Chris Schwarz's Handplane Essentials Book

[Tony Zaffuto]

For what it's (not!) worth, about a half dozen years ago, I was asked to be a tester. I declined, as though I've used handtools for many more years than I care to count, I doubted my ability to provide an impartial review. There are others far more qualified to fill that role (and there are some, like me, that might be under-qualified to test and/or otherwise, review tools).

As far as Clifton goes, I happened to purchase one of my favorite planes, a #3, right in the middle of the "kerfluffle". Dayam near perfect, except the tote screw was a bit loose. The iron was as lovely a plane iron as any modern maker was making then or even now. The Clifton green and the stamped maker's mark on the iron just seemed so right, as a throw-back to when handtools were the only tools. Unfortunately in that time frame, forums were sprouting all over, in the US, with every person posting, that had more than 200 posts, an expert (albeit, a self proclaimed expert). I remember one goomer on WoodCentral that was going to be the Frank Klaus, or Tag Frid, of his time, with his do it all bevel up LV low angle jack (a fine plane in spite of the goomer). A2, as Dave said, was the material for irons, as the hairs on your arms would pop off if you walked by a plane with an A2 iron.

We're, for the most part, reasoning adults here. If we want to let others make our opinions for us, then accept what is written for reviews as gospel. For me, I made many purchasing mistakes and still fall prey to shiny objects. But I also know deep down, the handful of tools that I constantly reach for, and with each use, subconsciously rule out ever changing (my jointer, a few smoothers, my large shoulder plane, my 45 as far as planes go). I've given up subscribing to woodworking magazines, but I continue to purchase books, many used on Amazon, and also new. As I have previously said, regardless of my feeling of Schwartz as a teacher or woodworker (I'm not qualified to criticize either), I think his publications are beyond excellent and will continue to purchase those for which I have an interest.

Dave W.: it's a hockey night in Pittsburgh, on Friday! If I have too many to be able to stroll to the Omni, I may have to drive to Wexford for lodging!

 

[Trafalgar]

Charlie, given the station you're in vs. where I am, I think you should be more worried about your work than mine. I don't need to send fake emails as you do. My obligations generally don't care if they're completed at 9AM or 9PM. Rest assured, nobody will write any news articles about my assumptions, either.

I worked for Mercer before I went to FedEx... you were probably still in junior high if even that.

I do miss the 1st and 15th, ain't gonna lie!

Not sure what you mean by fake e-mail. Maybe somebody has been spoofing you.

Everybody still using 8%?

 

[memzey]

Mercer? Pensions? I worked for Hewitt a few years back (before the Aon takeover) and am 20+ years deep in the pensions and benefits game here in the UK (still know a thing or 5 about 401k’s etc though). Are you guys in the same industry?

 

[RichardL]

That said, I doubt Chris would've posted the review at all if it had been LN, but he's friends with TLN. That's the discretion that he has as a reviewer.[/quote]

I think that was what I was suggesting. Whether there is bias, conscious or unconscious, or not, what I was thinking is that reviewers have a lot of influence and their comments persist and they should bear that in mind.

 

[Trafalgar]

Mercer? Pensions? I worked for Hewitt a few years back (before the Aon takeover) and am 20+ years deep in the pensions and benefits game here in the UK (still know a thing or 5 about 401k’s etc though). Are you guys in the same industry?

David is an actuary. I'm an accounting and finance guy, or rather was. I left industry to take care of a terminally ill family member. I never went back.

 

[D_W]

Mercer? Pensions? I worked for Hewitt a few years back (before the Aon takeover) and am 20+ years deep in the pensions and benefits game here in the UK (still know a thing or 5 about 401k’s etc though). Are you guys in the same industry?

I worked for Mercer for the first 8 years of my career. Learned a lot there! I learned to do work at night (which is what I'm off to do shortly), and to make sure my work was watertight to avoid becoming a scapegoat. And most importantly, I learned that if something is difficult and other people don't want to do it, it's probably an awfully good opportunity.

How did you end up doing 401k work in the UK? I only know the slightest amount about the UK schemes because I had clients with operations in the UK and we had to get their results into disclosures. (And we had "incidental contact" with international pension schemes as part of our exam process, but only at a summary level).

 

[D_W]

That said, I doubt Chris would've posted the review at all if it had been LN, but he's friends with TLN. That's the discretion that he has as a reviewer.

I think that was what I was suggesting. Whether there is bias, conscious or unconscious, or not, what I was thinking is that reviewers have a lot of influence and their comments persist and they should bear that in mind.[/quote]

Well put. Not a single one of us is unbiased.

 

[D_W]

Dave W.: it's a hockey night in Pittsburgh, on Friday! If I have too many to be able to stroll to the Omni, I may have to drive to Wexford for lodging!

Wave on the way by! I'm only about halfway to Wexford, but you're welcome to stop by if you don't mind a messy shop.

 

[David C]

Well I don't know who Mercer are but I did have the misfortune to do the first review of the new Clifton planes, for F&C magazine.

Some of the ones they sent me had significant problems.

I was very unpopular with the management but felt they should have been more careful about quality control.

David I remember writing about a no. 5 which was 7 thou" hollow in its length, how it would not plane a straight edge with a fine shaving.
Thought this was the Stanley which I was given just before the Sheffield works closed. I had been invited to come and talk to them about "What makes a decent bench plane". I keep that one in my cupboard to show people.

Best wishes,
David

 

[D_W]

Thanks for the clarification, David. I remembered your comments about clifton quality issues, and thought the 7 thou story was attached to them. Glad to know it wasn't.

(IIRC, R.feeser's issue with his plane was that it couldn't be used for planing at all due to a mouth and frog that couldn't be lined up together. He stated that on woodnet, though, which has a one-year memory - and then all is gone forever, so there's no way to confirm it - and it doesn't matter, anyway. The general premise was that LN and LV didn't have those issues, and even when they had minor ones - or even when the user was the issue, they'd entertain fixing things. They still do. I once thought an iron I had was a little soft, and LN tested it for me and confirmed it was in spec - this was early on when I'd just started and the iron sharpened really easily - I should've appreciated it instead of worrying about it being soft. Anyway, the tech person at LN said they'd send a second iron along, anyway just to keep me happy. I refused that because I was embarrassed about troubling them in the first place, but going that far to make sure I was happy left a permanent mark -but a positive one).

Mercer is unrelated, and I'm surprised to see it come up here, but their parent had $60K employees total when I was there, so I wouldn't be surprised if one has come through your shop.

 

[memzey]

Mercer? Pensions? I worked for Hewitt a few years back (before the Aon takeover) and am 20+ years deep in the pensions and benefits game here in the UK (still know a thing or 5 about 401k’s etc though). Are you guys in the same industry?

I worked for Mercer for the first 8 years of my career. Learned a lot there! I learned to do work at night (which is what I'm off to do shortly), and to make sure my work was watertight to avoid becoming a scapegoat. And most importantly, I learned that if something is difficult and other people don't want to do it, it's probably an awfully good opportunity.

How did you end up doing 401k work in the UK? I only know the slightest amount about the UK schemes because I had clients with operations in the UK and we had to get their results into disclosures. (And we had "incidental contact" with international pension schemes as part of our exam process, but only at a summary level).

Cool stuff David. I’m not an actuary myself (I’m in the technology business but not a techie) but have worked very closely with many during my time. Started out on DB schemes but almost exclusively working on DC now and more specifically pensions and benefits software. I was first exposed to 401k in the US (Chicago) when I was there for a little while with Hewitt but have been involved with a number of international arrangements since. Hewitt was a great firm back then before the listing and all the takeovers. My current employer is a US/Canadian firm as well by the way.

 

[Chlad]

After the first couple of pages into this thread I thought the book was a waste of space and I had wasted £14 for nothing. Thankfully after 7 pages of discussion the consensus seems to be that the Handplane book is a good starting point for beginner/intermediate level. Phew!

 

[David C]

I think you will find a lot of interesting stuff there.

Enjoy.

David Charlesworth

 

[orchard]

As a hand tool noob I like CS's work as an enthusiastic entry level broad introduction, and also LA Press' publications as an entry point for some further information.

Would I consider consulting him to attempt to perfect a technical skill in the future? Heck no!

Would I have built my Roman workbench (that I'm enjoying using and that I'll use to build my main bench) without his initial work and effort? Almost certainly not.

Thanks Chris.