The Return of the "Loopy" Infill Plane		3 of 3

And you can tighten up the mouth until a gnat would have a hard time poking any of its parts through the aperture.

The blade adjuster is just as impressive. With a smoothing plane, I don't want a coarse adjuster. And the loopy delivers on this point with an adjuster that moves in tiny increments. It's easy to dial in just the shaving you want.

All this makes it sound like it's a fussy tool. It's not. Thomas is a working woodworker, and he wants his tools to remove sizable shavings and still remain stable. The loopy delivered on this point as well. Even while taking a .002" or .003" shaving it didn't vibrate or produce tearing.

Part of the secret to the performance is the thickness of the sole. It is almost a whopping 5/8" thick. That contributes incredible weight to the tool and a secure bed for the iron under the cap iron.

The adjustable mouth is so well integrated into the tool that most people overlook it when inspecting the tool. The shoe plate in front of the mouth is substantial (see the photos for proof) and it moves forward and back after loosening a screw on top of the front bun.

The other innovation Thomas brings to the party is his chipbreaker. It looks like a typical heavy-duty Norris-style breaker, but close inspection reveals otherwise.

The breaker has a small plate screwed to it that allows you to easily set the breaker square to the iron. And the plate itself mates to the Norris-style adjuster. The result is a solid fit between the adjuster, breaker, iron and plane body.

My only criticism of the tool stems from one of its advantages: the weight. This is a shockingly heavy tool, which would be unacceptable in a jointer or jack plane.

For large projects, I have found the tool wears me out a bit, but here's the caveat: Every time I finish a project with this plane I finish with a big smile on my face because there is no tearing to scrape or sand out.

That is quite an achievement

I'm not sure if Thomas is going to go into the infill business or not. But I encourage you to send him a note through his agent, Vlad Spehar, at spehar-toolworks.com/planes.html, and encourage him to continue making loopy planes. I'd hate for this particular legend to be so short-lived.

— Christopher Schwarz is the editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine and one of the authors of "The Joiner and Cabinet Maker," available from LostArtPress.com.

June, 2010

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