# What if Apple Computer made hand tools?



## a1Jim

wonderful review


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## Rick_Boyett

BTW, you can see high resolution versions of my photos here if you want..


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## lew

If Apple made hand tools, you could only buy them at one store ;^)

Nice review, BTW


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## Fallon

And you could only use them on the 2 or 3 approved species of wood that Apple approved.


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## JasonIndy

LOL, I can picture Steve Jobs dressed all in black onstage holding this thing out in his hand like it just fell out of space. Great review though, thanks for putting in all that effort, pics, etc.


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## davidmicraig

Great review Rick. I admired this item since you posted your unveiling out of the box  I am rather new to whole hand plane thing and have spent much time reading and tinkering with the set I now have. From what I understand, the lower the blade angle, the easier it is to push the plane and deal with some of the more trickier grains such as end grain. Thus, the reason why a low angle block plane exists.

However, on edge and face grain, you run the potential risk of tear out because the angle is low. On face and edge grain, the higher the angle, the more difficult to push, but the less risk of tear out. I am not trying to lecture  just state what is going through my head. So I see this as more of a specialty plane and a really good purchase if you do not already have a low angle block plane. You can use it for the end grain (instead of buying a low angle block plane) and use it on tricky grain when a low angle might be necessary. But I do not see this as the main "go to" for most flattening and smoothing needs.

It is a beautiful tool, looks great in design and build and can see where it will be a godsend in a few situations.

Thanks for posting,

David


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## twokidsnosleep

Great review, thanks for taking the time for photos.
I find myself picking up hand tools more often rather than the noisy power tools.
I have a Veritas smoother and a L-N block plane and cabinet scrapers..all are absolute superstars and I love using them. 
You cannot go wrong with either company. 
It is good to see two North America companies make something well with such pride and customer service.
ps I am mac/apple fan also


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## Rick_Boyett

Lew said:

If Apple made hand tools, you could only buy them at one store ;^)

Wouldn't that make Veritas exactly like them since you can only buy Veritas planes at Lee Valley? BTW, you can buy Apple stuff at Best Buy and Frys..


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## Rileysdad

OK you sold me. I'm ordering one today.

I've been working on Macs for years. It's time I quit fooling with my vintage Stanelys and get something that "just works."


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## richgreer

Great review for the Veritas plane and Apple. I'm a big time Apple fan. As you and Steve Jobs says, "It just works". I use both an I-Mac and an I-pad.

I don't have any real experience with Veritas but I take you at your word. I would probably wager that Lie-Nielsen is just as good, but at significantly more money.


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## docholladay

One day, I intend to give one of these planes a try. I just can't seem to bring myself to part with my old vintage tools. One thing you didn't mention is that you can purchase extra irons for this plane and grind them at different angles to create different net cutting angles. You can't do this with a traditional bevel down design. You can have a 37 degree cutting angle with a standard 25 degree bevel and then hone another at a 45 degree angle for a 52 degree cutting angle to use on swirly grain. It makes this plane even more versativle. Also, the blade is much better supported, almost to the very cutting edge, on a bevel up plane as opposed to the bevel down design. This feature plus the adjustable mouth is one of the reasons that a chip breaker is not needed. Also, you get much less chatter with this type of design than occurs with a bevel down plane. I love my old Stanleys (at least partly because I bought most of them for almost nothing at flea markets and yard sales), but if I ever do spend this kind of money for a plane, this is the style of plane that I will purchase.

Doc


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## MsDebbieP

now THAT's a review! Well written; informative and a + on entertainment value as well.


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## donbee

Just one small comment from an old (really old) PC technician:

If Apple made this very nice plane it would cost $600.00 or more.

ddwwb


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## donbee

Deke,

I'm sorry to give you the news, . . . .

the war is over!

*LOL LOL LOL*
ddwwb


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## dbray45

This plane may be on my shopping list. That means that I will have to make another tool cabinet. Darn mouse will get a big cookie.


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## NewPickeringWdWrkr

I agree that Veritas planes are great out of the box, but I would hate to use the pc/apple comparison.

Too many shots to be made like if microsoft made cars, they would crash 2x/day and apple cars would run on only 10% of roads and refuse to cross a road that microsoft cars ran on!

Still a good review though!


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## RaiD

Nice review, but a Microsoft to Apple comparison? On a WOODWORKING site? No thanks…


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## dbray45

Apples and PCs are all great, they are all toys, expensive but toys none the less. If we were to actually use these things to their capability, it would be amazing. The computing horse power in a 286 PC was pretty remarkable, what people have on their desks are virtually unused, but they are fast - sort of. For computers, I started with a Mac 512 and now work on IBM p-series systems and manage almost 200 TB of storage.

As for Veritas, these are not toys, they are tools.


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## dbray45

As with everything, I suppose there are exceptions. Analysis and CADD will make a computer actually work but lets face it, most people that have a computer use it for word processing, spreadsheet entry, and email (did I mention looking at pictures). This does not require a lot of horsepower. Even then, the computing power in these processors is really ridiculous but speed is the main criteria for most customers.

A well tuned hand plane on the other hand, can do a lot of work but hopefully takes less effort. Still, I would not want to be a production shop with only hand tools, unless I was with Williamsburg or someplace like that.


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## boboswin

Great analogy Rick and well written piece. 
Thanks for posting.
p.s. what's up with the "girlie mittens"? ;-)


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## TheDane

Rick-Very thorough and informative review. Though I still prefer my Windows PC's, I'll take a Veritas tool any day of the week

BTW … you can buy Veritas tools from a number of dealers (I have bought some from Manny's Wooworkers Place).


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## craftsman on the lake

If Apple made hand tools, you could only buy them at one store ;^)

Order a computer online or pick one up at any of the 492 apple stores or Best Buy. Get their other products, i.e. ipod, ipad, etc at walmart, radio shack, best buy, target, etc…. or online. Probably more places than a plane!

Interesting facts.
Apple is the second largest company next to Exxon. In 1996 it was considering bankruptcy.
Apple is a couple of days away from opening a new 1 billion dollar data center in North Carolina. Cloud computing.
Apple (strong rumors) are considering buying netflix.
Apple has 50 billion dollars in cash reserves.
Apple has the lowest number of repairs (perscentage wise) than any other computer manufacturer for several years now.


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