Thanks, Dale. I went to the Lee Valley website and found the planes you're talking about. I'll be ordering one of them today.
You're right... There's something quite satisfying about using hand tools for such things as shaping an edge of wood. Certainly, power tools are more versatile, in some ways quicker, etc. But, there's a good feeling associated with that nice little curly-cue of wood planed from a piece of wood. Some years ago, I built a 4-poster bed for Phyllis and I. It turned out well, if I must say so myself. The posts are approx six and a half feet high and, by using a jig on the table saw, I tapered and chamfered them. There's approximately 4 and a half feet above the side, front and rear rails of the bed... Which, themselves, are about 8 inches in height. Then there's about 12 inches below the rails. This section of post is also tapered and chamfered... But tapering in the opposite direction of that portion of the post above the rail. The section of post where the rail meets it is not tapered or chamfered... I left it square. Anyway, I wanted to ad a curve to each chamfer where it meets the rail section of the post... Maybe just 3 or 4 inches in length. I couldn't figure out how to do this blind, so I took the posts to my brother-in-law's workshop, where he added the 8 little curves to each post... 4 below the rail section, and 4 above... Using a band saw. I'm taking a long time to tell the story. My brother-in-law is enamored with old hand tools. He rarely uses them, but has a nice little collection. Before using the very convenient band saw to cut the curves, we were tempted to use a two-handled draw-blade to hand cut the curves into the posts. But, the draw-blade was rather dull, and would have required more skill with our hands than either of us possessed. Yet, there is something quite intriguing about shaping a piece of wood in the same manner used by craftsmen centuries ago. I can just picture the age-old carpenter straddling the post, drawing his blade toward himself and shaping nice little curves of interest into each chamfered corner of each wood post. The band saw can, of course, do this quicker, with significantly more repetitive accuracy. But, there's some charm, character and satisfaction lost in the power tool process. Once upon a time, craftsmen in wood were true craftsman. They understood more about different blades, their purposes, their maintenance, and methods for using them than I'll ever know. --Barry To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following address: http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ Visit the new archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
