The art and craft of infill planes

Like many of us, Konrad Sauer was drawn to woodworking as a way to acquire handcrafted furniture he couldn’t otherwise afford. But he was frustrated with some of his hand tools. “My hand planes weren’t doing what I thought they were capable of,” he said.

Sauer’s search for a better plane led him to an antique tool dealer, who asked Sauer if he had tried an infill plane and convinced him to buy a vintage Spiers smoother, with the classic steel exterior, rosewood infill, thick blade, and solid mechanics.

“There was a noticeable difference in performance and capability,” he said. “The feedback was so different. With curly maple, for example, I got a clear, tactile sense of going with the grain, then against the grain. It was like driving a car with really good suspension.”

The coffin-sided smoother had no handle, and Sauer liked the compact shape. “There were so many…