Should I try it with a hand plane?

You have never heard of them? Do yourself a favor and call them, there is a lot more in their paper catalog than on their website too. I did it and will order some parts for my Stanley 71. Lots of parts they make.

Alex

Reply to
AAvK
Loading thread data ...

Not stupid at all. The first time I tried to handplane rough stock, I had no idea how to do it, and it still managed to come out ok. After a little practice, it's easy as pie. After all, people made furniture long before there were power planers or jointers, and I have a hard time imagining that they got their stock S4S from the lumberyard!

I suspect a whole pile of them would- they're called Neandertals, and a lot of them do really nice work. I use a mix of power and hand tools, myself, so I guess I'm a Cro-Mag, but there's definately no reason you can't smooth a board without electricity and a ton of iron!

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Reply to
Prometheus

All right, now this is starting to bug me... I did fill out the form for the paper catalog, but where in the heck are the prices, or the tools? The site only seems to have a picture of a #51 smoothing plane, and a video that's on sale.

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Reply to
Prometheus

"Tim and Stephanie" wrote : : I once heard a story from somebody that involved a poorly tuned $5 yard sale : plane, a maple bedside tabletop that was nearly perfect, but required maybe : one more pass. Poor technique and poor tuning on this fated last pass : caused the plane to chatter, leaving nicely spaced digs across the otherwise : perfect tabletop.

To me, this seems more like skitter than chatter.

For elucidation, please see my web site - Planing Notes - Skitter and Chatter.

Jeff G

Reply to
Jeff Gorman

Strange, I get the whole site here, keep trying. There is a lot there that I can see than you have described. And more than that in the current catalog. Really cool company so far, as far as products. Talked to a man there about having a blade made for my #8, $30 okay, torch hardening then oil quenching, naw, Hock time. Atmosphere controlled ovens, yes. But St. James Bay is great for a lot more than that!

Reply to
AAvK

On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 10:15:19 -0800, charlie b calmly ranted:

Speaking of which, have you seen this month's copy of Woodsmith? They cover door coopering in it. JIT, eh?

-- Friends Don't Let Friends Eat Turkey and Drive --

Reply to
Larry Jaques

It bugged me too until I figured out that the website was coded properly. That front page is really split into two sections. UNder the bar beneath "The St. James Bay Tool Co. is another line that you can only see the barest part of. It reads: New products Tools Videos. Try running your cursor across that area and look for changes in your location bar, or whatever. If it doesn't, the URLs are:

formatting link
that helps. Dave in Fairfax

Reply to
Dave in Fairfax

You're about to open Pandora's box, Billy.

Once upon a time there was a wood dorker who didn't have a planer or a jointer. He built projects out of S4S BORG lumber, or whatever he could salvage. He mostly made things that were functional, rather than beautiful, and he took pride in his work, in his ability to make something from nothing, and to make do.

This wood dorker, having in mind to make something beautiful, went to Lowe's and bought a new Stanley #4. He took it home and tried to do something with it, but it didn't work very well. He read about the Scarey Sharp(tm) system, and he finally caved in and bought one of those Lee Valley sharpening guide flummies after too many mangled edges.

He worked and fiddled, and he had a piece of steel, and he looked at this steel, and he pronounced that it was shiney. And it was shiney. He pronounced that it was sharp, and it was sharp enough to shave the whiskers off a flea's bootocks, it was. He applied this plane to a piece of wood, and it caused shavings to curl forth, and glassine smoothness to emerge from the surface.

Then this wood dorker finally made the long avoided trek to the House of Boards, whereupon came he unto the stack of Boards marked Walnut. He checked his wallet, asked stupid questions about board feet and prices, and came home with a much smaller piece of this fabled Walnut than he had intended to buy. The most glorious wood on the Earth was not cheap.

So this wood dorker came home and he put this piece of walnut into his face vise, and he proceded to cause shavings to curl forth from its surface. He pronounced that the board was flat and good, and it was. Close enough. Close enough.

Skip ahead, and the wood dorker bought a late model blue Stanley #5 from eBay. Using only the #4 and the #5, and a forlorn Skil 3400 sawdust making machine, the wood dorker produced an absolutely fantabulous walnut/maple chess box.

Now the dorker has a shelf full of these planes, and he has decreed that no lesser wood than walnut shall henceforth pass under the blades of said planes, unless it contrasts well, or unless it's free. He has a more mighty and powerful of tooth sawdust making machine (contractor's saw), and he finally bought a small mechanical curl maker (benchtop jointer) to take some of the fiddle work out of curling away the crust and revealing the glorious grain within the magnificent walnut.

He hath proclaimed that thenceforth no S4S shall be admitted to his shop, and you don't need a bunch of big iron to make stuff out of good wood. All it takes is patience, practice, and sharp steel.

Go for it, Billy! You're in for an awakening!

Reply to
Silvan

Thanks!

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Reply to
Prometheus

ROFL!!! Though I'd have to say there are many fine woods less expensive than Walnut- Mahogany and Ash come to mind, along with others. :)

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Reply to
Prometheus

Where I am, Mahogany is 30% more than Walnut.

Barry

Reply to
Ba r r y

There is no other wood. Not mahogany, nor mango nor mesquite, not cherry nor chestnut nor curly maple, not birch nor beech nor balsam, not hickory, nor hackberry, nor holly. No, there is only one wood, and walnut is its name.

(Though the other woods can be used sparingly to good effect as long as they are relegated to serve as contrasting elements with walnut. :)

Speaking of holly... Holly is really expensive and rare, isn't it? My grandfather has three 70' holly "bushes" with 12" dia. trunks. He might be sitting on a fortune, mightn't he? Or not?

Reply to
Silvan

formatting link
like a bit of shrinkage. I seem to recall something about twisting as it dries. Joe

Reply to
Joe Gorman

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 20:01:17 -0600, Prometheus calmly ranted:

Only that brown and white striped African crap they call try to call "mahogany" is cheaper than any walnut I've ever seen. I think Holstein or Guernsey genes got mixed in those trees somehow. It turned the trees into 90% sapwood and 10% heartwood.

-- Friends Don't Let Friends Eat Turkey and Drive --

Reply to
Larry Jaques

All depends on where you're at, I suppose! FWIW, I like Walnut better than Mahogany anyways.

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Reply to
Prometheus

Too bad they're not wood, you might be onto something... :)

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Reply to
Prometheus

Hmm. The last piece I bought seemed to be the real deal, but I don't have anything else to compare it to. It's got a nice reddish-brown color with no white to speak of, and a fairly close grain. The hardwood supplier (which I do trust, after building a relationship with them) assured me that it was the real McCoy. $3.60 a bf, compared to $4.25 a bf for Walnut. The walnut is the stuff I have trouble with, actually- there is a fair amount of white on the edges of the planks. I try to work the contrast into what I'm making, but it sure isn't that consistant as far as color goes.

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Reply to
Prometheus

I once did a project like this. I bought rough red oak and surfaced it with a Millers Falls jointer plane my dad gave me. He used to use the plane for trimming and fitting doors as a trim carpenter in the

50s. The plane is about 16-18" long but I'm too busy baking for Thanksgiving to go out and measure it accurately for you. I sharpened it to perfection and used it for almost everything after that project.

The project was to make table leaves for an old oak table. So I learned to not only surface the tops but to plane the edges so that I could glue them up properly.

Make a couple of winding sticks and learn how to use them.

Mike

Reply to
mike korenchuk

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.