Friends,

I attended an interesting auction a couple weeks ago in which a
shipwright's chest of tools went on the block.  It seemed to be complete
with the stuff you would expect to find in early 1900s shipwright's kit
around here.  (Grays Harbor was a very big wooden ship building until
after WW II.)  In fact, this guy seemed to be a cut above the usual.
His smooth, jack, and joiner planes were beautifully made out of
rosewood.  I'm sure he made them himself because in one of the boxes of
misc. stuff I successfully bid on I found a float made from a file.

I got a couple of things.  I would have liked to get it all so I could
keep it together, but some of the bidding was nuts (e.g. misc. Ohio H&Rs
that went for $32 each!).  The thing I really wanted, though, I got.  It
is a 22-inch Rosewood razee joiner with a Buck Bros. blade.  I also got
a box of assorted stuff: files, bits, etc. and two Stanley #2-sized
plane irons with chip breakers and a bronze lever cap.  (A #2, Jeff, is
a smooth plane for 5 year olds or guys with really small hands.)

The unusual thing to me was that one of these irons was nearly used up,
maybe 3/8 of an inch from the slot.  I didn't think that guys,
especially shipwrights, would mess with a kid-sized plane like a #2.  I
have a friend with a "user 2," but he's just odd.  OK, by raise of
hands, how many of you guys actually use your 2s?  Inquiring minds want
to know.

Brandon Ford,  Aberdeen, Wash.