Launch your own: Hand Plane Campaign - An old tool finds a new place in today’s best homes
By Steve Maxwell
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In a world where power tools rule the homebuilding scene, hand planes offer the chance to add quality and profits to your work in a way that most homebuilders never even dream of. The fact is, no matter how good power tools get, there will always be jobs out there that only a well-tuned hand plane can accomplish. And as it turns out, this is just the kind of thing that gives a growing number of high-end clients wide-eyed smiles. There are more than a few quality-minded people starved for drum-tight joints in stain-grade trim, hand-beveled raised panel doors, or hand-planed solid wood cabinet parts and fireplace mantles. Results like these can only be accomplished with a razor-sharp plane blade, though most of the trade has forgotten how to do it. They’ve even forgotten why. It’s vintage and it’s a missed opportunity almost everywhere.
All this is where a good hand plane can help. Choose a good one, learn to keep it sharp and it will improve your homebuilding results more than any other $200 tool on the planet. As long as the world still has electrical outlets, hand planes will never replace power tools. That’s fine. But a good plane can supplement electric tools in ways that make you stand out as an exceptional craftsman.
Before you write all this stuff off as the wishful thinking of a guy trapped in a time warp, think again. More than once, a few swipes with a hand plan have made all the difference on modern, fast-paced jobsites I’ve worked on. And to see how, you need to look at the first of three areas where a razor-sharp hand plane rules.
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Launch your own: Hand Plane Campaign - An old tool finds a new place in today’s best homes
By Steve Maxwell
|
|
|
In a world where power tools rule the homebuilding scene, hand planes offer the chance to add quality and profits to your work in a way that most homebuilders never even dream of. The fact is, no matter how good power tools get, there will always be jobs out there that only a well-tuned hand plane can accomplish. And as it turns out, this is just the kind of thing that gives a growing number of high-end clients wide-eyed smiles. There are more than a few quality-minded people starved for drum-tight joints in stain-grade trim, hand-beveled raised panel doors, or hand-planed solid wood cabinet parts and fireplace mantles. Results like these can only be accomplished with a razor-sharp plane blade, though most of the trade has forgotten how to do it. They’ve even forgotten why. It’s vintage and it’s a missed opportunity almost everywhere.
All this is where a good hand plane can help. Choose a good one, learn to keep it sharp and it will improve your homebuilding results more than any other $200 tool on the planet. As long as the world still has electrical outlets, hand planes will never replace power tools. That’s fine. But a good plane can supplement electric tools in ways that make you stand out as an exceptional craftsman.
Before you write all this stuff off as the wishful thinking of a guy trapped in a time warp, think again. More than once, a few swipes with a hand plan have made all the difference on modern, fast-paced jobsites I’ve worked on. And to see how, you need to look at the first of three areas where a razor-sharp hand plane rules. |
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