Walked into an old cabinet shop in upstate NY and felt like I time traveled

I was up in Kingston a few weeks ago dropping off some sample doors, and I stopped at this little shop called Hudson Valley Cabinets. Thought I'd just grab some offcuts or maybe see their CNC setup. But the owner, this guy named Sal, still uses a hand plane for his final passes on face frames. He had this old Stanley 45 sitting on his bench, not for show, just using it. I asked him when he got it, and he said 'bought it new in '72 for 12 bucks.' The whole place smelled like shellac and sawdust, no dust collection system bigger than a shop vac. Kinda made me wonder if we overcomplicate things now with all the gadgets. Has anyone else run into a shop that still does it the old way?

3 comments

3 Comments

claire_walker1mo ago

Oh wait, a Stanley 45 is a plane but it's a combination plane, not a smoothing plane!

barbara_baker5725d ago

Isn't a combination plane still a smoothing plane just with extra bits bolted on?

piper_burns1mo ago

Did you maybe breathe in too much of that shellac and sawdust mix before you typed that? I swear I'd do the same thing, probably start calling a hammer a 'percussive fastener' or something after a day in a shop like that. It's like my brain would short-circuit trying to explain what a simple hand plane does.