Replies

1. 
   Midnight | Mar 08, 2006 11:58pm | #1

   Ron... I've no hands on experience with infill to give a personal account, but my impression from what I've read is that there's minimal cross-over between traditional iron planes and infills with regard to the materials they excel in working.

   Using purple heart as an example, by all accounts it'll give a well tuned bench plane a run for its money; that same stock is meat n gravy for a panel plane... In the middle of the spectrum, something like oak (normally pretty well behaved) is just another day in the ofice for that same bench plane, yet for whatever reason, infills don't seem to have the same authority... Going down another notch... working softwoods should present no challenge to the bench plane... panel plane won't look at it..

   I don't pretent to understand the physics in some of the explanations I've read... paid from the neck down for a reason..  ;)

   Mike Wallace

   Stay safe....Have fun

2. 
   Malcolm | Mar 09, 2006 02:23pm | #2

   Ron

   I can't give you a L-N vs Shepherd/infill comparison because I've never used a L-N.

   I can tell you how infills (large and small) compare to well set-up Stanleys, and to top line wooden planes (I have a couple of HNT Gordon's).

   First, an infill is heavier, so will have more authority. Get them started, and they're hard to stop

   Second, an infill is damped better  - blade is clamped hard in place, and clamped to close tolerances against a lot of steel and dense hardwood. Chatter-free, sweet-cutting

   Third, the mouth is likely to be pretty tight, which does affect how the blade lifts and tears wood fibres

   Fourth, the tote will be bigger, better shaped, and more comfortable to push

   If you fit a Norris-style adjuster (especially the fine single threaded variety), it's quick and easy to get setup for very fine shavings.

   They are not, however, the universal panacea, as the thread above says. They don't hog very well, some of the benefits disappear when smoothing softwood, and in gummy or sticky wood, may be fussy about mouth clearance.

   Is it worth building one? That no-one can answer for you! My Shepherd has given me enormouse pleasure - I'm pleased with the job I did, pleased with the way it works for me, and pleased that it inspired me to go on and make other planes.

   But if you bought a kit and it didn't go together well, you'd be peed off, right!

   Malcolm

   http://www.macpherson.co.nz
1. 
   C_R_Miller_Planes | Mar 25, 2006 07:41pm | #3

   It's a moot point now. Sadly it looks like Shepherd Tools is no more. Just read about it at WoodCentral.

   Edited 3/25/2006 12:47 pm ET by C.R. Miller

1. 
   DCarr10760 | Mar 25, 2006 08:00pm | #4

   I can't find anything about this on Woodcentral.  Could you post a link?

   It does seem as though their website has been trimmed back considerably!

   Thanks.

   David C.

1. 
   Malcolm | Mar 25, 2006 10:24pm | #5

   Tell me it's not true!

   If Shepherd Tools is really no more (and I've been wondering about their web site as well) that's a significant loss to craft woodworking.

   I wonder if the plane currently selling for about $270 on the Bay will suddenly shoot up in value.

   Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz

1. 
   C_R_Miller_Planes | Mar 25, 2006 10:34pm | #6

   Check out the url below for more informationhttp://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/handtools.pl?noframes;read=86713

2. 
   Malcolm | Mar 25, 2006 10:53pm | #7

   Seems to be true. Shame (and I feel for the guys, they tried hard, had their hearts in the right place, and seemed genuine).

   There's a business lesson here, and one I see often - the people who innovate and create, or even just 'make' are hardly ever good at 'business'. They're seperate skills, and not everyone has them.

   Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz

3. 
   WillGraham | Mar 28, 2006 04:08am | #8

   I think they are gone for good.  I have family in that town and the lights have not been on for a few weeks. Seems the power has been turned off.  I just got back from a coss country business trip and will try to get up there in the next week or so.

4. 
   Ronaway | Mar 29, 2006 04:40am | #9

   Malcolm I think the Shepherd on Ebay went for $385.00 which I think was an excellent buy for the winning bidder.Ron

5. 
   Malcolm | Mar 29, 2006 12:48pm | #10

   Yes, and here's an interesting thing - there haven't been any Shepherd planes on the Bay for a while, now there are 2 (plus the one just sold). perhaps people are looking for rarity value already?

   Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz

6. 
   daryl | Apr 24, 2006 07:10pm | #11

   From what I understand, Shepard left a lot of angry customers in their wake; they took deposits and never fulfilled the orders. I assume that their machining skills were better than their business ones.That said, the original question on which is better, a Shepard (and other infills) and a LN leaves lots of unasked questions and many answers. I have several infills (an old Spiers smoother and an old Norris panel-duh, of course they are old), a Ray Iles smoother, a Steve Knight smoother (my actual favorite) custom made for me, back when he did them, several LN's of various types, several wood planes, and a couple of Japanese planes. Each plane is good for various types of wood and grain. No one plane will do it all, any more than any shoe will fulfill everything. Frank Klausz performs wonders with old Stanleys he fixes up.So they all do well, assuming the plane is tuned and the iron sharp. Nothing handles curly maple like my Japanese smoother, nothing deals with cherry, curly or otherwise than my Ray Iles. And lets not forget the Lee Valley planes either.