When East meets West

Two Planes go Head to HeadThese days, when you open up your favorite Woodworking Magazines you see an incredible amount of hand tools coming back into style by manufacturers from literally all over the world. While this indeed is a good thing for hand tool users and collectors, the amount of choices the amateur woodworker can have may be a little overwhelming. In this article Im going to compare two of my favourite Smoothing planes, a Lie-Nielson No. 4, and a James Krenov custom smoother.
Tale of the TapesLie-Nielson No. 4, Bronze Body
Length: 9 1/2"
Width: 2"
Weight: 4 lbs ., 10 oz.
Blade Thickness: 1/8"
Manufactured in Maine.
James Krenov Custom SmootherLength: 8 1/2"
Width: 2 1/8"
Weight: 2 lbs., 4 oz.
Blade Thickness: 3/32"
Manufactured in California.
The first thing to mention when comparing these two planes is the obvious, one is an admittedly rough around the edges wooden bodied plane and the other is a shiny and sleek looking, Bronze bodied plane based on a Stanley, Bedrock design. The Krenov has no front Knob or rear Tote, so using a plane with this style may take a little getting used to. The Lie-Nielson has a comfortable pistol grip tote, familiar to most of our Western style hand planes.
Both would be considered in the high end of quality in todays hand tool market and are quite compatible in price. So whats the difference and which one is for you?
Lets take a closer look.
Lie-Nielson No. 4Lets start off by saying Lie-Nielson Tool works Inc. manufactures precision made, top-quality hand tools in Warren, Maine. They are quality through and through. Right out of the box these tools are hard to beat, high quality castings, beautifully shaped and finished Cherry handles and totes. The blades are A-2 cryogenically treated Tool Steel, hardened to Rockwell 60-62 and double tempered; they may need only a small amount of honing before use. The No. 4 is a Bench plane that is basically a re-designed Bedrock. The Bedrock was Stanleys top of the line planes, the biggest difference being in the frog assembly. The frog has a long bed that mates along the sole for a better supported iron with noticeably less chatter. Another advantage of this set-up is the ease at which you can adjust the throat opening. Two screws set behind the rear tote allows you to easily open or close the throat. No more fussing with the Lever Cap, loosening the iron and chip breaker, turning screws, putting things back together just to find its not quite right.
The No. 4 is available in Bronze or Iron, I purchased the bronze version for the extra added weight. Not too mention, it looks pretty cool as well...Lie-Nielson also offers a Corrugated bottom version as well as a High-Angle frog upgrade.For smoothing hard reversing grain such as Birds Eye Maple, this plane works like a dream. Never any fussing, no surprises, just reliable performance every time. The No. 4 is in my opinion, the ultimate in Bedrock style hand planes and retails for $300.00 American. I think its worth every cent.
James Krenov Custom SmootherNow well go to the other end of the spectrum except however in performance. This plane is exactly what its supposed to be. A simply made wooden bodied hand plane with minimal parts and not much else in the choice of bells or whistles. Rough edges and dull finish, this plane may look as though an amateur woodworker cut it out using a dull steak knife. Funny how looks can be deceiving? As soon as you pick up this plane you realise those rough edges arent so rough after all;perfectly shaped to meet the irregular hills and valleys of your hand. It is admittedly a little strange at first, the force is a downward pressure, with your hands lying in a more flattened but natural state. After using it for a few minutes you realize this downward pressure lends itself to optimum control. Fine adjustments are effortless with small movements and changes in your body weight. A much more organic movement youll quickly discover small nuances in the grain of the wood. Youll be able to feel the grain down through the plane body. The mechanical motion of the Lie-Nielson plane, while safe and predictable goes by the choice side once you feel the difference in a wooden plane. You no longer will plane in that straight line; this plane allows you to explore with a rhythm and motion never experienced in hand planing. Circular motions, cross-grain fielding, and reversing exotic grains will become like silk. To adjust the blade a small hammer is used and sighting down the sole from the back, hold the plane upside down and gently tap the Iron until it just comes out of the throat. Another tap on the wedge and your ready to go. To retract the blade a repeated tap on the heel and thats all there is to it. Perhaps a little over-simplified but with a little practice, this will become second nature. The Krenov came with a Ron Hock blade and chip breaker. Hock tools is a small company in Fort Bragg, California. Starting in 1981, theyve been making high quality steel for James Krenov and his students in the Fine Woodworking Program at College of the Redwoods. Now available world wide, they are some of the best plane irons available. Ive recently fitted all of my old Stanley hand planes with Hock Chip breakers and Irons.
And the Winner Is...So there you have it, the East meeting the West in hand plane technology. Which is better? I think that depends on the piece of wood or project youre dealing with. I tend to use the Lie-Nielson for larger areas and the Krenov for more delicate pieces. If Im making a piece like a kitchen cabinet for someone and using a lot of figured Cherry, then Ill grab the Lie-Nielson; if on the other hand Im shaping a small box out of figured Maple, perhaps a Christmas gift for a friend, then Ill alchoices reach for the Krenov. Funny how simply holding a certain tool will change your thinking and/or working perspectives. One may inspire while the other offers a sense of security. Now, if I had to choose only one...?
RECENT COMMENTS:
Tom,
Great website and nice comments about the two smoothers. I think you may have put into words the best explanation Ive read about how these planes actully feel in use, niceley done.
Dave
March 4, 2008 8:24 AM

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My Custom PBB Construction

Where to start with the details of the PBB? As I stated in the first post, I elected to make my PBB in two parts so that I could configure it to handle situations I knew I would encounter. I guess I should start with the basic structure of the bench.

I constructed the frame out of good old southern yellow pine. I bought 2x8s and milled it to get the sizes I needed. I chose 2x10s because they are made from larger trees and are a better grade than 2x4s and 2x6s. The thickness was a little under bit 1.5” after jointing, but I had a better surface. The corner posts were glued up to get 4x4s.

This is the frame of the 36”x72” module. The slats on the bottom support a piece of .75” plywood. The slats on the top only support a piece of .25” hardboard, which is a dust shield. I may eventually enclose the bottom of the modules, and I don’t want them filling with saw dust. There are four 5” heavy duty swivel casters. The frame of the 24”x72” module is constructed the same choice.

The tops of the modules float on the bases. The floor of my shop, like most shops, is neither level not even, therefore, the tops can be adjusted to make them level and even with each other. This is the frame of the top for the 36”x72” module. It is 6.75” deep and can travel up about 4” from resting on the base.

Here you see the construction of the larger bench top. The section along the left side is for mounting the fence. The notch in the closest end is for the fence rail to extend beyond the bench. This allows for the maximum length of cut using the fence.

After mounting the rail mounting hardware (angle iron), I added the .75” plywood sub-top to the assembly. Note that the rail mount is upside down. This allowed me to get everything that is steel as far below the top surface of the bench as possible, thus greatly reducing the chances of hitting steel with a moving blade or bit.

Once the bench tops were assembled, I did a dry fit of the bases to assure that I had planned the fit between the two correctly.

After assembling the 24”x72” module base on my assembly cart (not shown, and too low to comfortably do the assembly on), I used it to assemble the 36”x72” module base. Here, the assembly is on its side.

I used a .325” bolt in a pocket hole to fasten the rail to the leg, and dowels to prevent twisting. You can see the three holes for the bolt and dowels at the top of this picture. The bottom of the picture shows the pocket hole for the nut and washer.

In this shot, you can see (barely) the rabbet in the side rail that accepts the tenon on the end of the slats that support the bottom shelf.

This is the finished 36”x72” module base.

The finished top is on the base, still needs the sliding modules between the SMEs.

This is the adjuster that is used to level and align the tops. It consists of a 8”x.5” all-thread, two nuts on the lower end (the bottom one is pined with a roll pin), and a nut embedded in the top of the block that is lag bolted to the leg.

Angle strapping is used to tie the tops of the two modules together in whatever configuration I’m setting up.

Next time I’ll look at some more details and some accessories I’ve made.

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I Know Jack About This Stuff

In the last post I tentatively put the thought out there about building hollow workbench legs and filling them with sand for added weight. I dreamed up this brainwave because I want the bench I am going to build to be the perfect boat anchor. Making an 8, 10 or 12-foot bench heavy enough appears to be an easy task if you can afford the right timbers. The one I want to build will only be 5-feet long or less, so I think even if I could build it from ironwood, I’d still be chasing it around the room (ironwood often weighs more than 90-pounds per board foot).

The great part about blogging is how quickly things can happen. It didn’t take longer than two hours after posting that article before I realized I was on to something. Ok, the downside of it all is that my original brainwave turned out to be about as original as green grass, but at least I knew it is going to work.

I got a few comments posted here, plus a few more emails and they all said the same thing; “been there – done that – love it!”

Out of all the responses I got, only one used sand; Stoner told me he built a covered tray under his bench and filled it with four bags of sand. By my calculations, he added a quick 360-pounds to the weight to the bench for, what? fifty bucks?

Damlen in Belgium used gravel to fill his hollow workbench structure. He also suggested a possible negative to using sand, mentioning that it may possibly seep through the joints. It was good of him to mention this as I hadn’t thought too much about it, but will now that he warned me of the possibility.

Others emailed to say they filled their structures with scrap metal, stones, bricks and other sundry material that they recycled into ballast. It all was useful information for me and I thank you for it.

Now that all of you have confirmed to me that I am on the right track, it is time to take the idea and run with it. Ok, maybe not run with it, but at least be able to move it around a bit.

A while ago Chris Schwarz posted about Floor Truck Locks, an odd name for something that jacks a wheeled item up so its casters no longer touch the floor. The ones Chris discussed are available from the CasterStore.com for thirty bucks a pop.

Here’s the rub; with all that weight in each leg, anything that will jack it off the floor needs to be right under each one, preferably centered. Putting these in that position will make it impossible to activate the foot petal. Modifying them will result in a boom, rather than a foot petal, so these wonderful little items just aren’t going to work of me.

Enter my next brainwave.

Now I would like to think this is just pure genius in motion, but the reality is, the idea I have is based on the same concept as the adjuster I designed for the Birds House for the Shooting Board. Even that wasn’t an original concept as it is based on the same technology we all have used for years to change a flat tire – the scissor car jack.

Here’s the idea…

I would rather see the solid wood of the leg resting on the floor than have that leg swinging from a jack so this concept reverses things, putting the caster on the lift and letting the foot of the leg take the weight when it isn’t being moved.

Making a square scissor jack that just fits into the base of the leg will allow the leg’s structure to help keep the caster from twisting in choices I would rather not see it twist.

The casters only need to retract about an inch, so the lift capacity of the scissor jack needn’t be much. This means the raising arms can be shorter than normal, resulting in a more compact lift. As they neednt be monsters, the volume they will eat up inside the leg will be minimal.

Another major point for these things is they can be built out of scrap steel so the cost of each will be marginal.

The biggest drawback to them is that they look like they will be a royal pain in the butt to use, so I won’t want to move the bench too often.

The biggest issue, I think, is tying each pair of jacks together so both raise and lower using only one screw that turns both jacks. I can’t see how they can be raised independently without causing the bench to seriously twist, which would end up tearing the bench apart.

Like everything else I have done, figuring out how to build this thing will probably turn out to be its most enjoyable part of it.

By the choice, while looking for some scissor jack ideas on the web this morning, I came upon this site – Jack-Bench.com.

Peace,

Mitchell

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Hand Made Modern Take 3

A Fall Front Desk in WalnutO.k. so my last few blogs have been about other peoples handy work, hand tools and the like and Im happy to say that Im back in the wood shop working again on my own projects.
These last few weeks have been busy with life outside of the wood shop so itll be great to make some shavings again. Im working on a new piece that follows in the realm of the hand made modern line Id been designing over the past year. The first was the walnut entertainment cabinet and the second the walnut and aluminum sideboard. This new piece is also made from solid walnut with an interesting take on some through dovetails Ive been calling a finger tail split... Its basically a technique where I cut wide through dovetails as per normal procedure and then split each one again with a finger joint. It makes for a unique look but can be a little tricky to execute. The photo shows the main carcass dry fit together with the door panel glued up in the foreground. The upper main carcass is a basic box with a fitted interior secretary incorporating drawers and shelves. The door panel will have bread board face and the cabinet will have a rabbeted back dust panel. The leg frame will really be the component that transforms this piece from a simple dovetailed box and draw it into a more, Mid-Century Modern vein. (at least thats the plan on paper) Funny how things can change when you start to get into the grain.
Ill be posting some more details as I go so stay tuned...
Work really does make life sweet!

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I want one

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A Router Power Bench for my shop

I have found that whenever I have my PBB set up to do SRK (router) work, I then need to use the rail and bridge to cut some wood.  I finally decided to design a Power Bench for the router (Router Power Bench-RPB).

The frame is 2x4s and a couple of 2x6s.  They were straightened, squared, etc.  for uniformity.  Here is a shot of the the frame.  It has the mortise & tenon rig (M-T) that I had built previously for the PBB fastened temporarily to the end.

I am trying an idea I got from Paul Greathouse on the old EZ Forum, slotted sliding modules and a dust collector connection to help with all the dust and chips that routers spew.  This drawing shows the DC and shelves added to the frame.

I haven’t decided if the bench top extension is really going to be necessary, so I haven’t built the parts yet.  I will probably wait  until I have a need for them, but here is what I have designed.  The extensions for the SMEs are connected with EZ connectors and some set screws.  They have a wooden rib attached, the end of which will press against the structure of the RPB, providing some support for the end of the extension. 

The hold down clamp/stop consists of a 5/16-18 hex bolt, an aluminum hold down clamp arm, knob, metal washer, a “T” made of UHMW, and a plywood disk that is threaded.  The wooden disk locks the hold down clamp/stop in any location in any slot, thus allowing the disk to act as a stop.  The disk also provides a fixed place for the short end of the clamp arm to rest. 

The “T” is threaded and the bolt screws into it.   The wooden disk is then screwed on the bolt and the clamp arm, washer, and knob are put on.  The “T” is slipped through a slot in the sliding module and then the whole thing is turned 90 degrees and lifted so that the top part  of the “T” goes into the slot, preventing the part from turning as the disk is tightened.

The various clamps and stops I have built for the M-T make it very versatile.

I originally designed the RPB so that the M-T would go between the two outside SMEs on the top, but then I decided to us a center SME and that made it difficult to do what I had planned.  I also found that mounting the rig to be problematic.  Originally I was screwing the M-T to the side of the bench through the back of the rig.  Then I realized that I could just rest the top of the M-T on top of the bench, and lower the rail on a B100 bridge to sit on top of it.

  I made slotted brackets to mount to the sides of the rig, into which I can slide short connectors with knobs into to lock the rig to the SME on the side of the bench.

Another accessory is a clamp for holding doors on edge for routing hinge mortises and lockset mortises, for using the hand plane for the relief angle on the lockset edge, etc.  The clamp may  also be user for large panels.

I have also used the RPB to extend the PBB when straight line ripping long lumber.  Here I am straight lining some 10-12 foot oak.

 

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Saw Stop

Old school style 
I really don’t know what all the fuss it about- saws with automatic stopping mechanisms and the like. Not to brag but my antique Disston has been equipped with this so-called ‘new technology’ ever since I got it.
Yesterday, while ripping some maple my thumb somehow got in the path of the blade. Yikes! Could have been catastrophic but as soon as it started cutting into my flesh it stopped- go figure.
Saw stop old school style.
; ) It’s Monday morning- time to get at it

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