Karl Holtey’s new blog

I just became aware of Karl’s new blog a few days ago. It is great to see and read about his perspective on planemaking and will hopefully further inspire people - he certainly inspired me when I started.

The pieces are slowly coming together

(A quick sketch-up drawing of the fireplace and surrounding built-in)

The livingroom renovation has been on pause for the last month - at least that is the way it looks from the inside. There has been a fair amount of time spent with various trades and suppliers though - and things are coming together.

The two new windows have been ordered - they should be here by the end of the month. They are aluminum clad double casement windows with a fixed picture window on top. The fixed window has been spec’d in a way that the original stained glass windows will slide in from the inside. We are most pleased about this detail as we would not be replacing the windows if it meant giving up the stained glass.

Once the windows are in - I can frame the two new walls for the exterior walls, do the wiring and then insulate.


The zero clearance, woodburning fireplace has also arrived.

Our masonry guy stopped in this morning to discuss the firewood drawer. This is something I am really excited about. I grew up with a woodburning stove and one of the many childhood chores was bringing in the firewood. It was always a messy job - knocking off the snow and trudging through the house to stack it by the fireplace. We are going to be incorporating a spot under the hearth to store about 3 fires worth of wood. Instead of walking through the house, we are going to incorporate an open sided drawer that can be loaded from the outside and then accessed from the inside. This will involve cutting a hole in the exterior of the chimney (which happens to be at a perfect standing/loading height). The photo below shows the opening from the outside.



The photo below shows where it is on the inside. I am going to have a 1/4" thick steel frame made to fit inside the brick opening to support the weight. It will be 17-1/2" deep to extend the full depth of the chimney. I will need to make an insulated door to put in the steel frame - I think this will be a great solution.



I found some extra heavy duty, full extension drawer slides rated for 400lbs. They are 48" and should work perfectly for this. In the slides description, they make a note that these are not meant to support human weight... sorry Riley and Lucas (cause you know they will try!).



And last but not least - the quarter sawn white oak is starting to arrive too. Above is the 320 bd ft for the trim and the built-in cabinets around the fireplace.


Here is a quick shot showing some of the fantastic ray flecking - I can’t wait to get to the woodworking part of this project!





I also lucked out and was able to purchase a large pile of very wide quarter sawn white oak boards. All 15 are from the same tree and are quite spectacular. I placed my 12" Starrett on the floor for scale - they are all 8' long.

Introducing the A1ssT

I just took this plane for a test drive a few hours ago, and I have to say - it was a rather incredible experience. It reminded me of the first time I used my A5ss. I should back up a bit.

The goal of this plane was to be a “narrow, nimble, extremely balanced Try-plane”. Here is what we changed. Most panel planes have a “Norris” bed angle of 47-1/2 degrees - we opted for a York pitch of 50 degrees. We also decreased the width of the iron from 2-1/2" to 2-1/4". These two seemingly minor changes were not pulled out of the air - they were hunches based on our mutual experience with the A5ss. Geez... I need to back up a bit more.

The first A5ss was completed in November of 2006. There were a few new variations to this plane that in the end influenced the A1ssT. Up until this point, the sole footprint of the A5 was 7-7/8" long but I was looking for a way to shorten it to around 7-1/2". A york pitch allowed this to happen. Changing the bed angle from 47-1/2 degrees to 50 degrees gave me the extra room to push the handle close to the mouth opening while still allowing for a wide variety of handle sizes.

At the same time, I opted to make a narrow version - with a 2" blade instead of the usual 2-1/4". The net effect of these minor changes was amazing. The plane had an incredible balance to it - it was not toe heavy at all. This may not seem like a big deal - but a toe heavy plane will strain the wrist on the return stroke - even if you are a “dragger”. What happened was the balance point of the plane moved closer to the handle - putting more of the planes weight in your hand - literally. When you pick up the A5ss it feels like an extension of your hand. The coffin shape also factors into this. The narrowing of the plane at the toe reduces a fair amount of material from the front bun. This keeps the toe as light as possible not to mention is a much more ergonomical shape than the square bun of an A6.

Not long after the A5ss someone commissioned an A5 with a York pitch and a 2-1/4" wide blade. This was the perfect opportunity to compare blade widths and determine if blade width or bed angle (both had the shorter 7-1/2" footprint) was the larger factor. The wider model was as well balanced as its narrower brother - which suggests that moving the handle as close to the cutting action produces a more balanced plane.

In hindsight - this makes perfect sense as an unhandled smoother - the No.4 - is one of the most comfortable planes to use - your hand is as close to the cutting action as you can get.



Now - back to the A1ssT. We were curious to see if changing the bed angle and moving the handle close to the cutting action would have a similar effect on a large plane like a panel. We were also interested to see the effect of reducing the width. Obviously it would be lighter overall - but would it influence the balance point due to the change in bed angle and handle position?



I have only used the plane for half an hour or so - so this is by no means a scientific conclusion... but this plane is more balanced than my 14-1/2" Ebony filled A1 panel plane. Of course the length may be factoring into this - but there is certainly a difference in balance. There is also a difference due to the narrow width. The plane feels more like a long smoother - it is faster (the reduced shaving width=less effort per pass) and does feel more nimble. I am not sure if that is a factor of the narrow width or the balance - but whatever it is, I am thrilled because that was one of the goals of the plane.




On a bit of a side note, there were quite a few other alterations largely due to the loss of 1/4" in width. The most notable change was to the front bun. I typically have a 1/4" wide shoulder that transitions from the top of the sidewall to the main part of the bun. I was worried this bun would look too skinny if I kept this shoulder 1/4" so opted to reduce it to 3/16". I also added in a second cove to the front of the bun - just for fun. This second cove is always on the jointers - but I was curious to see how it would look on a panel.



I am most pleased with how it all worked out in the end. I will take the plane for another drive before I ship it to its new home - but my first impressions are this plane will become a regular variation in the line-up.

A few recent planes

Two English Boxwood filled XSNo.4’s.



A Brazilian Rosewood filled XSNo.4.




Here is a shot of the inside of the front bun.



And a close up of the front of the bun. There is some pretty amazing grain and color going on in this one - and its big brother below.



Here is a Brazilian Rosewood filled A5. This plane has a 50 degree bed angle and a 2-1/4" wide blade.


The front bun on this plane is stunning - here is an inside view.

There are two more planes close behind these two - ebony and steel - one of which is an exciting variation - stay tuned.

Shoulda never gone!

To Victoria that is!

What an amazing place. A friend of mine referred to it as “God’s waiting room” and I don’t think that is too far off. The trouble is we are already scheming about how to get back again.

My time at Lee Valley was great - the evening seminar went very well with lots of great questions and time for visiting. Hopefully there will be a few people that are dreaming of making their own planes.

Saturday was just as much fun with one particular moment that will stay with me for quite a while. Several of the people from the evening seminar stopped in on Saturday to continue with conversations, or to catch one of the demonstrations I was doing. At one point there were three of us standing around talking and we were discussing chip breakers, bed angles and other cutting geometry. It went something like this;

Konrad - “Oh, there is this guy online that has done a pile of work on this - Brent Beach... you should really look into it”.

Guy standing there (with an odd smile) - “Brent Beach... that’s me!”

Konrad - “What.....??????!!!!??! For real?”

It was pretty funny, and I have to say, it took me about 6 minutes of shaking my head to come around. It was a really, really crazy moment.

Jill and I went to visit with Chico and his charming wife Terri on Sunday night and were treated to a stunning gastronomical adventure. Man, can those two cook! Dinner lasted several hours which is a good thing because there is no way I would have been able to eat that much otherwise. It was a delicious meal and visit with two delightful friends - thanks to you both. And of course Chico and I wandered off a few times to the shop to look at tools and to admire some of his prized pieces of wood - he has an amazing collection.

We went to Butchart Gardens for mothers day and were not disappointed. If you are ever in Victoria - you have to check this place out! I must admit I am not a huge flower guy - but this was so much more than flowers. The combination of large scale planning and architecture was stunning and the whole thing covered in flowers, trees and colour. The most unexpected place was walking through a somewhat dark forested hallway through some large evergreen trees and then the hall suddenly ends to open up to “the sunken garden”. It really did take your breath away.

Thanks too to all the fine folks at Lee Valley for showing us around, including us in their activities and helping us out.



We returned home Tuesday night and I was back at it on Wednesday. Part of my excitement was to finish a plane I have been looking forward to for some time. This is another smoother variation... African Blackwood infill, 50 degree bed angle, no adjuster and no cap iron. If the cap iron free No.4’s are any indication - this plane is going to be a joy to use!

And speaking of variations - I have another one just around the corner....

We were a little worried about the timing of our trip out west because we did not want to miss the apple tree blooming next door.



This is the view from my shop balcony... I could not back up far enough to capture it all. We did not miss a thing... and this is a great reminder of Butchart Gardens... just on a one tree scale.

When we were gone, Riley had a field trip to Medieval Times in Toronto, and unfortunately - we forgot to give him a bit of money to buy himself a souvenir. He was quite upset about it because most of the kids bought a wooden sword. Well... we took care of this injustice today after school! His buddy Tyko came with him for Swordfest 2009. I had some scrapish hard maple kicking around and I figured it would make for a fairly sturdy sword material. Unfortunately - I did not take into account working hard maple is not the same as Home Depot pine... but I am thrilled to report that both boys started and completed their swords in one afterschool adventure.



They both did a fantastic job and the above photo says it all for me - Riley has developed some very fine skills and has a natural comfort with handtools.



This was the first time Tyko has done anything like this - and he caught on extremely quickly. I can see a future spokeshave making class already!

Old school flooring, door stops & floor ghosts

We have been picking away at the livingroom and made some good progress this weekend. The oak strip flooring is now out - and to my shock and amazement - I realized this flooring was nailed by hand... with real nails and a nail set.



And there were a lot of them!

Every time Jill & I were cursing all the nails, I kept reminding myself “it is faster to take them out than it would have been to install them” (repeat as necessary).



There is a pocket door into the room, and as we were sweeping up I noticed the high tech door stop. A scrap of wood stuck into a hole in the edge of the door. It was a fairly snug fit, but I managed to wiggle it free.



From the tool marks it looked like a pretty quick job - likely a small hatchet. I looked into the wall cavity and sure enough - it stopped against a 2x4. What a beautiful reminder that you don’t need to overthink everything.



Once all the nails were out, we lifted the tar paper to reveal the original room patterns and ghosting. I was quite delighted to see this, because it confirmed what I had suspected - the two rooms were divided by pocket doors. The room is 12' wide, and the two partial walls are 36" long - just enough to contain a 34" pocket door and close the gap.

The original pine floor has been grained to look like quartersawn oak. I am sure the spirits of the house will be happy once we put a real quartersawn oak floor in.



Here is a quick shot of our backyard as seen from the third floor. We are putting in a veggie garden along the fence to the left. We were sad to see our big tree go - but we are excited about growing some of our own food.

For anyone in the GVA (Greater Victoria Area)...

... I will be at the new Lee Valley store on Friday May 8th and Saturday May 9th.

Friday evening will be a slideshow showing the process of building an infill plane from start to finish. There are over 200 slides - all the gory detail is shown. It is a pretty low key presentation and participation and questions are welcome and encouraged. If you have ever wanted to build an infill from scratch - this might help to fill in some of the blanks.



Saturday will be an in-store demo with an opportunity to see and try a few planes, ask questions and to hang out. There are 4 scheduled demonstrations - two on piening the shell of a plane and two on shaping the handle for a plane.

I hope to see a few of you there.