May 7, 2012  

Where The Metal Meets The Wood: Sauer And Steiner Woodworking Planes

Konrad Sauer stood pateintly in the corner waiting for his chance to speak about handplanes at a Lie-Nielsen hand tool event. A couple of other guys were up before him and seemed to have more to talk about and more to show. Konrad had a couple of his tools sitting in front of him on a bench and was just hanging out, no big hubbub, no big show. Just a man and a couple of his wares for sale – well sort of. The tools that were for sale, weren’t so much for sale, as they were for selling. Konrad brings them along to start the conversation, and to start to get you to believe that you need one of his tools. The beauty of it is that he doesn’t have to do a thing. All he has to do is hand you one of his tools and the world around you starts to become a little fuzzy. The room starts to spin in a circle. Not in a bad way, but in a way where everything else just becomes noise and the only thing that matters is this beautiful marriage between metal and wood that captures all of your focus. And, while you are staring at this work of art and trying to figure out how one mortal human being armed with just a few hand tools pulled off such a feat, Konrad tells you about the history of handplanes and how he is inspired by previous great toolmakers. While he talks, it is only possible to pick up a few more tidbits of information before he hands you the next one. And then again, nothing else matters at that point, except for the tool in front of you. Now, you are sold.

It doesn’t matter if you are a tool lover or not. Anyone, young or old, male or female, wood junkie or not, would find these tools just as awe-inspiring. They have heft and solidness, grace and beauty, and a level of craftmanship that is unrivaled. And, to think that every piece is hand cut, fitted, and finished is truly amazing. The mix of polished metal and figured wood makes each one feel like a piece of jewelry – a piece of jewelry that just so happens to produce it own little works of art in the shape of ultra-thin curls of wood.

Konrad’s work is beautiful, and while I don’t want this blog to be just a bunch of reposts of others work, I felt I just had to share photos of the tools from Sauer and Steiner. Most of us will probably never actually own a $3,000 dollar hand plane, but they sure are nice to look at, enjoy!

Read more about these amazing handplanes, and see more about the process at http://sauerandsteiner.blogspot.com

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About wunderwoods

Hi! My name is Scott Wunder and I am the owner of WunderWoods Custom Woodworking. We build wine cellars, built-ins and furniture from local woods, here in St. Louis, MO. Recently, I finished a three-year term as the President of the St. Louis Woodworkers Guild, which had me writing a monthly article for our newsletter. I love to write, especially about wood, and found that I still had more to say. Every day I run into something wood related that I realize some of my customers don't know and this seems like a great forum for sharing what I have learned (instead of telling the same story to each person). The main thing to remember is that I try to keep it light and as my wife always reminds people that have just met me, "He is joking."

7 responses to “Where The Metal Meets The Wood: Sauer And Steiner Woodworking Planes”

  1. john l w says :

    I was at the tool event and used one of Konrads smoothing planes — it is worth it. I will get decades out of my LN smoothing plane but every time I pick it up—well I think of sauer and stiener

    Reply
  2. wunderwoods says :

    There were many impressive things there, but Konrad’s blew my socks off. I took a couple swipes on a chunk of wood and I knew I had better set it down quick or I would have a lot less money in my bank account.

    Reply
  3. Christopher Sparks says :

    Wow! Those are sexy!

    Reply
    • wunderwoods says :

      I agree. They are nice to look at. I thought the Lie-Nielsen line was nice until I saw these. Of course, there is a bit of a price difference.

      Reply
      • Keith Brooks says :

        Bottom line is there beautiful tools nice to look at and without question good to use but if we could all be in the situation to buy these at these prices we probably would be rich already and wouldn’t need to work and then would be buying these to use as a hobby or collection to show off with would love to see these sold at a more affordable price and more realistic price its taken me many years to build my tool collection and don’t have anything like this in my tool collection still everyone know us carpenters are all millionaires NOT I WISH LOL

  4. Esteban says :

    It’s not my first time to pay a visit this web site, i am browsing this site dailly and get pleasant facts from here everyday.

    Reply
  5. Yvonne Haddrell says :

    Lovely still wanting the Nortis T rebate plane done up. Still saving.

    Reply

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