gewima

redric, Dovetails are cut by hand. mortise and tenons, I started by hand, but it is a lot faster for me to cut the tenons on the tablesaw and bandsaw, and the mortises with a drillpress to hog out most of the stuff, then clean it out with a chisel. I started with cutting the tounge and groove stuff with a plough plane, then I made some improvements to my router table and cut them on that now.
ihsat, not sure what you mean. The picture on the bottom is one of the others before it was glued up. You made me realize I didn't include a lid-off photo.

four 24" aluminum bar clamps would be a nice addition for me. I do like the Universal Clamp version. They just seem to be exactly what I need more often than any other clamp in the shop. And besides, you never have enough clamps.

What a unique idea! two poeple sitting down and talking to each other face to face. I've always liked this concept, but this design is unique and invites folks to sit down and actually give it a try.

I hope you will all excuse me for mouthing off a second time in this exchange, but I had a unique opportunity over the weekend that is pertinent. A friend gave me his new Wood River #5 to set up. At the same time, I was setting up an old Stanley #5 I bought for my son-in-laws birthday. I had the WR, the old Stanley and my own LN#5 to compare.

It comes as no surprise probably that the LN won this little match-up hands down. How much is due to the fact that I plunked down the $350 asking price some time ago is up to you to decide. It’s been a while since I set this plane up for myself, but it always has been a rock solid performer. The blade took a great edge, and unless I do something stupid, requires a minimum of maintanence to keep razor sharp. The weight, and the design of the tool makes it naturally do what a plane is supposed to do, and it does it very well. The tote is designed right, the adjustments are easy and it holds that adjustment precisely. It is just a pleasure to use. It's hard to quantify that attribute, and if you don't value it, then the LN probably isn't for you.

Second comes the Wood River (I think it goes for ~$150). It was a little harder to set up than I remember the LN being, but it did get to the point where it did an adequate job. It could never really match the LN, but it did OK. I didn't like the tote, but those can be a personal preference. I've been using the LN for years, and anything different feels a bit foreign. I got a good edge on the iron after some difficulty. We'll have to see how long it lasts. I got acceptable shavings on Maple, Cherry and Hickory. (A bit more tear-out on the hickory, but that's a pretty tough test)

The old Stanley ($80) was equivalent on performance to the WR,harder to set up, but it is a sentimental favorite. It obviously belonged to someone who used it, but it was well cared for. The iron was sharpened with a relief on the ends to avoid the dreaded plane marks (This was a bit too much relief for my taste, but I ended up grinding it off and starting over.) I actually liked the way the tool handled. The tote was very comfortable to me, but the plane just seemed a bit light weight for my taste in a #5. It was, to be honest, a real b**ch to set up, but it got there. This tool was made a long time ago and there have been many improvements since that might make a strict comparison unfair. Bottom line, once you get a plane where you like it, it should stay there without too much fussing. Let’s see if this one does. Performance on the maple, cherry and hickory were almost identical to the WR. Neither was as good as the LN.

Putting the political and economic arguments aside, these three tools all serve a purpose in today’s marketplace. If you need your tools to be the best they can be, and you appreciate the design and craftsmanship of the LN tool line, the price tag is not an issue. It is worth every penny. If you need a plane to do what a plane does, the WR might be just fine for you. Keep in mind, you may eventually want to buy an LN, but the WR may serve quite well for now, so why risk the cash now if you don’t need to (or have it). I am glad I bought the Stanley for the son-in law. I hope it will give him the idea of what a quality tool is all about and that he starts to appreciate that quality. He may want an LN someday, but what he got is a pretty good match to the WR, and it’s got some history to it.

Reducing the fitness of any product to a price/quality ratio is a dangerous game. Before you even start with that, we better have a real clear idea what we mean by quality. The Wood River tools may be 80% there, and that is nice to hear. There is no doubt a market for them to support. If that's good enough for you, so be it. The LN tools are probabaly 95% there and its that 15% that's the killer in price. I'll pay it because I appreciate it.

Hows about another example: I use aluminum bar clamps a lot. I have some manufactured by Universal Clamp (US)@ about $23 per and some made in china for about $12per. They both clamp right? The universal clamp was obviously designed by someone who actually uses them and will absolutely be the first ones off the shelf for me. The chinese ones are becoming obsolete in my collection because they fail(None of the Universal's have done that) and it is more cost effective for me to buy it once and keep it. How much more expensive is a tool that costs twice as much and lasts 10 times longer?

At work I depend on the raw materials being specified and use will meet the need with a bit to spare. At home I want my tools to show the same kind of quality and craftsmanship that I try to show in my furniture. The US can't compete with China when it comes to cheap, so I don't want LN to learn how to mass produce their planes just to make them cheaper. They not only come out of the box ready to use, they will be ready and able to do the job for a long time to come. I can depend on that.

If you aim for minimum quality at a minimum price, you end up with a market flooded with cheap crap with little or no differentiation. I only hope there are enough of us out there who can appreciate quality and craftsmanship in our work and our tools.

The table saw is a Delta Homecraft 8". I have the matching 4" jointer as well, but have never done anything to get it into useable condition. One of these days...

The router table is made of double thickness 3/4" cabinet plywood. I removed one of the cast iron wings from the table saw, and bolted the router table in through 1" aluminum angle.

the base plate is removed from a stadard Bosch router table.

Sorry, no pictures of the construction. I have since added a miter slot (also removed from the bosch table) and made some improvements on the fence.

Thanks OS, Thats what I keep telling them