Sunday 17 July 2016

a 'spare' K13 in Desert Ironwood



 
Most of the Desert Ironwood I work with is highly figured, but this set has always caught my attention. I have walked past it hundreds of times, and often stopped to pick it up. It reminded me of ribbon striped Mahogany - just in a brown tone instead of red.

A few months ago, I decided to start working on it as a spare plane – picking away at it here and there. I just had to see what tame Desert Ironwood would look like. 



It has not disappointed – incredible chatoyance from heel to toe, and a wonderful beauty mark on the front pad thrown in for good measure. Here are several detail photos.

 

 

This beauty mark showed up our of nowhere. There was no indication that this was just below the surface - what a happy accident!








The sides and sole are 01 tool steel and the lever cap and screw are stainless steel.  The plane is 13-3/8" long with a 2-1/4" wide, PMV-11 blade, custom made by Lee Valley. The bed angle is 47.5 degrees.The price is $4,600.00 Cdn + actual shipping costs (roughly $3,675.00 USD based on the current exchange rate). Let me know if you are interested - konrad@sauerandsteiner.com

Ok. Back to renovating!

3 Comments:

Anonymous Dave Beauchesne said...

Love the refinement and finish Konrad - nice to see, and inspiring to do better at each turn.
Superbly executed!

Dave Beauchesne

2 August 2016 at 22:55  
Blogger Unknown said...

What happen? I don't see any news more. The last years I was looking of these blog . Hope to get a reply.

best regards

J. Becker
Gernany

26 January 2017 at 12:36  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hello Jurgen,

Yes, sorry for the lack of posting. I have been nursing a shoulder injury which has thrown planemaking into a bit of a mess. I hope to write an entry soon.
cheers,
konrad

26 January 2017 at 15:38  

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Monday 11 July 2016

Two K4’s - one spare & home renovations


Things are really hopping at the moment - so much so that blogging seems to have taken a back seat for a while. This will change fairly quickly - two new restoration projects have just begun. One is our house, the other a bit of a surprise project that is out of left field, but something we are all very excited about. More on that a bit later.

I have just completed two Desert Ironwood filled K4 planes. The one with the bronze lever cap and screw is spoken for, but the darker one with the stainless steel lever cap is available for sale. 




The K4 with the bronze lever cap was really fun to make - it is configured the same way as my own K4 - the prototype (the link will take you to photos of the prototype beside other planes for size and scale reference).  It felt like I was ‘my plane’ again. This is the smallest plane I make (so far:), and makes a block plane look pretty huge. The K4 is 4-1/2" long and has a 1-1/4" wide, high carbon steel blade. The bed angle is 52.5 degrees and the sides and sole are 01 tool steel.









The spare K4 has some really striking dark Ironwood burl. This plane is $2,150.00 Cdn + actual shipping cost. Email me if you are interested - konrad@sauerandsteiner.com








And the first of the two renovation projects - our house. The second floor to be specific. One of my first blog posts was about renovating the second floor sunroom - that was in 2007. It is time for us to gut the rest of the second floor. The floors, walls, ceilings - everything. We have never rented a bin before, so the big green beast should be a good indication of the scale of the job. I will post photos of the progress as we go.

8 Comments:

Anonymous job said...

Sounds like a fun project (2nd floor). Plaster removal is astonishingly messy. But satisfying. In our house, I found the best system was knocking the plaster loose of the lathe with the side of a hammer & shoveling up the plaster with a snow shovel. Then pull the wood lathe off and bundle it up. Then clean up the last of the plaster bits.

I really hope you don't have metal lathe! It's a much bigger pain. But the same basic method works well. What works better is a circular saw with a metal cutting blade (negative rake carbide), and cut it into sheets. I found ~3x3' squares a good size to be able to handle.

And the planes look fantastic!

11 July 2016 at 08:54  
Blogger Konrad said...

Thanks Job.

It is shockingly messy work. We have done it before - and here we are doing it again:) We are shoveling out the separated plaster and down the chute it goes into the wheel barrow and then into the bin. A little extra work, but we were not able to get the bin below the window. Once we have filled the bottom with all the plaster, we will toss the lathing and other waste on top of the pile. So far, so good.

cheers,
konrad

12 July 2016 at 07:00  
Blogger Chris Bame said...

Love the planes. Boy that dumpster sure looks like hard labor!!!
Can't wait to see what you do up there.
Cheers,
Chris

12 July 2016 at 16:17  
Blogger suzanne said...

Konrad,
Thanks for the beautiful plane. It was exciting to watch you build it. Good luck with the renovation.
Take care,
Suzanne

15 July 2016 at 09:02  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Konrad I was wondering if you could write a article on how you dovetail the curved sides on your planes
I LiI've in Australia and am making planes for myself and would love to know how you make your butifull planes
Thanks Alex

17 July 2016 at 03:10  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hi Chris,

Yes - hard labor it has been:) But we are almost done the gutting, and we are feeling tired, but pretty good that we can still do it - it has been a long time since we have done serious renovations.

cheers,
konrad

17 July 2016 at 07:44  
Blogger Konrad said...

Good morning Suzanne,

You are most welcome - it was a pleasure to make it for you. Glad you enjoyed watching the build.

Best wishes,
konrad

17 July 2016 at 07:45  
Blogger Konrad said...

Hi Alex,

I have often wondered about the right way to show this process - written instructions, photos... but I have concluded that video might be the most valuable way to do it. A large undertaking, but my oldest son is getting pretty good behind a camera, so if I can convince him to take this one - we might be able to put something together. I am not sure if you are in instagram or not, but I have posted quite a few short videos of the planemaking process.

cheers,
konrad

17 July 2016 at 07:47  

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