Plane On A Stick

Well, blogging continues to take a backseat to the ongoing bamboo floor project. I cannot believe how time consuming it is! My only consolation is that it sure looks great! But man-o-man, slow, slow, s-l-o-w! Glad I didn’t really know about this ahead of time – I never would have started…

One unexpected bright spot was actually getting to use my Stanley #70. This did not start out as a good thing – it’s amazing what a carpet and pad can hide. The plywood sub-floor was all over the map in terms of flat and smooth. I spent a lot more time fixing it than I anticipated – “I’ll just tear this carpet up and put down the bamboo. Simple.” Yeah, right. Anyway, some high spots were okay after screwing them down tight, but some were not. A few sheets of the plywood were thicker than the others (Apparent motto of the original construction guys: “Can’t see it from my house!”) and the abrupt edge had to be eased into a wide bevel that the flooring could cope with. Enter the #70 – “Plane-On-A-Stick!”

I had bought this years ago. Didn’t really need it, other than some vague idea it might be usable for Windsor chair seats. But it was in great shape at a good price, and it looked lonely and unloved. It has been sitting on the shelf in the shop waiting to get in the game, and now its day had come. And what a champ! Worked perfectly! Almost made the flooring job fun. Almost.

The plane end rotates, and can be used both pulling and pushing.

Cool! But after this job is done, it’s back to the shelf for a long while. The bamboo for the kitchen floor is on hold whilst I rebuild my depleted store of motivation and a team of chiropractors and physical therapists straighten my back.