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