Lost Art Press

Category: Handplanes

International Jack Plane Day

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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If weasels, doughnuts and diseases can have an official day, then why not the jack plane? I’d be hard-pressed to name a plane that is more useful to me (the block plane would be in second place).

My $12 jack has a heavily cambered iron. And yes, I still use the plane’s original iron and chipbreaker. In fact, except for the engraving, my jack is all factory equipment.

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The engraving, which was done by Catherine Kennedy, has elicited some surprising comments from students. But my favorite one – and the dude was dead serious – was this:

“It was lucky that you found a plane that has that square already engraved on it.”

Today I’m working more on installing the Benchcrafted Crisscross and Classic vise on my Holtzapffel workbench, which lives in our sunroom. I’m taking this opportunity to make some long-time-coming modifications to this workhorse of a bench.

1. Tweaking the vise’s screw blocks for the twin screw so they cannot be pulled forward of the benchtop. This involved some planing, tweaking and shimming. And without the jack plane the process would have been a chore.

2. Adding the leg vise, which will be swappable with the twin-screw.

3. Adding a long-overdue shelf between the stretchers.

4. Adding some additional holdfast holes and (perhaps) a little tallow dispenser below the benchtop.

5. Finally, toothing the benchtop with a toothing plane and enduring the slings and arrows of internet idiots when I do it.

— Christopher Schwarz

Chipbreaker-setting Trick

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Rhett Fulkerson of Nice Planes in Frankfort, Ky., showed me a cool trick for setting a chipbreaker quickly, precisely and perfectly parallel to the cutting edge.

Take a feeler gauge whose thickness is equal to the distance you want to set the breaker back from the cutting edge. In this example, I used a .005” feeler gauge. Tape the feeler gauge to a flat surface.

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Touch the back of the iron to the flat surface and against the edge of the feeler gauge. Slide the breaker down the back of the iron until it contacts the feeler gauge. If your iron has a curved cutting edge, apply the downward pressure in the center of the iron and the breaker.

Tighten the breaker’s screw. You are done.

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Rhett showed me this trick during the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Cincinnati, Ohio, this weekend. I also got to check out his planes, his plane kits and his new irons and chipbreakers that you can use to make your own wooden handplanes.

The O1 irons and breakers are very nice. The breakers have a machined lip like the improved chipbreakers found on Lie-Nielsen and Veritas chipbreakers. So the parts precisely on the back of the iron.

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His plane kits in maple are also sweet. Thanks to pre-cut Dominos in both halves of the plane body, it is almost (almost!) impossible for the parts to shift as you glue them up. If you are looking for a plane kit, this is a very good one.

And his finished planes are excellent as well. Since I first saw Rhett’s planes, they have become sleeker and more comfortable in the hand. Definitely check out his site if you have any interest in wooden planes.

(Note: His site says his company is Nice Ash Planes. He recently dropped the “ash” as he started using other woods.)

— Christopher Schwarz

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Meet Caleb James, Planemaker

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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The world needs more wooden planemakers – it can be difficult to find vintage hollows and rounds and complex moulders that don’t need serious work (or are hopeless). Matt Bickford has his hands full; Old Street Tool isn’t taking new orders while they try to reduce their order backlog.

So today I was quite eager to try the planes from Caleb James, a planemaker and chairmaker in Greenville, S.C. Caleb makes a full range of wooden planes from quartersawn American beech that he personally cuts and dries.

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I took his planes for a test drive during the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event at the American College of the Building Arts today and was impressed. Very impressed. His planes work as well as the planes from Matt Bickford and Old Street. They are responsive, have tight mouths and eject shavings smoothly.

If I didn’t have all the hollows and rounds I need, I would have placed an order on the spot. I might ask him to build me a couple of beading planes I want to add to my tool chest. So if you are thinking about wooden moulding planes, you now have another option – and a very good one at that.

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Here are some of his prices from his 2014 price list:

• Matched pair of hollows and rounds: $450-$465
• Rabbet plane (5/8”, 3/4” or 7/8”, with or without persimmon boxing): $250-$285
• Try plane (2” iron, 24” long): $485
• Snipe bills (1/2” radius): $545/pair
• Coffin smoother: $365

Check out Caleb’s blog and web site here. In addition to being an accomplished toolmaker, Caleb makes Windsor chairs and is whip-smart. Check him out.

— Christopher Schwarz

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After 10 Years, My Miter Plane Returns

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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In 2004, I purchased my first-ever custom anything. A handplane. It was a ridiculous financial move.

I had two young daughters (age 7 and 2), a low-level editing job and almost no disposable income. Lucy and I were throwing every dollar at our mortgage so we could be debt-free and able to do something uber-nutty – like run an independent publishing business.

But after meeting toolmaker Wayne Anderson, I became obsessed with the miter planes he builds. Somehow I scraped up $800 and ordered one. When I finally received the tool, I was overjoyed. It was one of the most beautiful tools I had ever seen, much less owned.

A few months later, thieves at a woodworking show outside Philadelphia stole the plane from my workbench. I was working our booth alone for a short period. Someone distracted me by making a ruckus at one end of the booth. When I turned back around, the plane was gone. (Read about it here in the WoodCentral archives.)

Insurance covered the theft, but I was bummed because they stole my favorite tool. Lots of things get stolen at woodworking shows – I’ve lost mallets, marking gauges, combination squares and (of course) books. I’ve actually had it easy. Some vendors have lost cash boxes with thousands of dollars inside.

To help in the hunt for the plane, Wayne actually stopped making that model, which made it difficult for the thief to fence it on the legitimate market. And Wayne put the word out with his customers and fellow collectors to watch for the tool.

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Lo and behold, the plane turned up last week. And just like a stolen sports car, the tool was a wreck when it was recovered. The miter had been caught in a flood and the steel parts were deeply corroded. The brass sides were heavily tarnished and the iron was a bubbly mass of iron oxide. The most unusual fact: It hadn’t been sharpened in 10 years. I could recognize my edge on the tool.

But even in that sorry state, the plane was still fricking beautiful.

I worked out a deal with the plane’s honest new owner to trade another plane for the miter. And today the miter arrived.

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After I unpacked it, I took the photos for this blog entry and began stabilizing the rust and damage. I have a long restoration process ahead of me, but it’s going to be satisfying work. Some of the damage is irreversible, but that’s OK with me. We all get a few scars in life.

As for the whole story, you’ll have to forgive my obliqueness. The above text is all I can really tell you. I’m not one to seek out justice, revenge or punishment for stealing a tool. So this is really the end of the story – until the miter is creating beautifully polished surfaces again.

— Christopher Schwarz

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Wayne Anderson’s Newest Plane, $600

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Planemaker Wayne Anderson has developed a beautiful infill smoothing plane that is – for custom work – remarkably affordable at $600.

I ran into Wayne this weekend at the Mid-West Tool Collectors Association meeting in Medina, Minn., and he showed me his latest tool. It was purchased immediately at the meet, but Wayne said he had another one just like it with cocobolo infills ready at the shop and was happy to build more.

The reason the plane is only $600 is that Wayne eliminated some of the time-consuming work that doesn’t improve the cutting performance. Instead of making the sidewalls curved, Wayne makes them straight on this plane. Also, he eliminated the “overstuffing” on the the sidewalls. Overstuffing is where the wood is rabbeted away so the wood is flush to the exterior of the sidewalls.

Each one of Wayne’s planes is a little different in the details, but all of them perform magnificently. I have owned one of his small smoothers since 2006, and even though I have been trying to cull my tool set down to the bare bones, I cannot bear to get rid of my Anderson plane. It just works too well and looks too nice.

If you’ve always wanted a new infill but couldn’t manage the price, this is your chance. Get in touch with Wayne at AndersonPlanes.com.

— Christopher Schwarz