Ae you soured on bevel up?

[Kees Heiden]

Hi Roderick,

You are seriously fast, but I agree, making a plane doesn't take a ton of time. My first Krenov took a weekend. I made one a few months ago and was finished in half a day. Practice makes perfect.

Regarding traditionally morticed planes, these guys back then were seriously fast. I did some calculations last year from archived data and concluded that they made 5-7 planes a day. Very comparable to the Japanese workers. They worked from rough stock, well seasoned split billets of beech. The amount of machines was minimal, only later in the 19th century the specialist machine morticers were introduced. In such circumstances I think it is faster to make a morticed plane.

[Jack Curtis]

...The Japanese pros can make 6 planes a day by hand, starting from the seasoned blocks, through to finish. Some use automated machines that do the rough-out, which saves labor, but that isn't the part of the labour that slows them down more than a minute or two. Making a plane really isn't a big job, depending on size to some extent.

My first Japanese plane took close to a day from a rough blank; but every one after has taken an hour or two. This is all done with hand tools. And I'm no pro.

[Bill Rhodus]

For what it's worth (probably not much) I have been using a Stanley 62 BUJ for several years on a shooting board that has an A2 iron ground to 25 degrees and have not experienced any wear issues; seems to last as long as my Veritas irons. As far as buying the Stanley 62, I believe Chris is absolutely correct in that the Stanleys can be hit or miss as far as quality. A family member bought me two 62's and a #4 smoother as a thank you for some furniture I built them and I felt obligated to use them. This required me to smooth the blade beds due to rough machining (bed was flat but tool appeared to have been fed thru the cut too quickly, leaving a rough finish) and contacting Stanley for replacement adjusters due to sloppy machining. If you get a deal on the Stanleys and have the ability to fettle them they are fine, if not, buy a Veritas.

[Brian Holcombe]

I've been fighting with my LN BU jack (we almost stopped talking), but recently put a decent micro bevel on it (probably 10 degrees) and it has improved the performance. I can now use it beyond the shooting board without much tear out.