I saw something on the DIYnetwork last night. It was showing the evolution
of hand tools from hundreds of years ago to now. One interesting plane that
was showed was a new hand plane made in switzerland. It had a sole make of
laminated steel. It also had a variety of disposable blades. The blades
inserted easily.

Apparently the thinking behind it was that cheap knockoffs of traditional
designs simply did not work well. And expensive, quality planes were beyond
the price range for many woodworkers. So this is supposedly a quality plane
made for a reasonable price.

Sounds like it might work. I just never heard of it or seen it. Maybe it is
only available in Europe and not the US.

Any comments or direct experiences anybody?

On Nov 5, 10:37*am, "Lee Michaels"
wrote:
I saw something on the DIYnetwork last night. It was showing the evolution
of hand tools from hundreds of years ago to now. *One interesting plane that
was showed was a new hand plane made in switzerland. *It had a sole make of
laminated steel. It also had a variety of disposable blades. The blades
inserted easily.

Apparently the thinking behind it was that cheap knockoffs of traditional
designs simply did not work well. And expensive, quality planes were beyond
the price range for many woodworkers. *So this is supposedly a quality plane
made for a reasonable price.

Sounds like it might work. I just never heard of it or seen it. Maybe it is
only available in Europe and not the US.

Any comments or direct experiences anybody?

Lee,

Is this the one you saw?

http://www.amazon.com/RALI-Compact-S.../dp/B000FV88S0

I work for a Swiss company and travel there once or twice a year. I've
gone out looking for tools a few times but never came across any good
shops. The company is sort of out in the sticks. I think someday I'll
come across that set of chisels and be a very happy man.


On Nov 5, 7:37*am, "Lee Michaels"
wrote:
I saw something on the DIYnetwork last night. It was showing the evolution
of hand tools from hundreds of years ago to now. *One interesting plane that
was showed was a new hand plane made in switzerland. *It had a sole make of
laminated steel. It also had a variety of disposable blades. The blades
inserted easily.

Apparently the thinking behind it was that cheap knockoffs of traditional
designs simply did not work well. And expensive, quality planes were beyond
the price range for many woodworkers. *So this is supposedly a quality plane
made for a reasonable price.

Sounds like it might work. I just never heard of it or seen it. Maybe it is
only available in Europe and not the US.

Any comments or direct experiences anybody?

"Dave - Parkville, MD" wrote

On Nov 5, 10:37 am, "Lee Michaels"
wrote:
I saw something on the DIYnetwork last night. It was showing the evolution
of hand tools from hundreds of years ago to now. One interesting plane
that
was showed was a new hand plane made in switzerland. It had a sole make of
laminated steel. It also had a variety of disposable blades. The blades
inserted easily.

Apparently the thinking behind it was that cheap knockoffs of traditional
designs simply did not work well. And expensive, quality planes were
beyond
the price range for many woodworkers. So this is supposedly a quality
plane
made for a reasonable price.

Sounds like it might work. I just never heard of it or seen it. Maybe it
is
only available in Europe and not the US.

Any comments or direct experiences anybody?

Lee,

Is this the one you saw?

http://www.amazon.com/RALI-Compact-S.../dp/B000FV88S0

That is the company, RALI. I saw the full size plane on the show.

Lee Michaels wrote:

http://www.amazon.com/RALI-Compact-S.../dp/B000FV88S0

That is the company, RALI. I saw the full size plane on the show.

They appear to have block, smoothing, and rabbeting plane. They're not
particularly inexpensive. The availablility of carbide blades is
interesting though.

I noticed that the sides are fastened on with screws, making them
impossible to use on a shooting board.

The handles are plastic, which offends me for some reason.

Chris

rali planes seem to review like this:

they work about as well as a moderately well tuned up stanley/bailey
plane, but no better and not much you can do to improve things. if you
buy rali's resharpenable blades and their sharpening jig you can get
the blade sharper than the disposables, which does help a little. the
big advantage to rali planes is the total simplicity of setting up, so
if you don't mind the expensive consumables and have no intention of
learning how to tune up/maintain planes and don't need really good
performance it might be for you.

On 5 Nov, 15:37, "Lee Michaels"
wrote:
I saw something on the DIYnetwork last night. It was showing the evolution
of hand tools from hundreds of years ago to now. *One interesting plane that
was showed was a new hand plane made in switzerland. *It had a sole make of
laminated steel. It also had a variety of disposable blades. The blades
inserted easily.

Rali, they've been around for years (10-20 ish).

IMHO, they're no use for woodworking or neandering at all. The blades
are sharpened at the wrong angle and the planes aren't especially
rigid at holding them. When I can buy a cast iron bodied plane for
tuppence anyway, great new innovations in stamping it from sheetmetal
just don't have much to offer.

One thing they're _possibly_ useful for is that they also offer a
carbide blade, and this can make a useful block plane for work on some
man-made laminates that are so abrasive a carbon steel iron doesn't
last long in use against them.

First saw them some 7 years ago at the woodworking show(s) in chicago. Gave
it a glance, moved on to the new, better, shinier, prettier, etc... stuff.

jc

"Lee Michaels" wrote in message
...

I saw something on the DIYnetwork last night. It was showing the evolution
of hand tools from hundreds of years ago to now. One interesting plane
that was showed was a new hand plane made in switzerland. It had a sole
make of laminated steel. It also had a variety of disposable blades. The
blades inserted easily.

Apparently the thinking behind it was that cheap knockoffs of traditional
designs simply did not work well. And expensive, quality planes were
beyond the price range for many woodworkers. So this is supposedly a
quality plane made for a reasonable price.

Sounds like it might work. I just never heard of it or seen it. Maybe it
is only available in Europe and not the US.

Any comments or direct experiences anybody?