Rob,
Though I am a guy who likes his planes,....... and No I am not going to lunge at you with my planes in hand. Mostly, I am going to defer to you on this topic. I told folks after Rendezvous that listening to your demo was like going from a BS degree in boat building straight into the Ph.D. program I have been building things for 40 years, and boats on and off, for 25 of them, there are few I guys I'll stalk for shop wisdom. If you caught my shadow a lot that weekend it was because I was listening intently. Heck, I was taking notes, till I ran out of 3X5 cards. (I guess my teacup ran over?) In short, I was going to catch as much as you have to say on the artistry of building in wood in general, and boats specifically. What I liked most was that you by example showed folks how to address the medium of wood from the artist's perspective not just the craftsman perspective. not looking at boats and wood as just boats and wood but as medium and functional sculpture. Heck, we had the paint scraper in my house within 3 days. and yeah I was skeptical that it would do for me, what I saw it doing for you, in your lecture, until I tried it. and since then its done 3 boats and counting so far. The simple truth is, good ideas in flexible minds, get used weather they are newbie or oldster.

For all of that, I think you are in the business of helping folks of all different skill levels. That includes folks that have mastered the plane and folks that haven't figured out how to set one up. Part of what I enjoyed so much about Rendezvous was that in the space of one weekend, I got put in front of a bunch of zen masters and collectively you all improved my skill levels and thought processes a ton. Thanks to Michael Vermouth and his NewFound gang for making that happen. I think the same is true of this BBS. Experts come in talking about raising the bar, and others just want to know what's wrong with their plane. Everyone is learning from someone Half the fun is watching the first boat evolve into the second and the skill level improves the same way yours did. One lesson at a time. Some of those lessons learned under the tutelage of masters and by peers and some learned the hard way and most a combination of both.

I agree the paint scraper method backed up by a few detail scrapers makes, for a fairing done better quicker, and its also more pleasant then using a plane to fair a boat. However, its not the only tool in my tool box. A plane has a spot on the boatwright's bench., On a 40 footer and on a yak. Yeah, I fair a hull your way scraping rough, then I scrape fine then sanding. However I use a finger plane or a sanding station to bevel a strip or to edge a seam. I have places were a small jack plane brings up the right wood and leaves what should stay. All tools afford a different kind of control about what's happening to the material. The trick is knowing which tool to pull out for which task. The right plane properly configured can lift a slice with a the right kind of precision that is useful. A scraper can do the same thing in a different place and in a different way.

By posting I am not trying to get in the middle of a conversation between you and your clients. I don't know how to build one of your boats. I haven't done one..... yets. Important operative word being yet. You are wise a right to advise your customers. I am posting on the larger community that is the BBS.

In teaching the ways of craftsmanship its important to impart the love of the craft of taking care of one's tools. You obviously have that part imbedded in your soul. For years I taught rock climbing and Mountaineering. Teaching folks how to scramble is easy. Teaching them rope craft is the thing they are least interested in. They just want to get to the top of the Mt. In this hobby, the mt top is launched the boat. The real lesson of climbing is that the fun is had on the side's and the real skill is the craft of fashioning complex and balanced systems out of a fragile thin cord and some odd shaped metal ovals.. I looked at my task as teaching folks to stop seeking the summit but enjoy the Mt sides. It may sound silly, but I think we have to teach the respect and affection for tools well cared for and well used. In saying that I am not trying to tell you how to run your business. You do so very well, by all I have heard. What I am saying is on the wider forum of this board. There are guys like you and Nick and Eric and half a dozen others helping the masses get to the mt top and as you do your taking the beginner to the next notch and the intermediate to the next notch etc. At the same time there are folks concentrating trying to master a variety of skills that collectively add up to boat building. That groups is playing out side of begining lessons, and in this BBS they are asking and answering questions. For those folks and that includes me, One Mt does not a
climber make. However each mt can teach a climber one new small thing. The same is true of boats.

But here is my thought, and its less divergent then you might think. Nobody gets masterful at working a plane until they have time in grade holding the knobs. I think a plane is a funny duck. You can buy one from Sears and, as is, put a less then masterful edge on it and you'll get the job done. The same is true of building boats. People can build a tub or one of those best on the beach boats and the difference is fine tuning . Your very right a scraper and from a customer to client perspective that I think you rightly protect it is a quicker tool to master. However, When a plane is taken care of and fine tuned, the job, when it is the right job is well.....Wonderful. I admit to being seduced by a plane when its in working like a champ on a task appropriate for its special talents. Just as I am by a convex scraper working the hollows of a bow. The trick is picking the right tool for the right task and medium being worked. Yeah I bought your point at Rendezvous, that a plane over used in the hands of a new wood worker at a fairing is like taking a framing hammer to a finish carpenters molding. OK may be that is saying it a bit to strongly. The truth is I have seen some pretty good plane fairings. For my time and effort hand me my scrapers. If I am working to bevel a strip hand me a finger plane.

However, a plane is good for nipping a raised edge or beveling a strip. I keep one plane for knocking the heads off epoxy bumps. Why because its efficient and the
results are more even. Most of us are in this hobby for to reasons, to build a boat but also to acquire skills by doing. I think its called kinesthetic learning. If we differ I think it is on this small point. There is a mysticism and mythology to planing that gets in the way of many folks learning to use one. Watch an expert and the mystery is clear. However, the simple truth is using a plane is not rocket science. A little knowledge goes a long way and a bit more with some time on the board will bring one to a decent understanding of how to use one fairly well. Will it bring one to an artisan's mastery no. But will it be a functional tool appreciated by an average craftsman aspiring to get better. Yes I think so. Will the difference between expert and artisan use of a plane be visible in the end result. Of course, and that's when the guy usually says ya know I learned so much on the last one..... I think I just might build me another one. And another set of plans for the next boat just got bought. How do I know this, my present set of learning lessons sitting not yet finished in my shop have me thinking just as my last set did.

So I guess Rob I thing I'd say this: don't apologize for sharing what you know. Your posts are as your demo was... valuable lessons pointing to other ways, another way, and yeah in my experience its worked well for me. I'm not posting tonight to defend planes, but to say yeah your very right about fairing with a scraper....I think, and 2) that a boatwright's tool box should have both planes and scrapers. And half the fun of boat building as a hobby is to increase ones abilities not only how to use one expertly, but also one's intuitive sense for when to reach for either one. And to get time in grade to master a set of ancient skills.

I think this BBS is made better when an individual can get the info on how to set up a plane and .... when to reach for the scrapper instead.

I will conclude from Joseph Gribbons
Wooden boats: unlike their mass produced sisters, have a soul. They are truly living beings. For the uninitiated, it is easy to dismiss this as merely
romantic notions. But romance is not infatuation, it is the engagement of the heart and mind, and there are few contrivances as utterly engaging as
boats built of wood . There is something profoundly important in fashioning timbers and planks; something very spiritual in the shaping of materials.
Perhaps it has to do with the ancient things: a blending of ancient skills with an ancient resource. Or perhaps it has to do with the honor of
transforming something so grand and graceful as a tree, into something so lithe and lovely as a boat. Certainly there are few opportunities in life
these days, to blend art, science and the natural world in so dramatic a fashion - Joseph Gribbons

Rob, keep pumping out the good stuff, I have a whole new stack of 3X5 note cards

RUSS