Confesions of a Transtional Handplane lover

Re: Confesions of a Transtional Handplane lover

ThomD

>I don't like them aesthetically, though almost anything can grow on a person. I think they stem from a period, when in general, people made tools with pride in how they looked, so I wouldn't be too surprised if they had some charm I just haven't explored. I have only rarely seen one for sale. If I had a lot of work to do, I would prefer to use one to a bailey style one because of lower weight and better glide, and less damage to materials.

Re: Confesions of a Transtional Handplane lover

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>I don't much like using metal bench planes, but I like the looks of the transitionals. Stephen Thomas, the maker of the Loopy planes, loved transitionals, were his favorite planes.

Pam

Mine works great....

Rob Brophy...lost in Niagara

>...it hasn't failed me yet. :-)

Re: Mine works great....

Jim Shaver - Oakville, Ontario

>OMG Rob,

That is Too Funny!

:-)

Take care,

Jim

ROFLMAO

Frank D. in Montreal

>

Re: Mine works great....

ThomD

>That looks like a transitional table saw, or the table has a lot of rust.

Re: Confesions of a Transtional Handplane lover *LINK*

Gary Roberts

>Dom

Despite the modern hoopla surrounding metallic planes, the majority of the bench planes that I see in the various 19th Century photographs that I collect are... transitionals. True, photography really came into it's prime at that time period, but it still strikes me that more tradesmen went for the transitional plane. Could be the desire to feel wood on wood, pricing or maybe they where all just clumsy and afraid of dropping the metallic plane and breaking it.

My favorite is the #35.

Best

Gary


The Toolemera Press

Re: Confesions of a Transtional Handplane lover

Michael Recchione

>I always liked the way they look - I guess so did Studley, based on what he had in his toolchest. I only have one - the #5 sized one, and I can't say it's the best working plane I have. The lever-arm assembly is flimsy compared to the pre-WWII baileys, and seems to always want to pop open. The attachment of the metal parts to the wood is just a couple of wood screws, which have worn their holes over the years and want to come loose, causing chatter. All fixable, but when the fixing is done, it still doesn't out-perform similar vintage Baileys. I don't own any bedrocks, so I can't compare to them. One nice thing is that the plane is light - I like that in a jack plane.

I sort of remember someone saying they were popular with carpenters and handyman types.

Transitional Table Saw

Chris Scholz

>Did anybody say transitional table saw?

Eh Gods !

Steve Mackay

>

Re: Confesions of a Transtional Handplane lover

James Watriss

>Well, I went through such a phase. In part, because it looked like it would be oh so easy to tune one up, or even make it prettier, with better woods, and whatnot.

The biggest problem I had was that the throat jammed up on me pretty regularly. I've seen people use them in such a way that the shaving exited cleanly, but I was never able to duplicate such a thing myself. I went so far on one plane as to hollow out a huge area in front of the plane for the shavings to go, patched it back up so the shavings would be clean, and the mouth would be tight, and I inserted pins on either side of the blade, from the outside, so that the lateral adjustment mechanism would work better.

Trannies are cheap, they're still plentiful, and there is a certain attraction, but I honestly found it easier to make a laminated wooden plane from scratch than to go through all that on a transitional. And the wooden plane works better, too. There's more of a learning curve, what with having to get used to adjusting with hammers and all, but I don't think it's so bad.

Once upon a time, I explained my modifications in here, and there was a small demand for an article, which I never got around to writing.

I still have my 27, it's nice, and the patina is still solid, but I left two or three of my other trannies at NBSS when I left in February.

One of these days, when my new shop is fully up and blowing smoke, I'll take some time out, and give it another go. Ill rebuild a tranny jack (or would that be a jill?) and write that article. And I'll rebuild a transitional jointer, just to give it another go. They are a lot lighter, and I find working with a big iron jointer to be tiring an stressful to the elbows after a while. I can't imagine how people managed to throw the old infills around for very long.

Another reason for the prevalence of transitionals

wilbur

>Given the stereotypical attitude of present day Neanders (and to some extent woodworkers in general), maybe back in the late 19th century all the hand tool users went around saying, "Why would I use one of those newfangled all metal planes -- nothing wrong with my tried and true #26!"

[Sprinkle :@) liberally throughout this post.]

Re: Confesions of a Transtional Handplane lover

Gary Roberts

>I've seen transitionals in images of wheelwright shops, carpentry shops, millwork, finish carpenters etc. None really in pattern shops though. I have a feeling that the weight was a deciding factor... or patternmakers simply wanted the newest fanciest plane?

Gary

Re: Confesions of a Transtional Handplane lover

Dean Lapinel

>I like the look and I have a couple just because of the patina on the wood. They don't do any work for me but they still make me happy.

James

Wiley Horne -- So. Calif.

>Aside from transitional planes, I think many of us would be interested in your progress, now that you've graduated from a premier cabinetry school. Do you mind sharing some of your impressions on getting started in the professional world?--I'm really thinking of a new thread. Only if you have the time and motivation, of course.

Wiley

Too Funny!

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Look like the jointer makes a nice fence for the TS

Prop for a haunted house?

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Damn, That thing is spookey!

That old tablesaw....

Rob Brophy...lost in Niagara

>...gets fired up once every couple years, scares the heck out of me (I use a -real- tablesaw daily), and I unplug it for another year or two.

It sees more use as a 'flat' surface for adjusting wasterstones (hee hee)