For the first two and a half years of business, I've concentrated on the core of of the three essential bench planes--the jack plane, the try plane, and the coffin smoother. This year, I'm starting to expand my offerings. The first of these is the rabbet plane, pictured above.
My rabbet planes are bedded at 50° and can be ordered either square or skewed. A nominal 1" iron is standard, but if you are looking for a different width, just ask. These planes have custom irons that are 5/32" thick--a bit thicker than what most other makers offer. They have a very solid feel in the cut.
I'm also adding a new bench plane, which I call the Mini-Smoother.
I jokingly refer to this plane as the cure for the common block plane, because I built the first version of this plane about four years ago, and I haven't used my block plane since. The design has been honed a couple times, and I think it's just about perfect now. The plane is comfortable to use with one hand or two. It has a 1-1/4" double iron and is 5-1/4" long.
This is just the beginning. In the near future, I plan to roll out a number of new planes. Moving fillisters will be next, followed by dado planes, and then we'll see what's next. Toothing planes? Miter planes? Stay tuned.
I'll be doing a couple Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Events this spring. This weekend, January 26-27, I'll be at the Chicago School of Woodworking. In March, I'll be at Urban Specialty Woods in Huntington, NY. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by, say hi, and try some wooden planes!
Finally, a reminder: If you'd like to see more regular photos from my planemaking biz, check out my Instagram feed.
Looking forward to the dado planes! Separate note: as I get more used to using wooden planes (and intentionally leaving my metal planes in the chest), I find I use my full size smoother in situations where I'd normally have used a block plane. It works well, but I could see the benefit of a small smoother for this reason.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark, I'll keep you posted on the dados. Absolutely, a smoother that is 7-1/2" or 8" long can do a lot of the smaller jobs that metalheads use a block plane for, because a no.3 or 4 is just so much bigger/heavier.
DeleteThe mini-smoother is a luxury, not an essential plane like the smoother/jack/try. But for those who have the bandwidth, it's a nice plane to have.