Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Ginormous Plane Collection






A friend of mine hosted a holiday party this past weekend for woodworkers and their spouses/partners.

My friend has the largest collection of handplanes, plumb bobs, and gimlets & corkscrews I have ever seen. His shop is a veritable museum.

And of course, that's where we woodworkers congregated for most of the afternoon. An occasional trip to the food table in order to keep our energy up while we flapped our jaws about all things woodworking was the only deviation from the treasure trove of tools that is my friend's shop.

He has been collecting tools since handplanes could be had at yard sales for a pittance and he's a walking encyclopedia of information concerning them.












I snapped a bunch of photos during the party and discovered upon review that the only ones that contained people were of two ladies who were standing in front of the wall o' planes. I think they thought I was taking their picture and I didn't have the heart to ask them to move aside.

I suppose the Christmas spirit must have gotten hold of me. Dang it.
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13 comments:

  1. Presbyfruit's History BitsDecember 16, 2008 at 10:02 PM

    um, gimlets? plum bobs?

    why didn't you tell those goofy ladies to move away from the planes?

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  2. willDecember 16, 2008 at 10:04 PM

    Too much! Altho I've heard stories about how wood handplanes were once used as firewood. It was after the Industrial Age kicked in and iron planes were pushing the wood ones to the dust bin. The old wood ones were well oiled and burned bright and hot. IF that story is true and seeing collections such as this one - then once upon a time there really were a lot of planes in use.

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  3. DaveDecember 16, 2008 at 10:42 PM

    Your lucky, around here the only thing anyone collects is Nascar items and DUI's. Oh I forgot and Civil War relics.

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  4. johnjoinerDecember 16, 2008 at 10:53 PM

    I second Harley's comment. Except where I am the collections are of hockey sticks or ice-fishing jigs.

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  5. AnonymousDecember 17, 2008 at 12:16 AM

    Wow, a beautiful sight!

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  6. AnonymousDecember 17, 2008 at 4:55 AM

    Our collections here consist of cows and goats. Some days I really miss living back East...

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  7. Kari HultmanDecember 17, 2008 at 7:28 AM

    Presby, I would glady have asked the one goofy lady (you!), but I didn't know the other lady. Alas...

    Bill, I've heard that about old wooden planes and can't bear to think about it. : (

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  8. AnonymousDecember 17, 2008 at 11:35 AM

    I actually have some third hand eyewitness accounts of it. My Uncle told me (before he died) that he remembers his Father, my Grandfather, bringing home a barrel full of wooden (molding) plane stocks with the rebate already cut but not morticed or profiled from the Sargent factory in New Haven (probably during the depression or before). He burned them in the woodstove in his shop.

    Someday in the future our grandkids will lament the loss of so many cassette and 8 track players too...

    David

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  9. ShazzaDecember 17, 2008 at 8:22 PM

    I LOVE the plum bob display! That is really cool!

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  10. woodtreksDecember 17, 2008 at 11:31 PM

    I liked the corkscrews too!

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  11. Vic HubbardDecember 18, 2008 at 12:31 AM

    OK..first of all, I think that collection definitely puts the owner into the OCD category. WOW!!! Very cool! And...YOU BE NICE TO PBF. When she takes her glasses off, she transforms into a super ninja. Merry Christmas to you both!

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  12. John WalkerDecember 26, 2008 at 8:25 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  13. John WalkerDecember 26, 2008 at 8:28 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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