Restoring more than a plane

Stopping by a junk shop is one of the small pleasures of life, especially when they have a box of old tools to rummage through.

My buddy Steve and I did just that in a little town in France this summer, and I came across a rusty conglomeration that looked vaguely like a Stanley smoother. The price was right – about three bucks – so I lugged it home and spent an hour cleaning it up. The result was heartwarming.

It still needs a good sharpening and the sole could do with a dressing, but breathing new life into this old stalwart was very rewarding. It reminded me of what woodworking was like when I started out 40 years ago.

Technology has zoomed past craft in recent years, a fact that became very real on that same overseas trip. The website of one of the largest logging companies in France says that they primarily harvest oak and then send 80 percent of it to Portugal. Cabinetmaking and furniture building are disappearing in France. Countries with smaller economies or less expensive labor are picking up some of the slack, but most of the casework in Europe is now processed cores under plastic laminate or foil.

When one visits chalets, monasteries, museums and icons such as Versailles and the Louvre, the wealth of superlative handwork is almost overwhelming. To see our craft receding against that background is disturbing.

Looking at the before and after photos of the Stanley, one thought jumped out. This would have been a wonderful lesson plan for a high school woodworking class – restoring, then tuning and finally using a tool that is not exceptional in itself but represents a body of skills and craft that still hold value.

This article was originally published in the October 2023 issue.