Hand Planes #10: Taking inventory

Thats a nice list. I got a question how do you like those hock blades?

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

Hey CJ,
I am a big fan of the Hock blades. I like to double-up by adding their chip breaker as well. The combination of these 2 items gives mass, rigidity, and a great cut. Also since I bought most of my planes fairly rough the stock blades had rust and pitting. Buying new blades and breakers improves performance, but also typically reduces the headaches required getting old plane off the ground again. I am not sure that the improvements are necessary for the fore planes, but on my jointers and smoothers it is nice.

Also initially as I was dailing in my honing techniques it was much easier to get a fine edge on these tool irons. In retrospect it was more my inexperience sharpening than deficiency of the stock iron and chip breakers. Now that I strop after stoning I can get very thin shavings even with stock irons.

I am still waiting for a personal thank you note from Rev. Ron after buying all that steel from him :)

-- Doug, woodworking in Alabama

Brother, Can you spare a blade?

......

O’kay it’s kind of lame that I couldn’t think of anything funny to rhyme with dime.

Q

-- I don't make sawdust...I produce vast quantities of "Micro Mulch."

Now you’re just showing off :P

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

Not much of a show by some’s standards. One of the other forums I use one of the guys had over 500 planes. And you think I have issues :)

-- Doug, woodworking in Alabama

Yeah, I saw that on SMC…but he was showing off too :P

Seriously, that’s a nice collection you’ve got there, no 500 plane collection, but at least you can fit them all in one picture :D

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

So maybe that should be the metric. Once they no longer fit in frame you are done. Then you have to let one go to get another. I might be able to work that out. Of course in the end I would have all LN :) Nah, not sure about that. I want to build some woodies and infills eventually. If I get the hang of that the LN don’t offer anything more than a deeper hole in my pocket.

Quixote, what are you looking for? I do have most of the original blades. Some are in decent shape. Send me an e-mail.

-- Doug, woodworking in Alabama

Actually, once you can no longer fit them in the frame, you need a camera with a wide angle lens, then start anew ;)

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

Now that you have all the thin laminated chrome vanadium stock irons laying around, you have to build some woodies, but then you’ll want Hock for them too. What’s a fellow to do!

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Hey Douglas, don’t put it past me :)
Actually part of my reason for getting into wood planes was due to the fact that they are soooo cheap on e-bay. The Sandusky I picked up figuring I would just snag the blade and junk the rest of it. Usually for $5-10 you can pick up an old woody with a tapered cast blade that is over 1/8in thick. Not many other options that cheap for blades for your homemade wood planes.

The Sandusky just had such a nice shape that I decided to clean it up. I used some glue to stabilize the cracks then coated it with a couple layers of shellac. It really didn’t take too much time. That blade on the other hand cost me about 3 hours to get the back flat. It was thick enough to handle the metal removal, but boy was it a chore.

-- Doug, woodworking in Alabama

Thanks Doug, I will be buying a Hock Iron for my No 8 jointer plane. I already have their chipbreaker and its works good.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker