Electric Hand Planers

If it has an electrical cord it is covered here.
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Chris Pyle
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Re: Electric Hand Planers

Sun Oct 01, 2017 7:12 pm

I appreciate the reply Brian. I'll post more shortly but I appreciate the follow-up, it makes far more sense given the parameters you are evaluating.
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Chris Pyle
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Re: Electric Hand Planers

Mon Oct 02, 2017 7:06 am

Brian wrote:
Sun Oct 01, 2017 4:12 pm
I admire the designers who created these works because many, if not all of them were trained as architects and often as cabinetmakers. These are people with real hands on experience and it shows in their product. They're designing for manufacture, which means that every process adds and expense and everything must be justifiable and the ultimate result must provide itself as a practical money maker. They were able to reconcile all of this and still make a good looking design, well made and approachable priced (at the time of original sale).
This makes a good deal of sense. I'm looking at the designs in a purity vacuum and comparing them to their current price, which isn't fair. They weren't trying to craft the perfect desk, they were designing with myriad of factors involved, not the least of which was cost. They were also designing something that was to be handed off and built by a trained work force but there are some things you simply can't expect from that production model.

Given those parameters, I can agree they hit high marks. It would actually be a major improvement to see furniture like this in people's homes today.

Re: the architect's desk - I like the gently sloping legs and the form itself is a good place to start when designing something but I'm probably overly worried about exposed end grain. From what I've seen, it rarely behaves well. Does the material look plain sawn to you? That's not the end of the world but I'd be worried about movement given open ends. Breadboard ends would've alleviated my concern. The three ribs/crossmembers are more than typically seen so perhaps that combats the threat?

I wonder how often these pieces are actually used? Or if they are purchased and partially corded off as a museum piece in a wealthy patron's home? I'm not arguing that's the worst thing but it's hard to tell how well something has held up when it's designer received notoriety for much of their life. If fame for the designer came many years post mortem, then you'd have relative certainty his/her wares were used accordingly.

I do appreciate the examples Brian and I would very much enjoy an on-going discussion where we "Dissect this form/proportion/construction". It's beneficial to see how things were built, what proportions were used and discuss how things could've been augmented.

Once my VFD gets here, my wife has asked for matching side tables so I'm in the process of the design phase now and it can be frustrating. I'd really like to learn Fusion 360 better so I can quickly change proportions, etc.
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Brian
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Re: Electric Hand Planers

Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:25 am

I expect that the battens were provided for that reason, and a glue up can stand a much better chance at staying flat over time. The maker will turn the end grain so that the cupping effect of each board cancels the other out. Most Carl Hansen made dining tables are solid wood and made with exposed end grain and there are many surviving examples that are been used over the years.

I actually believe that bread board ends likely receive a higher number of complaints than bare ends. Bread board ends have the downside of being flush twice a year (at most). I have worked to hide that effect on my work at times when I can do so. One has to counter the expectation of perfection more-so than the expectations of a user familiar with wood movement. Minor cupping is likely far less noticeable by a user than something that isn't flush around the outside edge. The breadboard end misalignment catches clothes and feels obvious when you run your hand around a table. I've hidden this carefully on coffee tables but it would be quite impractical to take the same approach on dining tables. I would be more inclined to do as Chris H has and make a frame and panel, which of course makes for crumb catchers but has many positive attributes.

I've been in many homes owned by the people who buy and use this type of furniture, mostly they're buying to use and entertain with not so much to collect or to make a museum of. I'm within close proximity to Nakashima Woodworker, and so I've come across many many people who've been using his work over the years. So many of them bought during a time when their pricing was just competitive with other similar furniture and so it was used as an everyday thing and not treated like a piece of art work. Some of them are more careful now that they fetch a high price, but most were just bought and used like any other table would be. I'm sure that is the case with the great majority of work by the Danish masters, even more so due to the fact that they are production made furniture.

There is a furniture restorer near me who does repair a lot of modernist work in addition to 18th century work and other groups. I poke my head into his shop from time to time and see what he's working on. Judging by what I've seen there, especially, this stuff is used like anything else.

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