Paul Seller's plane sound
Kicking off a new blog series I'm calling "The Pursuit" which I hope to chronicle my endless chase for perfection. I know by now this is impossible but the drive to try is always present. As I get older I've learned to slow down and appreciate the journey as much as the outcome.
This first entry is about my love of hand planes that I know many fellow jocks share.
When I started working with hand planes, as with all things I take the time to learn, I went over board in my pursuit of "perfection". And while I don't know what perfection is, many internet searches kept leading me back to Paul Seller's and his planes. One thing I always noticed as I watched him fettle, tune, and use his beloved #4 Bailey is the distinctive sound it made. I have watched several, several, like a stupid amount, of videos on planes. While many other wood workers have planes that glide as smoothly as Mr. Seller's none of them had quite that distinctive sound.
On November 21st of 2018 I bought my first trio of planes from a seller on ebay that "specializes" in restoring planes. I didn't want to start from scratch with a junker so I paid for decent users from the start.
Aren't they lovely! They pretty much immediately went to work on a Christmas gift.
From there I fell in love with how they work. I bought a couple more from this same seller. And then I got even more hooked and bought even more! I think my first 8 planes came from the same seller. He does great work but the costs were adding up. On top of the plane purchases I was investing in sharpening setups. Starting with double sided DMT diamond stones and Norton water stones.
No matter what though I couldn't get a plane to be as smooth or sound as nice as Mr Seller's. And after all this is where I set the bar for myself so I must achieve it. It was around this time a neighbor gave me a Craftsam block plane of unknown origin and in terrible shape.
Here is what I was given. The body was just as rusty as that iron
And the efforts of that first restoration. Oh ya I bought a surface plate just to flatten this little block.
That is a pretty crappy restoration from what I can do now but it gave me the confidence to try a type 18 #4 and then a #5. For a time in the spring of 2019 I was buying just about any complete plane I could find for under 30 bucks.
In the summer of last year I bought a house. I had gone from 3 planes I think every wood worker should own to moving 4 tubs full of them all wrapped in bubble wrap.
I didn't stop when I hit the new shop either. I branched out into even better sharpening solutions. Sure I could spring for like 2 Work Sharp 3000s for what ive spent on stones but I want to learn the hard way first and thus here is the current set of stones
Along with the stones I have several diamond files, honing jigs, angle jigs, a strop and some other things I'm probably forgetting.
Since hitting the new shop I've added a buffer and a make shift spray booth in my basement. A spray booth was a luxury I didn't have before. With those 2 things and some help from LJ members in regards to finishes I've got a nearly fool proof method for finishing handles.
Now let's not forget all of the time and vast amount of money I spent was still in pursuit of one thing. That was a plane that would glide across wood seemingly effortlessly while making that lovely sound that a Seller's plane seems to make. I recently added a Starrett tool makers square to make absolutely sure each plane I do is dead flat and square. Most call it overkill or unnecessary.
Whether my methods are necessary or not I finally did it. This rusty piece of iron and steel you see here is that plane
Here it is returned to its former glory. If it looks familiar its because I posted it on the Show Your Restoration thread. It was posted before I sharpened it as I got all excited about how it looked.
And the piece of Douglas Fir I was planing when I first heard that sweet sound. It may not show up in these small pics but this board practically sparkles.
Loose grained fir has always given me grief. No matter how tight my plane was set or how sharp it was you could always feel those big grain lines. Not any more.
If you read all the way to here congratulations. Go get yourself a cookie for reading the ramblings of a what many might consider a mad man. Was it any one thing that got this tool performing as well as it does…I dont know. I justify all the time, energy, and money by saying it was a combination of everything. Would i recommend anyone take on this pursuit…probably not. I was told all throughout my educational years that my mind is like a sponge. Once I set out to learn something I have to know all there is. While that's an exaggeration I do believe that tendency to be both a blessing and a curse.
Kicking off a new blog series I'm calling "The Pursuit" which I hope to chronicle my endless chase for perfection. I know by now this is impossible but the drive to try is always present. As I get older I've learned to slow down and appreciate the journey as much as the outcome.
This first entry is about my love of hand planes that I know many fellow jocks share.
When I started working with hand planes, as with all things I take the time to learn, I went over board in my pursuit of "perfection". And while I don't know what perfection is, many internet searches kept leading me back to Paul Seller's and his planes. One thing I always noticed as I watched him fettle, tune, and use his beloved #4 Bailey is the distinctive sound it made. I have watched several, several, like a stupid amount, of videos on planes. While many other wood workers have planes that glide as smoothly as Mr. Seller's none of them had quite that distinctive sound.
On November 21st of 2018 I bought my first trio of planes from a seller on ebay that "specializes" in restoring planes. I didn't want to start from scratch with a junker so I paid for decent users from the start.
Aren't they lovely! They pretty much immediately went to work on a Christmas gift.
From there I fell in love with how they work. I bought a couple more from this same seller. And then I got even more hooked and bought even more! I think my first 8 planes came from the same seller. He does great work but the costs were adding up. On top of the plane purchases I was investing in sharpening setups. Starting with double sided DMT diamond stones and Norton water stones.
No matter what though I couldn't get a plane to be as smooth or sound as nice as Mr Seller's. And after all this is where I set the bar for myself so I must achieve it. It was around this time a neighbor gave me a Craftsam block plane of unknown origin and in terrible shape.
Here is what I was given. The body was just as rusty as that iron
And the efforts of that first restoration. Oh ya I bought a surface plate just to flatten this little block.
That is a pretty crappy restoration from what I can do now but it gave me the confidence to try a type 18 #4 and then a #5. For a time in the spring of 2019 I was buying just about any complete plane I could find for under 30 bucks.
In the summer of last year I bought a house. I had gone from 3 planes I think every wood worker should own to moving 4 tubs full of them all wrapped in bubble wrap.
I didn't stop when I hit the new shop either. I branched out into even better sharpening solutions. Sure I could spring for like 2 Work Sharp 3000s for what ive spent on stones but I want to learn the hard way first and thus here is the current set of stones
Along with the stones I have several diamond files, honing jigs, angle jigs, a strop and some other things I'm probably forgetting.
Since hitting the new shop I've added a buffer and a make shift spray booth in my basement. A spray booth was a luxury I didn't have before. With those 2 things and some help from LJ members in regards to finishes I've got a nearly fool proof method for finishing handles.
Now let's not forget all of the time and vast amount of money I spent was still in pursuit of one thing. That was a plane that would glide across wood seemingly effortlessly while making that lovely sound that a Seller's plane seems to make. I recently added a Starrett tool makers square to make absolutely sure each plane I do is dead flat and square. Most call it overkill or unnecessary.
Whether my methods are necessary or not I finally did it. This rusty piece of iron and steel you see here is that plane
Here it is returned to its former glory. If it looks familiar its because I posted it on the Show Your Restoration thread. It was posted before I sharpened it as I got all excited about how it looked.
And the piece of Douglas Fir I was planing when I first heard that sweet sound. It may not show up in these small pics but this board practically sparkles.
Loose grained fir has always given me grief. No matter how tight my plane was set or how sharp it was you could always feel those big grain lines. Not any more.
If you read all the way to here congratulations. Go get yourself a cookie for reading the ramblings of a what many might consider a mad man. Was it any one thing that got this tool performing as well as it does…I dont know. I justify all the time, energy, and money by saying it was a combination of everything. Would i recommend anyone take on this pursuit…probably not. I was told all throughout my educational years that my mind is like a sponge. Once I set out to learn something I have to know all there is. While that's an exaggeration I do believe that tendency to be both a blessing and a curse.