Apart from the Sacrilege

[Jim Matthews]

I liked LNs better when I was a beginner (doing mostly smoothing), they're new, clean, you haven't figured out how to correct anything with stanley type planes that come used, etc.

I think this is the crux of the anecdote; when starting out - these examples are precisely tuned so that the tool is transparent;
the user doesn't need to accomodate the tool to get good results.

I had the same experience with beginners and their saxophone choices.
Some of these kids could play circles around me with my horn,
but theirs were so badly made, or poorly set up that they struggled.

To paraphrase FactCheck.org "The plural of anecdote is not data."

[Jim Matthews]

Well Kees, today was the first day at the Perth Tool Event (I had the stand next to Terry Gordon - HNT Gordon Planes - and we had a great chat about hand plane design ...).

While my main focus was building a Shaker side table, I spent quite a bit of time discussing tools with the visitors. One demonstration involved showing how a variety of smoothers could perform on a piece of interlocked curly Jarrah. All planes had freshly sharpened blades, and I made sure that the chipbreakers used were also flat and ready to perform at their best.

If you see Mr. Gordon in person, please convey my admiration for his product line.
His original Aussie Jack plane (with front knob, no handle) is my daily user.

It does nearly everything I could ask in American Cherry.

It's the right size, balance and heft for extended use.

It's also immune to the damp conditions that plague my cast iron planes.

[Jim Matthews]

It's a good idea, with too many variables to manage.

Unless everyone starts with the same board, tool steel and sharpening regimen -
it will be without conclusion.

Given that I sand every surface prior to finishing, I'm not sure what it might tell a hack like me...

[Brian Holcombe]

My obvious break in this trend being the dovetail plane, lol.

In working under a master machinist in my youth I noticed that he would take the path of least resistance when it came to tools. If he could built it easily he would, otherwise he would buy it. The goal was always the same, a better result. The place was constantly evolving as a combination of new tools continuously mixed with tools up to a century old, all of which will kept in good repair. He was earning a living along the way, so it was hardly ever possible to sink a day's effort or more into a tool that could be bought.

[Derek Cohen]

If you see Mr. Gordon in person, please convey my admiration for his product line.
His original Aussie Jack plane (with front knob, no handle) is my daily user.

It does nearly everything I could ask in American Cherry.

It's the right size, balance and heft for extended use.

It's also immune to the damp conditions that plague my cast iron planes.

Hi Jim

Here's a photo of Terry for you. He had the stand alongside mine, which was great as we are old friends and caught up on tool design ...



For this thread ... he is rather cynical about chipbreakers - not that they do not work, but that they are finicky to set up. His planes are single iron, and one might therefore accuse him of being biased, nevertheless his planes made effortless, full width shavings in hard Jarrah. We attempted to replicate this with a 55 degree LN #3 and the Stanley #3 and set chipbreaker, but they could not match his 60 degree smoother.

I had set out with the grand plan to build two small side tables, one each day. The aim was to kill two birds with one stone - provide demos of morticing with chisels, sawing tenons, chiseling sliding dovetails, tapering legs (I used a scrub plane), draw-boring, and building a dovetailed drawer - and to supply my son with a new bedside table, which he has been nagging me for. Well I did not get close. In fact, with the amount of questions I fielded about tools in general and these joints, I got as far as completing the frame of one. At the end of the second day it was draw-bored and ready for final assembly, but the drawer was not begun (although the solid base was glued together ready for thicknessing).





(The table behind is the one I build last Sunday - just dry joints so it could be pulled apart to demonstrate the parts).



The Tool Event was fun, and it was great catching up with old friends.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Warren Mickley]

One need not be ashamed to lack the skill of using a double iron plane. But it is a serious skill and someone with very limited experience can not claim compare results.

[Jack Curtis]

...His planes are single iron, and one might therefore accuse him of being biased, nevertheless his planes made effortless, full width shavings in hard Jarrah. We attempted to replicate this with a 55 degree LN #3 and the Stanley #3 and set chipbreaker, but they could not match his 60 degree smoother...

We have several of Terry's planes, like them very much. Pam bought them as an intermediary between metal and Japanese; but it turns out we still use them often, especially his original try plane and smoothers, large and small. It's true they're single iron, but they do have very stiff (probably desert ironwood like the bodies) wedges, which in his case seem to obviate the need for double irons.

[Jim Matthews]

Lots of shavings, there.

Some people, this may be the only instruction they can afford.
Good onya.

I think Mr. Gordon is up against the juggernaut of large-scale advertising from power tool companies.
I kid you not, reading about his planes in your articles here was the first I knew of their existence.

His inset bench vise is a work of genius.

I often wonder what it must be like inside the minds of you clever people.

My mentor is like that; I'm reaching for a bigger hammer, and he's getting out a pencil -
to figure out a better way.

FYI - I use Terry's planes on basic American hardwoods, mainly Cherry and they're excellent.

[miguel bernardo]

out of focus of this thread, but my HNT Gordon modified jack (no handles) is hands down my favourite plane for planning rosewood and ebony at the moment. once i got confortable with adjusting the blade with a mallet, nothings gives me the combination of brute force (thick heavy iron, high angle), feedback (light weight, ergonomics) and awe (beauty of design and the looks of the Brazilian rosewood). it really is a pleasure to work with. but i´m a noob, so i could have got this al wrong, who knows.

regarding shooting guitar tops and backs (IIRC it was mentioned earlier): i have a fore, but my favorite size for it is the jack, although i´ve done it with a n. 4 with good results too. i´ve even saw my teacher shooting a rough sawn top with a stanley 9 1/2 in less than 2 minutes. i guess the most important part about this is a flat sole and a really sharp blade!