The Sacrilege!

[Kees Heiden]

popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/chris-schwarz-blog/observation-vintage-handplanes


Actually I don't really have an opinion about this. I live in ignorant bliss regarding new planes.

[Steve Voigt]

Statistics lesson #1:
Avoid drawing broad conclusions from non-representative samples.
In this case, the better conclusion would be "the type of person who is willing to shell out a few thousand bucks and a week of time to take a CS class prefers new planes."

[Kees Heiden]

I was thinking, maybe it is just the weight of the newer planes? Beginners tend to like heavy planes. Light ones are an aquired taste.

But like I said, I really have no idea.

[David Weaver]

Another illustration of why Chris Schwarz's advice is only relevant for beginners.

EDIT: that was maybe too generous....there are better places for beginners to get advice, too.

[Daniel Rode]

I think you nailed it.

Statistics lesson #1:
Avoid drawing broad conclusions from non-representative samples.
In this case, the better conclusion would be "the type of person who is willing to shell out a few thousand bucks and a week of time to take a CS class prefers new planes."

I'd might drive a Porsche more often of someone told me I could drive theirs when ever I wanted. However the more interesting, my commute to work would not be any more efficient as a result.

[Christopher Charles]

Here, perhaps, is the key sentence:

"They will wait for me to sharpen them and then pick them out of my tool chest. "

[Sean Hughto]

God, why does anyone give two shi ... uh craps, if your name isn't Lee or Lie Nielsen?

Yes, a Mercedes is "better" than a Ford in many respects, but you know, you might still prefer Fords sometimes for a lot of valid reasons. At the end of the day, I really could not care less what tools other people choose. Show me what you can make with them.

It's like the freakin golfers who buy the titanium shafted super platinum blah blahs in order to shave ten points off their average and, drum roll please, have now brought their average 18-hole round all the way down to a 130!

[Patrick Bernardo]

Eh, CS is doing his job. Asses in seats on the internet translates to clicks on links. Traffic on PW is up today. Advertising revenue is up today.

[Kim Malmberg]

Another illustration of why Chris Schwarz's advice is only relevant for beginners.

And who says advice for beginners isn't relevant? I have a slight problem with comments which excludes certain people from certain others. This is being from someone who has no idea whatsoever how it feels to use a pristine, new hand tool from any maker. But I certainly am a beginning woodworker.

I agree very much that many a times less is more. I also agree that if you focus on the work at hand rather than the tools, you might get something done. But even I who only use vintage tools and standard cutters, most of which have wear and tear, have been flirting with the idea of buying one newly made, unharmed quality plane with a thicker cutter, just to see if maybe the hand plane requiring very little attention might get my job done better or faster - or even both.

My point: I don't care if anyone dislikes Chris Schwartz. He's not necessarily my go to guy either. But I can't fault him for making observations which most of us surely can't be opinionated about - simply because we haven't been there. And if you really read what he writes, he is saying he loves old hand tools.

If there is one thing I really like about Chris Schwartz is that he promotes the small amount of modern era tool makers. I think it's wonderful that in this time and age we still have people and companies around who care about quality, local production and customer service. And as much as I love vintage tools, I sometimes get a bad conscience for not buying tools from these modern makers. We all know that woodworking isn't exactly the hottest hobby on the planet and therefore I think we are quite lucky to have these small companies making excellent tools and at times even improving on age old and approved designs.

[Sean Hughto]

I hope he hasn't sunk to trolling.

i find it amusing to imagine his story with average guys who have managed to marry, smart, beautiful, sexy, competent, etc. wives, but arrive at a room where they are introduced to these two swimsuit models and told .... I don't think their actions after that mean much of anything about their stellar wives ... ;-)

men is just dogs like that ... all I'm sayin

[Patrick Bernardo]

Hahaha, love the analogy.

I don't think he's trolling, but CS uses his blog on PW to float ideas about all sorts of things. (Remember how uptight on here everybody got when he suggested using a toothing plane on your benchtop?). It's supported by PW because it draws in readers. Just the nature of the game.

I do think that CS's books and even articles in PW are much more thought-out. Certainly everybody I've ever talked to, for instance, thinks that his Workbench book contains sound advice. I don't have his book on Campaign Furniture, but Joel at TFWW calls it "one of the most important books on woodworking to appear in the last generation." It's just that there are blogs, and there are professionally edited, published pieces. They're two different things. I bet that if you met Chris in person, he'd love the debate about the vintage vs. modern.

[Jim Matthews]

I've seen the same response from High-Rev tuners the first time they drive an Audi.

That said, I think a properly tuned #4 with all the pieces and an original blade
is plenty useful. I remember a similar observation that confused causation with correlation:

"There are so many doctors and lawyers attending this class; so many find a satisfaction in this that is missing in their work."

My response was that there were so many doctors and lawyers attending because that's who could afford the tuition.

[Pat Barry]

I venture to say, that everyone here would also choose to use the new plane if it were available for them to do so, simply because it is new and different. I bet even David would sneak a new LV or LN plan out for a test drive given the opportunity. The real question is would he keep going back for it or would his curiosity be satisfied by the one test drive. I bet, just like Lays potato chips - you can't eat just one. In fact I would be highly disappointed in the experts here who wouldn't test drive the newest model time and time again given the opportunity - after all, what kind of expert can you be to not know anything about the subject except what you have read from other 'expert's?

[Bob Jones]

Ya'll are looking at it from the wrong angle. This post actually helps vintage plane users as the prices will now plummet for vintage planes as followers dump them in favor of new ones.

[David Weaver]

And who says advice for beginners isn't relevant?

It's not relevant once you're not a beginner. But even if you're a beginner, there are gobs of publications that focus on techniques and less on specific tools. The draw toward shiny things does make us all want to gravitate toward tool focus when we're new. Maybe not all of us, but most of us. If it's just a little flatter, with an iron that's just a little thicker, and a little harder, and an alloy that's a little more wear resistant with an adjuster that's just a little finer and just add a pound or two....then I'll do better work with it. But that just doesn't end up being the case.