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All that glitters may not be gold...But Juan Hovey's got his own alchemy -- he's added to his life by making infill planes. So, to continue mixing metaphors, if that's not a rabbit hole...! |
Woodworkers are ever curious DYIers who sometimes find themselves channeling
Alice in Wonderland while descending that hole called "making your own tools."
In Juan Hovey's case he's enjoying the spiraling ride and living the high and satisfied life on the other side of the mirror, as a maker of infill planes.
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Juan Hovey with an infill plane he made from scratch. |
As Juan tells it:
"I've put a Hock iron in many an old plane over the years, and when a friend asked recently what he ought to do with an old Stanley he was rehabbing, I didn't hesitate. Then I thought: If I think these irons are so good, why not make a plane to do them justice?
"It couldn't be that hard, right? I checked e-Bay, saw some crude kits, gazed in wonder at the planes made by Sauer and Steiner and the like, then Googled for articles on making a smoothing plane from scratch and gave them some serious study.
"Meaning, I lay awake at night staring into the dark trying to decide whether I knew what I was getting into. I didn't, of course, but persevered.
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What Juan got into. |
"The first three I made landed in my reject pile, but then I made the two you see in the photos, and I thought, "Well, well, what do you know?"
Juan's first two successful planes: An Infill smoother (front) and a bevel-up smoother.
"I decided to do everything by the book in making the plane with a tote. The iron is bedded at 45�, the plane weighs 4 � pounds and measures 2 � " x 10 " +/-. The mouth is vanishingly narrow - a mere sliver - and gives me a thrill to see the thing deliver a lovely shaving.
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By the book. |
"I threw away the book in making the other plane - my bevel-up tote-less baby. This one measures 2 �" x 8"+/-, and weighs about the same as the other plane. The bevel up iron is both beveled and bedded
at 25 �.
"As an experiment in defying conventional wisdom, I filed the mouth at 25 � all the way through the sole of the plane, so as to support the iron all the way to the point of contact with the wood. Does it work? Sure. Will I do that again? Probably not. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, Freud said, and sometimes the conventional wisdom is better than my own."
Juan loves his plane. He uses them, he trades them for incredible wood, and he's selling a few, too!
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Juan planes a gorgeous piece of spalted Pashaco Amarillo. Expect this wood to appear as infill in the Hovey line. |
Proof in the shavings, and so close to that rabbit hole!
Can a person have too much fun at the bench? Naah!
Thanks Juan Hovey!