The Schwarz plays Whack-A-Plane

[John Sanford]

Smashing planes video

[Dewey Torres]

Kinda helps the Wood River argument going on in another thread. Hard to tell if he was swinging with the same velocity on all but Chris is pretty reputable so I believe it.

[mike holden]

John,
Wouldn't it have been great if that had been a high speed camera?
We could have watched the metal bend and spring back. (that the metal bent and sprang back is evidenced by the "springing" off the anvil)
Neat video in any case.
Mike

[Brent Smith]

This is just so wrong , on so many levels. WAS (Wives Against Scharwtz) are going to be getting ideas all over the world now.......Thanks Chris .

[Joe Cunningham]

Plane bully. That poor #3, what did it ever do to you Mr. Schwarz?

I didn't know the older Stanleys were that brittle though. Good info right there.

[Kevin Murdock]

Plane bully. That poor #3, what did it ever do to you Mr. Schwarz?

I didn't know the older Stanleys were that brittle though. Good info right there.

It helped make Pete Townshend famous, destroying tools of his craft.

I think he's just stepping up his game.

-Kevin

[Jeff Johnson]

Should have used a drop-hammer from a specific height. Adds credibility.

[Justin Green]

I know the guys can afford to do it, but whether a $2,500 guitar or a $40 plane, it still makes me cringe.

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum from being a metal expert, but if the metal in your plane is rubbery, wouldn't that make it harder to flatten the sole? Probably not noticeable. My older planes work fine, even with my beginner's-half-competent approach to sharpening....

[Hank Knight]

Man! That was painful to watch.

[george wilson]

No,the metal will flatten just fine. It is good to know that the Chinese plane is ductile,but too bad to destroy other planes to prove it. I think he could have used an incomplete,or damaged old Stanley to make his point.The metal isn't "rubbery" it just has had some of the excessive amount of carbon "baked" out of it,so it is sort of more like mild steel,to put it in simple terms.It becomes malleable iron,which is superior to cast iron for not breaking. LN and LV planes are made of malleable iron,also. The excessive amount of carbon in cast iron causes the iron to have a crystalline structure,which is brittle.

For SOME purposes,cast iron is superior.On jointer tables,or any machines where sliding wood over the iron could cause grooves to develop,the graphite in the cast iron is much more wear resistant. Someone years ago someone (Oliver?) tried making jointer tables out of steel. They wore quickly,particularly when edge planing plywood. Some of these small combo jointer/planers have sheet metal tables,at least the outfeed table is sheet metal. They will wear much quicker than cast iron. For home shop use,they might last a while. Nothing beats cast iron for some applications,except induction,or flame hardened cast iron,which most imported metal lathes of decent size have now gone to.

[Justin Green]

Thanks George, I learn something every day! Oddly enough, out of the three Stanley #4s that I have, the flattest and best working was also the most beaten up. The mouth is undamaged, but the side has been brazed and the jappaning was gone, tote craked, and blades pitted. It's also the oldest.

[Josh Hopps]

The metal isn't "rubbery" it just has had some of the excessive amount of carbon "baked" out of it,so it is sort of more like mild steel,to put it in simple terms.It becomes malleable iron,which is superior to cast iron for not breaking. LN and LV planes are made of malleable iron,also. The excessive amount of carbon in cast iron causes the iron to have a crystalline structure,which is brittle.

I know very little about metallurgy, but my understanding is that malleability is the ability to be hammered or rolled flat and is largely independent in most metals from ductility which is the ability to be drawn out into wire form. Is this not the case with iron or does it depend on the alloy composition? Where is my reasoning off?

Thanks!

[Bill Houghton]

Smashing planes video

Wouldn't "smashing planes" be a great name for a rock band? I can see the possibilities at the next Pop WW gathering - Chris gets to do the Grateful Dead noodling at the front, right by the mosh pit.

[Richard Magbanua]

Wouldn't "smashing planes" be a great name for a rock band? I can see the possibilities at the next Pop WW gathering - Chris gets to do the Grateful Dead noodling at the front, right by the mosh pit.

Or maybe "the Schwarz" would be up front on the Roubo thicknessing a board accompanied by some punk band where upon finishing he shatters his jointer plane and throws his winding sticks to the crowd. Inevitably, this results in the phenomenon of "air-planing".

...wow, I gotta lay off the caffeine!!!

[Ian Gillis]

I know very little about metallurgy, but my understanding is that malleability is the ability to be hammered or rolled flat and is largely independent in most metals from ductility which is the ability to be drawn out into wire form. Is this not the case with iron or does it depend on the alloy composition? Where is my reasoning off?

Thanks!

Good point. I headed to Wikipedia to educate myself a little.

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

As Chris mentions in his video, nodal iron is another name for ductile iron. Malleable iron was the first nodal iron developed. So, to oversimplify, ductile iron is both more malleable and more ductile than grey iron.

Why we never heard of malleable cast iron in planes, I don't know. Perhaps we needed to wait for the recent upsurge in plane development for a move away from grey iron to take place. Then, I guess, ductile was more available and/or no more expensive than plain malleable.

Cheers
Ian