Richard Maguire?

[D_W]

there you go - having finished my impassioned defence of paid content, RM has just released a new video series and its free! D_W you may be interested to know it is about making a laminated wooden plane (you can read his brief intro for why he did this rather than the trad approach). cheers

http://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/plane-build-video/

Ahh - I do recall that.

I know some people will just like to build a plane, and that's fine. In terms of time on laminated planes with a cross pin, I just don't really get it, though. There is an argument (and I get messages on youtube like this) "you know, I like the plane you built, but I don't think I can build it" (or get the right materials, or want to build a couple to get a good one, etc. ).

But I went down the easy road first, and made planes that stay on the shelf. The sensible thing for someone really wanting a plane like that is to go to any decent online dealer in the UK and you can get for 30 quid a near perfect plane that if it needs any tuning, you can figure out what the issue is easily from the making videos.

I eventually threw away all of the "shortcut" planes i made. It was fun to think how they might be great while I was making them, but the fun ran out and they turned out to be a waste of time and money. Your 30 quid near perfect plane costs us 70 over here, because we have to ship it to here, but it's still the same cost as it is for me to build a plane. So, the building is really just for sport. My planes aren't any better than the couple that I scavenged my favorite aspects from except that they are new and tight. But it takes a tiny effort to make those old planes just as new and tight feeling. Then they become a serious lifetime tool that nothing will surpass, and they'll never end up on the rack for any reason other than purchasing excess.

Now, of all of my comments above, I don't wish to change anyones' mind about Richard or paying for content, or suggest Richard should share information for free that he feels he can get paid to share. That's his business, his subscribers' business, and none of mine. Mine's just opinion, and one thing I believe about opinions is that you don't have to agree with me and we can get along fine, and certainly I don't believe that we should insist that our opinions are good enough for obligation.

I picked up on some of his complaints, and drew my conclusion that he's sort of building a case as to why he should sell paid info, but I think that telling potential subscribers that the world of free information is a minefield of trash that can't be navigated (or implying that) is not accurate. Sure, there's a lot of trash. There's a lot of super stuff, too. It would be more useful to just put a list together of the good stuff. And then if people still decide they want better produced videos, well you usually have to pay for that because people like me who don't even have ads turned on really aren't building a business and never intend to, and we're definitely not going to spend an entire day editing a 10 minute video.

I sense that the road to making paid content is due to failure to find satisfaction (which is likely more related to failure to find financial satisfaction) doing anything else, and the frustration of dealing with other peoples' opinions is a perfectionist issue. Not productive. You do what you think is right and ignore the opinions that aren't productive. I used to argue with everyone, I guess compared to the average person, I still do. But when someone comes to my youtube channel and wants to start an argument or leaves a pointlessly negative post just to start the typical internet fight, I just delete it these days without responding. I hope richard gets to that point.

I could be wrong about every single speculation and everything else above! I reserve the right to be wrong I don't reserve the right to tell you that I'm not if we find out that I am.

 

[nabs]

The sensible thing for someone really wanting a plane like that is to go to any decent online dealer in the UK and you can get for 30 quid a near perfect plane that if it needs any tuning, you can figure out what the issue is easily from the making videos.

I was going to ask you about that - one of the things RM says in his video is that many of the old wooden planes available are in such a bad state that they require some of the difficult 'trad' plane building skills to fix, and it can thus be argued building a simple laminated one is easier than getting those skills. given your experience of all 3 things - simple planes, refurbs and trad - what do you think?

Agreed he does not need to rubbish other online content to justify his stuff, it should sell on its own merits (mind you it would be reasonable ask yourself if your stuff really did offer significantly more value if you are just starting a business that depends on paid content!)

 

[AndyT]

There's some good sense in these last few posts and plenty to agree with.

All I'd like to add is that my impression of Richard and his wife Helen is that they are really straight dealing people who want to make a living doing what they are good at, while treating their customers well. I've met them a couple of times at Richard Arnold's events, so I feel pretty sure of my ground here.

We can count ourselves lucky that at present, for our sort of niche content, there's no single simple answer to how it can be paid for. Consequently, as people experiment with different approaches, we can benefit and get some really excellent instruction for free or not very much.

A real time close-up video of an experienced craftsperson conveys so much more information than a few lines of text and a couple of diagrams.

 

[Tasky]

My point about it is that it varies in quality signficantly, and this is understandable when you think that it is funded largely by online advertising which depends on 'clicks' and not quality. As we all know, popular does not always equal good/right!

In some industries, no, but a lot of those videos are quite subjective anyway, often little more than reviews. With things like woodworking, it's a bit more substantial and dependant on demonstrable results.
To that end, you as a YouTuber would also need a good reputation to bring the large audiences that advertisers will pay good money to access. If your videos are full of lying cack that people cannot get results with, or of little more substance than bigging up your own brand or rubbishing someone else's work, then people won't keep coming back.

I think Peter Parfitt is an example of this (mind you he may be sponsored by Festool, for all I know!) and a great example of how personality makes such a difference. Even though I have no intention of making any of the things he does I would watch his stuff just because he is a natural. Having said that, I am pretty sure it takes him a bit more to create his vids than just standing in front of a camera for 40 minutes :wink:

I will check his channel out. Sounds interesting.
Thing is, even if he is sponsored by Festool, or actually uses Festool himself (which is better), so long as it's mostly about the woodworking he uses Festool tools for, that's what people want.

Speaking of advertising, watch Sellers's video on the rag-in-a-can oiler - He took great pains to remove the supermarket name on the front of his empty tomato tin, but forgot that it was on the other side, ha ha !!

But yeah, you can do very well for low effort, planning and even time, which is where the 'free sample' side would come in... and there has to be a free sample part, to prove to people like me that your paid content will deliver. We'll happily pay for it, but sample first please. It doesn't need to be studio quality top class... just good enough.

A lot of the Blues guitarists I know open a song with a mini-solo. It's sort of the same idea, where they get the show-off part (guitarists love showing off and doing solos) done at the beginning. They say it's to establish straight off that they're skilled enough to be worth hearing, but it's also a bit like the signature flourish a fencer or a matial artist does before a fight to show their lineage, salute their instructor and prove they are something to be reckoned with.
Now I doubt a woodworker would want to spin a plane round their finger, or pull off a couple of balisong style flip-tricks with a sharp chisel... but a couple of cool little videos that make you go, "Wow... yeah, I wanna know what else this person has to say!" is the same thing.

 

[nabs]

untarnished as I am by the filthy lucre of advertising I can tell you with a clear conscience that that my rag-in-a-can-oiler was made from a Heinz baked-beans can. Obviously not as good as Waitrose peeled plum tomatoes per Mr Sellers, but then I am a tyro.

to wrap up my view on the RM videos, I can only repeat Andy's comments and wish the pair of them the best of luck - I shall be doing my bit by subscribing to all of their videos!

PS the Peter Parfitt comment was tongue in cheek (but he *really* loves his festool kit!)

PPS I am afraid you can expect a lot more nonsense from me in the next couple of days as I am house bound having trapped the sciatic nerve in my back

 

[D_W]

Agreed he does not need to rubbish other online content to justify his stuff, it should sell on its own merits (mind you it would be reasonable ask yourself if your stuff really did offer significantly more value if you are just starting a business that depends on paid content!)

Agree on both of those. I've noticed the folks who are most successful at drawing people in often provide nothing but a positive message (and don't compare themselves to a straw or real competitor. No reason to shine a potential customer's light on something else. Just make them happy and entertained).

To the point that I didn't quote - planes being in a bad lot - lots of those planes are in bad shape, but quite a lot are in close-to-usable shape and the bits in them that need the most work are often the cap iron and iron (but you have to work those on a newly made plane, anyway).

Other than that, most wooden planes are solved by the following:
* tuning up the wedge - even replacing the wedge is not something you do a majority of the time.
* truing the sole
* making sure that the handle is securely glued (no potential problem in the push as handles are designed to come out only when not pushing a plane)
* potentially working the wear area a bit to give yourself more room of there is clogging, or to clean off accumulated gunk

Most old planes have an iron that's hollow in the back side along its length. The need for any significant bedding work is ultra rare. In fact, I've never done it. All of the things above are pretty easy, it's just a matter of having someone show you how to do them and just a few important aspects.

I have one english friend who cannot be satisfied by the above. First, he considers himself above vintage tools of that type, but second the width of his hands at the knuckles is 4.75". Very little in the world of planes fits his hand, so I made him a plane with a handle so big that it looks like it's for a clown.

The rest of us, we can usually find something that fits.

The fact that I can buy (though I do have to pay to have it shipped) a very good try plane from the UK for 30-35 quid with a near new iron (the last one I bought had an unused ward pair...good God, I'd pay twice as much just for the iron and cap pair by itself) is astounding to me. I know what to look for, of course, so I can find myself quite a deal at that, even though the average yard saler in the UK (can't remember what you call yard sales) would have a great time making fun of me for spending 70 quid to get an old wooden plane.

Of course, this is a topic that excites me, because I know a lot about it. It pains me to even say I know a lot about something, it sounds arrogant, but I do know a lot about this topic.

I could probably share a video about just cleaning up an old plane (I think I have one that's not sorted out that i put aside a year or two ago). I have an old one that just describes the clog issue in an old wooden plane and how to eliminate it so that you can take full width shavings with a double iron plane. I'd sooner see people doing what I mentioned above to a good-shape old plane than making compromises in making one of their own.

I don't sell planes generally for the reason that you can glean from this - I can't make the case to someone that they should buy a plane from me for $500 if they can go out and buy a good one and have it going for the rest of their life for about a fifth of that. Once in a while I run across someone who wants to buy one, anyway, but i don't run a business and send them to a maker who does (with the exception of maybe 8 or 10 that I've made for people for the cost of materials. )

 

[D_W]

A real time close-up video of an experienced craftsperson conveys so much more information than a few lines of text and a couple of diagrams.

Exactly why I mentioned above that I'd like to see a couple of such people (because there are many who don't teach) doing just that. Just turn the camera on, and ignore the people who are looking for an HBO feature quality video. Those folks aren't looking for content, anyway. Send them off to someone using a kreg jig to build a raised bed frame or someone splitting wood inside of a used tire.

 

[nabs]

I'd like to see a video on resolving clogging issues if you get time - I have one coffin smoother which is still prone to clogging and I am a bit nervous I might ruin it if I fiddle with it too much.

 

[AndyT]

David, have you watched any videos by David Boeff?

He seems to be firmly in the camp of "stick the camera on a tripod and get on with woodworking" YouTubers.
He also makes impressively advanced antique style furniture full of advanced carving, curves and very challenging elements. It may not be to everyone's taste, but it is interesting to see how he goes about it.
From what I have seen, zero attempts to monetise the content. And it's all about the work, not the tools.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDKsKT ... kv1SstybGw

 

[D_W]

David, have you watched any videos by David Boeff?

He seems to be firmly in the camp of "stick the camera on a tripod and get on with woodworking" YouTubers.
He also makes impressively advanced antique style furniture full of advanced carving, curves and very challenging elements. It may not be to everyone's taste, but it is interesting to see how he goes about it.
From what I have seen, zero attempts to monetise the content. And it's all about the work, not the tools.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDKsKT ... kv1SstybGw

I have not seen his stuff, thanks! It's exactly the kind of stuff i like to see.

A discussion from a master, and then some bits of how they work. I like the style he's making in the videos I see, but even if I didn't, watching skilled workers translates across styles and I'd watch even if he was making studio furniture (which I have no taste for).

I am a terrible carver...terrible, and it's from lack of exposure, and potentially i'll find out it's due to lack of ability to visualize a good carving, but I haven't gotten that far and much appreciate the link to anything showing good carving work.

 

[D_W]

I'd like to see a video on resolving clogging issues if you get time - I have one coffin smoother which is still prone to clogging and I am a bit nervous I might ruin it if I fiddle with it too much.

Since I don't edit, I've got time the next free hour. If you lived in the states, I'd set your plane up for you - it's likely something very small, but I didn't understand all of it until the making started. And then I quickly understood (it's usually a wear and cap iron profile issue - they sort of need to go together) because I lost tolerance for spending a full hour or more making corrections at the end of a 15 hour build.

I figured that craftsmen may have been expected to understand this by makers and do some final tuning, and given that two unused planes that i've bought had the same clogging issue, I think that's the case.

 

[nabs]

yes I remember seeing instructions for tuning recalcitrant wooden planes in the Woodworker compendium that C Schwartz published - i will have to take another look.

 

[D_W]

David, have you watched any videos by David Boeff?

He seems to be firmly in the camp of "stick the camera on a tripod and get on with woodworking" YouTubers.
He also makes impressively advanced antique style furniture full of advanced carving, curves and very challenging elements. It may not be to everyone's taste, but it is interesting to see how he goes about it.
From what I have seen, zero attempts to monetise the content. And it's all about the work, not the tools.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDKsKT ... kv1SstybGw

He speaks american, too!!

 

[Tasky]

the width of his hands at the knuckles is 4.75". Very little in the world of planes fits his hand, so I made him a plane with a handle so big that it looks like it's for a clown.

You have me worried now - Mine are 4¼"... and I am bidding on several planes. Worried they won't fit, now!

 

[D_W]

the width of his hands at the knuckles is 4.75". Very little in the world of planes fits his hand, so I made him a plane with a handle so big that it looks like it's for a clown.

You have me worried now - Mine are 4¼"... and I am bidding on several planes. Worried they won't fit, now!

Some will fit your hands and some won't. The planes that will cause you the most strife are those that are short and that have a sweep on the top horn that is almost parallel with the plane.

Mine are 3 1/2 and I do have one plane (an old matheison fore) that literally fits them right on, but I know i"ve got a couple of old planes that would work with 4 1/4".

In my somewhat limited experience, 3 1/2 to just over 4 covers nearly all hands. The fact that my friend's hands are 4 3/4" is unusual.

You can always make a new handle for a plane. It sounds like a horrible thing, but it's not that bad. Couple of hours of work to get the old one out cleanly and make a good fitting good taste new one. Better to do that than it is to fight a dud.

 

[sundaytrucker]

I have bought every premium series Richard has released and I don't see that changing, His personality and knowledge combined with the production values Helen strives for elevate The English Woodworker videos above all others in my opinion.

I have no intention of building my own hand plane any time soon however I was thrilled to see fresh content available whether it was free or paid for.