Electric Hand Planers

If it has an electrical cord it is covered here.
User avatar
Chris Hall
Site Admin
Contact:
Location: Greenfield, Massachusetts
Posts: 2385
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:46 pm

Re: Electric Hand Planers

Sat Sep 30, 2017 3:31 pm

It's interesting to find oneself in a place where one both recognizes the contradictions of a thing and enjoys it nonetheless.
User avatar
Chris Pyle
Deshi
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 286
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:09 pm

Re: Electric Hand Planers

Sat Sep 30, 2017 9:02 pm

Brian wrote:
Sat Sep 30, 2017 12:58 pm
Part of working in a concrete box underground has me wanting for working in a glass box above ground :)

I think you make fair criticisms, I understand that they had interest in wanting to move away from what they considered to be bourgeois and elite fixtures. My understanding was that there was a practical aspect of this in that they wanted to provide a usable roof, in the case of Le Corbusier it was for roof gardens. In city centers this is quite practical and has been made to function with success.

I believe steel is easiest to produce in straight forms given the cost of tooling up for anything else. The early modernists must have had to consider scale for their projects as much as any other architect considers practical limitations. Later modern work shows this as it is not all boxes nor is it all flat roofs. Corbusiers Chapel in Ronchamp comes to mind, as does Nakashima's work with the Barrel vault and much of Carlo Scarpa's work which involves more complex forms.

The great ironies of modernism are not lost on me. Modernist work is expensive to produce and is largely considered a luxury good at this point. Moreover the houses were mainly commissioned by wealthy benefactors and often times ran well over budget (so much for economy). Farnsworth house stands out in my mind, its tiny and cost well over a million dollars in today's money to build.

I don't consider it perfect and its ethos is not mine but I enjoy it none the less.
I don't know if it's a problem that something has a high price tag. I think the problem is the high price tag accompanying a thin 'vuh-neer' of quality. If the work stood the test of time and showed it's value as it aged, I'd have a lot more respect for it. This is why I have such a difficult time separating a form from it's construction, likely to my detriment. Which reminds me of a favorite quote of mine:

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. - F Scott Fitzgerald

vuh-neer was employed to get around Chris' filter :)
User avatar
Brian
Deshi
Posts: 1090
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Electric Hand Planers

Sat Sep 30, 2017 11:28 pm

Modern furniture sometimes is not all vaneered MDF with a big price tag. Modern furniture also does not take the prize for high price and Vuh-neer, that belongs by a large margin French Art Deco. Have a look at Ruhlmann please then we will revisit what's considered a high price :)

Some examples of modern furniture built with good quality and a majority solid wood:

Dissect the Wishbone chair designed by Hans Wagner and produced by Carl Hansen. Steam bent VG material for the back, turned legs, mortise and tenon joinery (not floating tenons or dowels), cut tenons, a bentwood lamination for the back support and a woven seat. Designed by a trained cabinetmaker who made multiple prototypes by hand using traditional method prior to working with the factory staff to form an approach to mass manufacture of the chair while maintaining the quality.

Mogens Koch Cabinets produced by Rad Rasmussen; Hand cut mitered corner dovetails around the case exterior, mortise and tenon joinery, frame and panel doors and full mortise locks and wood on wood shelving/drawers made entirely in solid wood.

Kaare Klint 'Desk' by Red Rasmussen, often found in Cuban Mahogany. https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/table ... f_7453733/

Safari Chairs https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/seati ... f_6511673/

Finn Juhl 45 chair

Poul Kjearholm flat file https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/stora ... f_6191403/

Hans Wegner, architects desk https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/table ... f_1176100/

Hans Wegner Peacock chair https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/seati ... f_8323383/

Hans Wegner Folding chair https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/seati ... f_1306636/

BassamFellows 'leather desk' http://bassamfellows.com/entry.html?id=35

BassamFellows - Daybed http://bassamfellows.com/entry.html?id=27

BassamFellows - Tractor stools http://bassamfellows.com/entry.html?id=31
User avatar
Chris Pyle
Deshi
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 286
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:09 pm

Re: Electric Hand Planers

Sun Oct 01, 2017 7:32 am

Hi Brian,
I think you may have misunderstood my intention with the word 'vuh-neer'. I was using it in a broad sense as "a cover to hide something less attractive beneath". But since you provided examples:

The architect's desk - the top looked under-engineered. Do you think it's prone to movement? Are you only impressed with the proportions or do you find something else desirable about it?

The peacock chair looks like it would perform like most other chairs of that design ie. - I bet it would have a life of 40-50 years?

The Kaare Klint desk is proportionally appealing to my eye. I can't see anything about it's construction but I'd say that design receives high marks.

The safari chairs would probably have the same issues as all other chairs. I wonder how comfortable they are in use?

Rare Poul Kjærholm Flat File Cabinet by Rud Rasmussen - as a pure proportion study I find it appealing. Nothing else extraordinary besides the price tag. It looks like it's sitting on a steel case and the back panel looks like plywood held on with metal fasteners?

None of the bassamfellows links worked for me.

There are plenty of people using hardwood but do you think these are the pinnacle of construction? Or were you just wanting to show not everyone uses schmeer? I'm certainly aware of Scandinavian furniture after finding James Krenov's books many years ago and launching into further study.
User avatar
Brian
Deshi
Posts: 1090
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Electric Hand Planers

Sun Oct 01, 2017 8:54 am

Chris P,

I know you mean well, but this is becoming a frustrating and feels as if you're insisting I prove a point that I really did not set out to prove.

I'm proving examples of work that I believe to be good and that I believe bucks the assumption seemingly made that the whole of modern furniture is simply cheap junk posturing otherwise.

Please provide me with an example of mass produced furniture that you enjoy.
Last edited by Brian on Sun Oct 01, 2017 9:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Chris Hall
Site Admin
Contact:
Location: Greenfield, Massachusetts
Posts: 2385
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:46 pm

Re: Electric Hand Planers

Sun Oct 01, 2017 8:57 am

Appreciate the examples of Scandinavian Modern pieces made in (mostly) solid wood. There are things to like - it's a matter of taste, but if i know something is real wood I find it intrinsically more interesting. A lot of these pieces were designed in the 1930's it seems. The Mogen's Koch storage modules, dovetailed boxes in quartersawn Oregon pine, are elegant and I like the modular aspect of the design, but I doubt they could produce them on any scale today due to problems obtaining that sort of material.

Chris P, an FYI: the bassamfellows links did work fine for me
User avatar
Brian
Deshi
Posts: 1090
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Electric Hand Planers

Sun Oct 01, 2017 9:33 am

Thanks Chris! The manufacturer, Rud Rasmussen was bought by Carl Hansen but I believe they left the company in tact. RR still produces that series of cabinets with all of the details in place but mainly in white oak and beech IIRC.

I believe they're produced on a small scale, though they're advertised and not unreasonably expensive (to my mind) for something made to the quality of their make.

For manufactured furniture, as you know I'm sure, these makers are not competing with cost like we do, when they add a cost to a product they have to add proportionally mark-up. So the consumer sees a multiplied version of that cost. To be completely honest I am amazed that something like the wishbone chair can be produced, imported into America, and sold for $600, and those cabinets for what they cost.
Last edited by Brian on Sun Oct 01, 2017 9:43 am, edited 3 times in total.
User avatar
Chris Hall
Site Admin
Contact:
Location: Greenfield, Massachusetts
Posts: 2385
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:46 pm

Re: Electric Hand Planers

Sun Oct 01, 2017 9:49 am

Brian wrote:
Sun Oct 01, 2017 9:33 am
Thanks Chris! The manufacturer, Rud Rasmussen was bought by Carl Hansen but I believe they left the company intact. RR still produces that series of cabinets with all of the details in place but mainly in white oak and beech IIRC.

I believe they're produced on a small scale, though they're advertised and not unreasonably expensive (to my mind) for something made to the quality of their make.

For manufactured furniture, as you know I'm sure, these makers are not competing with cost like we do, when they add a cost to a product they have to add proportionally mark-up. So the consumer sees a multiplied version of that cost. To be completely honest I am amazed that something like the wishbone chair can be produced, imported into America, and sold for $600, and those cabinets for what they cost.
Well, of course it's hard for a furniture maker doing one-offs to compete in price against the efficiencies of factory production and the associated economies of scale inherent to that.
User avatar
Chris Pyle
Deshi
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 286
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:09 pm

Re: Electric Hand Planers

Sun Oct 01, 2017 2:10 pm

Brian wrote:
Sun Oct 01, 2017 8:54 am
Chris P,

I know you mean well, but this is becoming a frustrating and feels as if you're insisting I prove a point that I really did not set out to prove.

I'm proving examples of work that I believe to be good and that I believe bucks the assumption seemingly made that the whole of modern furniture is simply cheap junk posturing otherwise.

Please provide me with an example of mass produced furniture that you enjoy.
Hi Brian, you are free to make or not make any point you choose. We don't have the same tastes in things and that's fine, I was just trying to engage and hear more of what you liked about some of these pieces but a number of questions have gone unanswered so I can disengage. If it's just "i like how they look" then it's a perfectly good stopping point and we can leave it at that.
User avatar
Brian
Deshi
Posts: 1090
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Electric Hand Planers

Sun Oct 01, 2017 4:12 pm

Apologies, I was a bit defensive there and really had no reason to be. I will respond as I should have;

Please keep one thing in mind...1st dibs pricing represents what a dealer would like someone to pay for this....not what the original manufacture sold it for. After something goes onto the market and the manufacture stops making them they're entirely subject to supply and demand with no bearing on intrinsic value. Some things are highly sought after and expensive because of it...why does one painting sell for seven figures another sells for a few hundred?

Architects desk: I see three battening crossmembers, why is that under engineered? The splayed legs are strong, they're installed into the battens with bridle joinery, the base is supported by steel rods put in tension. Fine way to make a desk, and likely quite strong. Drawers are most definitely wood on wood and have full mortise or half mortise locks.

Peacock chair - the one in the link is 40 years old and does not show signs of failure. Not often you see wedged mortise and tenons on manufactured furniture along with tapered tenons and so forth.

Safari chair is a current rendition of a British campaign chair.

PK flat file...flat files are almost always placed against a wall and of course these were intended for architects, draftsmen and engineers not collectors. It's a purpose built piece. Nothing inherently wrong with a plywood back other than the fact that they're ugly.

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).

Return to “Heavy Metal”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests