So we come to our first summer in the new shop. We have now been here for 5 months and we are thoroughly enjoying it; it really became the lift we had hoped for. And it seems that those of you who have been by feel the same, which makes it extra fun. We are here for you; it is you who want to be able to buy quality tools locally who drive us forward, and everything we do here is to make it better for you. A more accessible shop, a larger range, more information (more about that further down) and other things we are planning for the autumn, we hope you will be able to take part in.
Lie-Nielsen has once again made the 102 in iron. Since I started here in 2017 it hasn't existed; it is in the 2013 catalogue we have in the shop, so somewhere in between they stopped making it, and now after 10 years it can be bought again. Personally I like this smaller model of block plane; I have the Veritas version, which is very similar. The little block plane, type 102, was made by Stanley between 1877 and 1962. It was also made by a multitude of other plane makers: Millers Falls, Sargent, some of the Eskilstuna makers, Kuntz and others. It is simple in design; it has no adjustment other than the iron being held in place by a screw under the handle. Handle, no, there isn't one on this model, but a place for the index finger is cast into the front end of the plane. You hold it inside your hand.
For a number of years Lie-Nielsen has had its own version of the block plane #102. At first it was available in both steel and bronze, but as mentioned, it is now again available partly in bronze and, as an alternative, in iron (the plane body) with a bronze lever cap. It has its blade at a 12 degree angle and the blade is made of A2 steel. All it has in common with the older planes is the designation 102 and its size. The quality and the details set it completely apart from the older ones. This one sits comfortably and steadily in the hand, has a thick and securely mounted blade with a depth adjustment (you adjust laterally by hand or with a small brass hammer). Lie-Nielsen's 102 really does a good job and is very popular. The whole range of block planes is here: block planes
A summer project could be making your own tool, a plane or, for example, a knife. We have a number of kits, with or without wood, for building various planes or kitchen knives. kits. James Krenov, who has a well-known connection to Sweden, has a wooden plane named after him. We have both ready-made kits and a large number of blades for making it. James Krenov. Otherwise it can also be fun to take care of an older plane. Our second manufacturer after Veritas was Hock, who made replacement blades for planes. A few years ago they were bought by LeeValley (Veritas) and are now sold through them. They made their plane blades from A2 or O1 tool steel. Our replacement plane blades are 2.4mm (3/32") thick, i.e. almost 20% thicker than standard. This heavier thickness improves the planing result considerably and gives a high-class result. You will be pleasantly surprised when you see and feel the result.
They are all 178mm (7") long and have a 30° cutting angle, and fit most older planes such as Stanley, Record, Memo, Jernbolaget, etc. in the respective plane size. Because these planes were made in steel for more than 100 years, there are deviations in dimensions that have arisen over all those years, not so much in width or length. The difference lies in how the blades are designed for the adjustment mechanism, both lateral and depth. The best thing is to measure your old blade and compare it with ours to see which plane blade fits.
Plane blades for the block plane are 3.2mm (1/8") thick with a cutting angle of 25°. Adjustment slots are of course there to fit the adjustment mechanism of these planes. You find the right blade by measuring its width; it is either 1-3/8" (low-angle block plane, 12 degrees, 60-1/2 models) or 1-5/8" (standard, 20 degrees, 9-1/2 models).
The British-made Record and Stanley have a side-adjustment slot that is 5/8" – these also have three slots for the adjustment mechanism. There are block planes that have no side adjustment; these normally have an 11.1mm (7/16") slot.
Spokeshaves – there are replacement blades for these as well. They fit spokeshaves from Kuntz, Stanley, Preston and many others. One difference is how the adjustment screws sit in the plane; for example, some have two adjustment screws, one on each side of the blade, which means the replacement blades have cutouts for these.
We have rearranged our replacement plane blades a bit so it should be easier to find what you are looking for.
plane blades
This newsletter is posted on our blog, Ta i Trä, and there we will in the future collect even more information that may be interesting to read. We have been given permission by Hyveldoktorn.se (the Plane Doctor) to post his old blog, which was active between 2011 and 2016. It is about 50 posts that today are not visible except on archived websites. We have posted the last 6 so far, and will work through all of them over the summer. You find them under
Hyveldoktorn, which links on to our blog. Bengt, as Hyveldoktorn is called, has said informally that new posts may perhaps come going forward as well. So you will have to keep an eye out here. We ourselves will write more project posts and also translate texts from, for example, Veritas. There is also an opportunity, if any of you feel like publishing something, you may have a burning interest in a craft or be especially knowledgeable in a technique and would like to share it, to post it here as well. We want Ta i Trä to become a natural place to find information in Swedish.
I also have an idea of interacting with you a bit more; we have never tried this, but someone has to be the first. We have a YouTube channel (
https://www.youtube.com/@RubankVerktygsAB). So far there isn't much there, but the idea is to run a little live show, working title something like 'tool Friday', or 'ask about a tool'.. When we run it, you can ask a question about a particular product we have that you might want to look at more closely before buying it. We will then take it out, show the product and answer any questions you write in. The idea is to run it every Friday during the autumn for about an hour. But as an extra Midsummer thing, I thought I would test this tomorrow. Keep an eye on the channel; I think if you subscribe you get a notification when a live show starts. We hope this can be something fun to watch..
We have some larger items on sale at the moment; we need a bit more floor space in the shop, and these products are standing on pallets. A few machines/products at really good prices. Please have a look;
saleWe are open a few more weeks, then we will be closed for a few weeks; we will send orders about once a week while we are closed. Otherwise I will be at scout camp with my sons outside Kalmar this summer. If any of you are there, drop by the Trosa/Gränna camp village and say hi!
Have a lovely Midsummer and a really nice summer, and we will be in touch again in August.
