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Time vs. money trade-off
By:Brian Nystrom
Date: 12/16/2010, 6:49 am
In Response To: Tools: planes (Bill Hamm)

I picked up a bunch of Groz block planes and Stanley spokeshaves for the same purpose. Shopping around, I found them on sale for under $20 each. That's the good news. The bad news is that it takes a big investment in time to get them to the point where they actually work well. The quality control on low-end planes and 'shaves is abysmal, with lots of sloppy paint, uneven surfaces and blades that aren't just dull, they're sometimes incompletely ground and actually blunt. Even using a grinder and a WorkSharp 3000 for sharpening, and a granite block with multiple sandpaper grits for flattening tool soles and blade backs, I figure it took me nearly an hour to tune each tool to the point that they would produce nice, thin shavings. They all work fine on cedar, but on anything much harder, you'd have to sharpen them frequently, as the blades are somewhat soft. Still, I have a "fleet" of 10 of each for a reasonable price.

Given the choice, I would prefer to find older, used tools to recondition. It takes about the same amount of time and effort, but the result is a better quality tool that holds an edge longer. The downside is that it can take a long time and fair amount of effort to find enough tools. I didn't have the time to wait, so I went with the new stuff.

Messages In This Thread

Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/16/2010, 2:52 am
Re: Tools: planes
Stephen Troy -- 12/16/2010, 2:37 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/16/2010, 5:31 pm
Re: Tools: planes
G New -- 12/16/2010, 7:36 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/16/2010, 8:13 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Eric -- 12/17/2010, 11:28 am
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/17/2010, 3:52 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Kudzu / Jeff Horton -- 12/17/2010, 1:40 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Brian Nystrom -- 12/18/2010, 8:17 am
Re: Tools: planes
Eric -- 12/17/2010, 2:54 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Kudzu -- 12/17/2010, 11:12 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/17/2010, 3:55 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Nate Brandt -- 12/19/2010, 3:33 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/20/2010, 12:17 am
Re: Tools: planes
Roy Martin (fadedred) -- 12/23/2010, 12:06 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/23/2010, 4:37 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/23/2010, 4:40 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Roy Martin (fadedred) -- 12/23/2010, 7:13 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/24/2010, 12:11 am
Re: Tools: planes
Roy Martin (fadedred) -- 12/24/2010, 9:57 am
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/24/2010, 1:01 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Roy Martin (fadedred) -- 12/24/2010, 4:44 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Scott Shurlow -- 12/16/2010, 12:31 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/16/2010, 5:30 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Dan Caouette (CSFW) -- 12/16/2010, 6:23 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Ian Cummins -- 12/16/2010, 11:00 am
Re: Tools: planes
Brian Nystrom -- 12/17/2010, 7:08 am
Re: Tools: planes
Ian Cummins -- 12/16/2010, 3:43 pm
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/16/2010, 11:49 am
Re: Tools: planes
Kudzu / Jeff Horton -- 12/16/2010, 8:35 am
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/16/2010, 9:24 am
Re: Tools: planes
Mike Bielski -- 12/16/2010, 8:01 am
Re: Tools: planes
Bill Hamm -- 12/16/2010, 9:22 am
Time vs. money trade-off
Brian Nystrom -- 12/16/2010, 6:49 am
Re: Time vs. money trade-off
Bill Hamm -- 12/16/2010, 9:21 am