Planing a board.

[Moses Yoder]

I have not planed a single thing this year. The thought just occurred to me. This spring I began working on repainting a dinette for MIL and I have worked on stripping the table all summer, taking off six coats of paint. I primed it last saturday. Saturdays is my day to work in the shop, along with mowing the yard. Misc. other stuff is done during the week. All told I have probably spent 60 hours this summer stripping the little table.

I was thinking about life in general while perusing the shaving forum. It just seems like to most people money is everything, and the things it purchases is the be all to end all. I guess that is what I like about hand tools; I can take a cheap rusty plane, maybe buy a new iron for it, and make it function flawlessly. I do not need a lot of money to enjoy hand tools. It was at that point I realized I hadn't planed a board all year.

[Jeff Wittrock]

... It just seems like to most people money is everything, and the things it purchases is the be all to end all. I guess that is what I like about hand tools; I can take a cheap rusty plane, maybe buy a new iron for it, and make it function flawlessly. I do not need a lot of money to enjoy hand tools. It was at that point I realized I hadn't planed a board all year.

I think that is one of the things that drew me to woodworking as a hobby, and hand tools in particular. It seems that in woodworking, there is almost always the option to substitute time and/or effort for money. When money was short, I was still able to practice my hobby.

[David Weaver]

There are folks on the shaving board who don't spend much and who shave (some of them having done it for decades), but they don't talk a whole lot and they aren't usually in the razor or hones section.

Razors can be the same way if you buy right and stay away from the "it" stuff. I've got a lot of razors, so I can't really talk. I started cheap, but they've gotten more expensive. I still lean away from the "it" brands, though.

[James Lehr]

I love to read Paul Seller's blog for many of the reasons you guys mention. I just started woodworking six months ago at the age of 39. My grandfather was a carpenter and my father a barman who wouldn't swing a hammer. I've done household carpentry in the past and I bought a lot of power tools but when I got a herniated disc this year and was lauded up for several weeks I started watching Rob Cosman's series on planing and hand dovetails and something just clicked. I have to admit I've gone on a hand tool buying binge because each successive project leads me to say "boy x tool would really help me build this". I've slowed down now on tool buying and I've almost finished my workbench which has been a difficult endeavor; I can only put in 45 minutes of work and my back hurts so bad I've got to take a break and then a couple hours later I'll go back to it for another 45 min. Hand tooling most of it is difficult but rewarding. I love planing, it's my favorite part of woodworking so far.

[Jim Matthews]

The bench project is likely the largest, heaviest lumber you'll need to wrestle.

I, too do most everything by hand, in my unplugged shop.
When you start making larger projects, the boards involved will
mostly be under 40" long and 10" wide.

That's manageable, even by those of us with ginchy backs.

Have a browse of Bob Rozaieski's excellent Logan Cabinet Shoppe blogs.
He builds real furniture, to a high level of fit and finish this way.

[Jim Koepke]

I have not planed a single thing this year...

I could send a box of shavings if that would help.

It just seems like to most people money is everything, and the things it purchases is the be all to end all. I guess that is what I like about hand tools; I can take a cheap rusty plane, maybe buy a new iron for it, and make it function flawlessly. I do not need a lot of money to enjoy hand tools. It was at that point I realized I hadn't planed a board all year.

The societal lust for money is only one of the reasons for my choosing early retirement and moving to a remote location.

It used to be my inclination to advise others to begin with an old plane to rehab. Alas, so many others lambasting the idea, claiming a beginner might be overwhelmed with such an endeavor, has brought me to be less enthusiastic about, "learning the hard way."

However, my pride still brings a smile to my face when Googling > junker to jointer < and finding my post is still at the top. That $21.25 plane makes me smile wider in use than would a plane that cost a few hundred more without the personal time spent bringing it back from the rust.

There is a lot more that goes into the enjoyment of making those mesmerizing shavings than a sharp blade and good wood.

jtk

[David Weaver]

Moses, how is the shaving going, by the way?

[Daniel Rode]

I planned a board last night and I'll plane more tonight. My progress is slow but I try to get an hour here and and hour there where I can cut, chop or plane something. There is something calming -- even therapeutic -- about working wood quietly.

[Moses Yoder]

Moses, how is the shaving going, by the way?

I am a minimalist shaver. I have Arko sticks, shave soap, and gel shaving cream that I use depending on the mood. I am using the Astra blades, one lasts me for two shaves, I shave every other day. The only razor I have is my dad's old, double edge, works fine. I am enjoying shaving. I tend to buy stuff when I see it cheap, bought a Coleman 460G stove today for $20, so I do spend money, just not nearly to the degree that others do. I think if I won the lotto I would be a true minimalist. There is some comfort in have piles of stuff around, security f you will. If I had a bunch of money I wouldn't need that.

[Roger Rettenmeier]

Hi Jim,

As someone relatively new to the shavings vs sawdust shop, I am on the rehab an old plane page along with you. All of my planes are 1890s to 1940s era save one. That one is a franken plane scrub plane. Some took a little work, but working with old, yet solid tools is a good learning experience. After planes came hand saws, and the list goes on...I guess some of it is a money vs time thing. I have plenty of time in the winter months, so I can spend it on both tools and wood working. I do not make a living with hand tools, so I do not need the more modern, tighter tolerance hand tools. It is nice taking old planes and turning out a good quality end product.

[Bill Houghton]

I can sympathize. We decided that, once I retired, we'd get caught up on all the deferred maintenance/refurbishment on the house; it's taken a LOT longer than I expected, and we're not done yet. Carpentry's not shopwork. I do get the planes out regularly; when you're working on an 1895 house using 2014 lumber, you do a lot of fitting. Still, it's been ages since I did true shopwork.

As to the shaving: I use a double edged razor (Gillette non-adjustable from a yard sale) and Merkur blades, and I get a month or more from each blade. Wimpy beard, I guess, that doesn't stress the blades too much.

I like your Sandra Bullock quotes. She's got some memorable quotes.

[steven c newman]

Don't know, but I think I may have made more than emough shavings to go around
rebate plane 1.jpg

Whether it be curlie-Qs from a homemade rebate plane, orIMAG0198.jpg

1/2" wide "noodles" from an iron rebate plane. Times four, as I had four rebates to cut. The only sounds were the schweeeesh of the planes, and a cuss word or two when a thumb/finger hits a clamp on the way. Much better than a corded router,too.

Been using quite a few planes, and saws and chisels, trying to cobble a screen door together.

[bridger berdel]

There are folks on the shaving board who don't spend much and who shave (some of them having done it for decades), but they don't talk a whole lot and they aren't usually in the razor or hones section.

Razors can be the same way if you buy right and stay away from the "it" stuff. I've got a lot of razors, so I can't really talk. I started cheap, but they've gotten more expensive. I still lean away from the "it" brands, though.

planes are like razors in that respect. you can spend quite a bit on a pristine bedrock, or you can fettle a miller's falls or a keen kutter and get the same performance for a fraction of the cost. you can spend quite a bit on a pristine boker or you can hone any of about a million brands of vintage razors and get the same shave.

[David Weaver]

planes are like razors in that respect. you can spend quite a bit on a pristine bedrock, or you can fettle a miller's falls or a keen kutter and get the same performance for a fraction of the cost. you can spend quite a bit on a pristine boker or you can hone any of about a million brands of vintage razors and get the same shave.

I agree. If you find what grind and size you like, you can pretty much get any maker and be happy with it. And like tools, even if you can't get a razor that's the size and grind you like, you can get used to it and like it a lot.

I've had razors that cost a couple of hundred dollars and I can't figure them out quite right, and I've had $20 ontario cutlery 6/8s that are just fantastic.

P1040131.jpgP1040133.jpg

I have spent a few dollars a couple of times to get some of the razors made by the finest makers and cutlers, though, and I don't mean the boutique razors made now that cost $1000, they don't compare to some of the insanely skilled finishers like fukataro tanifuji and a whole glom of german makers in the early 1900s through the 1960s or so.

(I haven't honed the razor above yet, i'm sort of on the fence about it).

My two favorite razors, I think, are two nearly unknowns that came from solingen. An appell razor that wasn't that expensive, and a razor by a maker called dennert. They are like a nicer version of the ontario 6/8s, but not even as expensive as a very pedestrian new razor now.

Like tools, the razors that were made back when the buyers were professionals were executed more skillfully, and there is a lot of very heavy boutique stuff out there in weird shapes with scales that make no sense either in appearance or weight, and that cost a huge amount of money, and that are made out of sometimes very odd alloys. The proportions in the average razor weren't arrived at by accident.

Cheap or expensive, if the razor is made well, using it is a lot like using a plane - tactile satisfaction. Less sweat with the razors though.

[Jim Koepke]

Since we have morphed to razors, my straight razor has only been used a little. Most of the time my shaving is done blind in the shower. My Shick with the triple blade lasts a few months. Usually my whiskers are only trimmed once or twice a week at most.

No point in shaving if no one is going to see me.

jtk