Handplanes

Well I thought it was about time for a post. I've finished a custom teak bench for one of the jobs I helped design at work. So it looks like I've finally gotten all the projects out of my way and can finally start on some stuff for myself. I'll be starting the bed next, I think. I'm currently working on several designs to try and figure out exactly what I want. I do know it will be made out of Walnut since I have a lot of it to use. Here is a picture of whats known as a crotch slab, I have a matching pair that i'm planing down to possibly use as the headboard on the bed. I'm not completely certain yet, but I think it could be really cool. The slabs have some really amazing figure (grain) on them and are going to look really cool on whatever I use them on. As you can see the slabs are very large, and much to big for my planer. So I finally got to use some of the handplanes I've been slowly collecting over the past couple of months. I must say there is something about taking all that wood off by hand. You get to see the beauty of the wood slowly come into the picture. The best way I can describe it to some of you is that its like hand drawing a drawing as opposed to the doing it on the computer. There is a lot more satisfaction when you are done, but its a long and hard road. I 'll post some more pics as I progress further on the slabs.

I recently purchased a whole bunch of handplanes off of craigslist (sorry Jill) the majority of them are kind of cheap and crappy. But I really wanted one of these. Which is known as a Stanley #7 jointer. It basically takes the place of a power jointer, its very big, 22" long and weighs in at 9 lbs. Well I got together with another local woodworker who knows a lot more about handplanes than I do, and he said this one looks old and that I should try and figure out how old it is.
I started cleaning it up this last weekend to get it ready to use. I took it apart and found that it is in really good shape, just needs a little tlc. Well this morning I started trying to date this thing. These old Stanley planes have quite the following so there are several sights that show the exact signs to look for and to date the plane. I posted some pictures on a woodworking forum and the handtool experts quickly told me this is a Stanley type 5 #7. Which means that it was made between 1885-1888.

I had no idea its that old, and can't believe its in this good of shape. Crazy huh.