that with the thickest reading of 0.0010" and several in between and you get an average thickness of about 0.0006" as I remember the results. The shaving was 54" long out of a possible 60" though I'm not sure you could take a 60" shaving and not have it shrink up to something less than 60".

Again Thanks to all involved! That was one of the nicest days I've had in some time!!

Mac

Ellis, I am hoping you will find some time

Wiley Horne


>to write up your own impressions of the Indy Fest. I really enjoyed the photos that were taken, and kinda get caught up in the enthusiasm of those who were there. The organizers did a magnificent job to make it all come together.

Wiley

Looks like a great time!

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond, CA


>Thanks for potting the post together Jim. Too bad it so far away for me. "I could have been a contender"...;^)

I've been working on it

Ellis Walentine


>My "do list" is a mile long right now and I've been working on my Indyfest shop shot in between everything else. It is going to be a rather lengthy one, with lots of pictures. Hopefully worth the wait. :-)

Ellis

Re: Looks like a great time!

steve knight


>glad to see so much fun was had. but it looks like I better start donating other tools since I seem to be overlapping (G)

Re: Looks like a great time!

Jim Shaver Oakville, Ont.


>Hi Steve,

Thank you so much for being such a big supporter of these contests, your support added a great deal to the excitement of the contest.

I have long seen your work on the net but to actually hold one of your adjustable mouth smoothers was special. I tried one of your planes, the result was awesome! I know well that Moses was very proud to use one your planes as was Mike Hamilton.

For me it was a hard choice for me to not select your plane when I had to decide, I have a few smoothers but that try plane was calling my name.

:-)

Steve, anything you contribute is always appreciated!

Take care,

Jim

Re: Indy Fest Hand Plane Contest

Mike L (Orange County, CA)


>Jim wrote: "There was some good fun as well, even some magic as we see Ellis playing his �Air Plane� , was that ever a Grateful dead tune?"

I think that was Ellis' version of "Planing Indy Band".(1)

Regards,

Mike

(1) Reference to popular GD song.

Re: Indy Fest Hand Plane Contest

dave caudill


>That sure looked like a lot of fun. While I probably couldn't hold a candle to the group that competed in this event I sure think it would be a real hoot to get together and have a friendly competition and then share trade secrets(after the head to head of course). I've got a couple planes that I sometimes can manage a pretty nice shaving. Although some of those I saw in the picture were pretty darned sweet looking. I'm a bit too far off out here in Washington State but I sure enjoyed the write up and pictures. Its nice to see folks from this group get together in "real time" and have some fun.

Dave