Continental European woodworking tools

[Terry - Somerset]

Very interesting, thanks! What do you do with a knife?

Birchbark canoe.

Like Ray Mears or not - a hugely skilled demonstration assisting a time served local craftsman of how to build a canoe using nothing but a knife and local materials.

 

[Jacob]

..........

I know there are other views, but using steel and cast iron in making planes allows for a more consistent product with far less variation in quality and accuracy compared to wooden craft created alternatives - hence its almost universal adoption as the material of choice today.

It's the Stanley/Bailey design is the clincher IMHO. You get very easy instant and precise adjustment, easy blade removal and replacement, thin blade means faster sharpening, all metal means stability and no susceptibility to movement due to temperature and humidity.
The combination of thin blade, frog, cap iron, lever cap, gives a blade as rigid and effective as the great heavy trad version found in woodies
As different from an old woody as the gillette safety razor is from a cut throat, though they never managed a viable throwaway blade system for planes (they tried!).

 

[Eshmiel]

It's the Stanley/Bailey design is the clincher IMHO. You get very easy instant and precise adjustment, easy blade removal and replacement, thin blade means faster sharpening, all metal means stability and no susceptibility to movement due to temperature and humidity.
The combination of thin blade, frog, cap iron, lever cap, gives a blade as rigid and effective as the great heavy trad version found in woodies
As different from an old woody as the gillette safety razor is from a cut throat, though they never managed a viable throwaway blade system for planes (they tried!).

I threw away the blade that came in one of those cheap Record planes sold about 25 years ago. It could be got sharp quite quickly but went blunt at the same rate. I later learned that it's normal to throw away these blades then buy and install a proper one (and a proper cap iron to match).

Sadly the whole plane turned out to be a throwaway, as nothing about it had been cast/made/machined as it should've been. I suppose I could have learnt metal working, bought a grinder, mill et al and fixed that Record but ..... I was too busy.

Many proper planes now inhabit me shed (mostly bevel-ups, no cap-iron) including some I made myself (wood bodies with Veritas blades and Norris adjuster yet bevel down, no cap iron). A "Krenov" design, mine, but with an adjuster for me, the cack-hand with a plane-adjusting hammer. I sharpen them blades with the Veritas MkII guide. Mine works perfek, as do all the gubbins bits it takes to determine bevel angles and microbevels, set up skew blades, grab chisels aright and create cambered plane blade edges. It even does me spokeshaves!

All me planes work very well despite not being hand-sharpened i' their blades. It does take a couple of minutes to set up the Mk II gubbins and a couple more to do the sharpen. Wot a waste of time and money, eh!? On the other hand, those properly sharpened blades with their miniscule microbevel stay that way for a good while and can be honed back to super-sharp with .... a hand hone! There, they're hand-sharpened after all.

 

[AJBaker]

There is a viable throwaway system these days! Here, Rali has become the standard plane for professionals and for schools. They're very clever with a reversible blade that gets binned once you've used both sides.

They work just fine, but personally I much prefer a Bailey style plane or a traditional wooden plane.

It's the Stanley/Bailey design is the clincher IMHO. You get very easy instant and precise adjustment, easy blade removal and replacement, thin blade means faster sharpening, all metal means stability and no susceptibility to movement due to temperature and humidity.
The combination of thin blade, frog, cap iron, lever cap, gives a blade as rigid and effective as the great heavy trad version found in woodies
As different from an old woody as the gillette safety razor is from a cut throat, though they never managed a viable throwaway blade system for planes (they tried!).

 

[Jacob]

I threw away the blade that came in one of those cheap Record planes sold about 25 years ago. It could be got sharp quite quickly but went blunt at the same rate. I later learned that it's normal to throw away these blades then buy and install a proper one (and a proper cap iron to match).

Wasn't normal at all until relatively recently and the great splurge of modern sharpening. In fact they were excellent and I still have original blades in old stanleys/records. Some of them laminated and top quality.
It would have been madness to supply them with faulty blades as the blade is the most essential and also one of the cheapest components to start with.

..........

All me planes work very well despite not being hand-sharpened i' their blades.

Should hope so too!

It does take a couple of minutes to set up the Mk II gubbins and a couple more to do the sharpen. Wot a waste of time and money, eh!?

Well it is if you are in the middle of a job and trying to keep your edge nice and sharp a little and often. Even more so if out on site.

On the other hand, those properly sharpened blades with their miniscule microbevel stay that way for a good while and can be honed back to super-sharp with .... a hand hone! There, they're hand-sharpened after all.

You are nearly there! When hand honing all you need to do is dip the handle as you go and do the whole thing in one pass, albeit with a slightly convex bevel. It's fast and easy. No more micro/primary/secondary nonsense!