The Yanks Have Arrived.....

[jimi43]

For years now I have browsed the Internet seeking out the wide variety of toolmakers who fashion quality items from wood and metal.

When I use a tool I like to feel I'm holding a piece of art and a part of history...preferably both.

I had taken a slight break from the whittling over the last year pointing telescopes to the sky and building an observatory so insomnia has set in.

This turned out to be a very very good thing as I was browsing Fleabay at some unearthly hour of the morning and espied this beauty....

This behemoth was hand made by Steve Knight of Knight Toolworks, Oregon...USA back in 2005...

Steve has had universal acclaim in toolmaking circles since he started making planes back in the 1990s but his company appears to have bitten the dust recently...his website points nowhere.

So at 7am when I found this as a Buy it Now for £110 I couldn't believe my luck and snapped it up there and then. This was yesterday and it arrived TODAY!! Amazing!

It's actually a birthday present from my dear wife Annie but she was blissfully unaware of this fact at the time and threatened to hide it until my birthday...until she saw what that entailed and gave up gracefully!

Anyway...it's HUGE. I'm talking silly huge.

Here she is (Bertha by the way...what else!!)....lurking behind my David Barron jointer which I thought was big enough...

It's interesting to see the different design ideas from around the world and amusing to note this is characteristic of other things.

Whilst the Barron is very reminiscent of a sleek British sports car...the Knight jointer is more akin to a huge Cadillac. Unashamedly huge and capable of wiping out a passing articulated lorry at 100 yards!

Interestingly Bertha sports a Japanese iron....

I love this. I like the marriage of East and West and can't wait to see how this performs. It certainly is thick enough...

She also has a closeable mouth, furnished very simply by the adjustable front wedge:

At the moment this is set way back...

The wedge has a unique flying-V shape...

So...now to test her...after I get rid of the tiny chips on the iron and set the mouth....and will be back to report on whether she works as good as she looks...

Cheers

Jimi

 

[AndyT]

Nice one Jim - though you could have tidied your new bench before taking the photos... :wink:

 

[jimi43]

Nice one Jim - though you could have tidied your new bench before taking the photos... :wink:

I DID Andy!!!

There was a bloody quiche on it!!!

I shall have to sack the maid! :mrgreen:

Jim

 

[Racers]

Wow Jim

That's a beast and that iron is big enough to affect compasses far out at sea!

Pete

 

[Trafalgar]

I have a strange craving for a cappuccino....anybody else?

 

[Richard T]

Coo .... nice. And nice iron; that looks even thicker than my 1/4 inchers. You'll never dig in with the corners either.

 

[ac445ab]

Bella! It appears very well made.
Interesting the adjustable wedge on the wear side.
So, has the mouth two positions, open and closed?
Ciao
Giuliano

 

[jimi43]

HA Pete!! Yes...that iron is huge and it's over 1/4" Richard. It is now razor sharp although I might do some more polishing.

Giuliano...yes..the mouth is adjustable...this is it fully down:

There are two grub screws...one on each side of the iron at the bottom and I need to fine tune these to line up the edge with the front mouth wedge and then try her out...ALFIE seems to approve though...

Cheers...and anyone want's to pop over and see Bertha and ALFIE and have a Blue Mountain espresso then feel free!!! (cappuccino indeed!!!)

Jimi

 

[gasman]

Nice plane Jim
My dog would have that as a 'stick' and be down the garden with it!
Cheers
Mark

 

[Racers]

I like Alfie's trousers!

Pete

 

[condeesteso]

I like Alfie's trousers!

Pete

:lol: :lol:

Suit him well, stealth and awe is Alf's style

Very interesting plane, another good find Jim. Looks like it will work very well, nice and elemental with a stonking iron. But it needs testing to be certain :wink:

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I'd say Alfie looks faintly worried by that monster. It may be a good idea to keep it on a high shelf in case he decides to chew it down to a more manageable length.

The jointer planes used by the cabinetmakers of old were about 30" long (c.f. Benjamin Seaton and his wonderous chest). That one can't be far off the same sort of length. Rather impressive piece of toolmaking....

 

[Stimpi]

I would love to see it working. A characteristic of a good tool is it seems to know how to perform you only need to hold it.

 

[gregmcateer]

By Jimini,

That looks lovely. Good snap-up, sir!

If I still lived in Kent, I'd be over to admire your wood, (can you say that online!?!) and sample an espresso!

 

[jimi43]

Douglas came to visit ALFIE today and had a play with BERTHA...

After a while setting it to his liking it was fair whizzing along....

As you can see...he also brought along his beautiful George Buck smoother...I think this is contemporary as it is stamped with Buck and Ryan on the year they opened their first shop (1824)...although it doesn't look like it...it's almost new....

However...it was hardly needed as the Japanese iron in this beautiful giant left a surface like a baby's bum!!

I'm rather chuffed with this behemoth...it's very nimble once trained!!!

Jimi

 

[GLFaria]

Simply beautiful! The joiner too, BTW.