Honorable Mention at Del Mar far
I won an Honorable Mention ribbon for this NO. 3 infill in Honduran rosewood this week in the “Design in Wood” juried competition at the San Diego County Fair at Del Mar.
The sides are mild steel dovetailed and pinned to a base of O-1 tool steel, and there’s a steel frog 1/2 inch thick pinned to the base at the mouth, making for a center of gravity directly above and behind the mouth. Sides and base are both 1/4 inch thick.
The iron is A-2 tool steel with a 30-degree bevel plus microbevel. It’s 1/4 inch thick, too; I make my own irons, as I make everything else on my planes, in my own shop, though I send the irons out for professional heat treating. I am thinking, however, of commissioning a blue steel iron from a Japanese blacksmith as an experiment.
The design of both tote and bun is intentional. I want the user’s front hand to wrap into the big mouth of the bun, and the rear hand to come to rest not behind the tote, as it would on a traditional hand plane, but above and behind it, with the web between thumb and first finger nestled right up under what I call the crown, or horn of the tote.
I do so because my theory about hand planes is that you’re doing a balancing act of sorts in using one – balancing the forces you generate to push down and forward on a traditional plane, down and forward and, if necessary, up on my planes to produce the shaving you want. It takes some practice, and the result is that you get the mass of the plane into the game doing most of the work, not the muscles of your shoulders, arms, legs, and whatnot.
And because the rear hand rides above and behind the tote, the forearm, wrist, and hand relax into a straight line pointing directly at the tip of the iron. I almost hate to use the word, but this creates a kind of zen, as the whole working apparatus -hand plane and user – focus on the only element that matters – the tip of the iron.
Anyway, that’s the idea I pursue in making every plane, and if in the meantime I make something that also pleases the eye, so much the better.
Comments
I have tried a few of Juan Vergara's
hand-planes over the years and
they are truly world-class.
These are some of the smoothest and
most delightful hand-planes I have ever used.
It feels like a very fine instrument.
Log in or create an account to post a comment.
Sign up Log in