A hand plane inspired by the work of Charles and Henry Greene. Designed and made by Chris Adkins.
Charles Greene once wrote that part of the goal of the firm he founded with his brother, Henry, was "...to make these necessary and useful things pleasurable." Their almost single-minded drive in achieving that goal plays a significant role in their legacy and continued popularity. One need only look at the garage doors at the Gamble house to understand. It is not surprising that these utilitarian objects employ design elements found in the house. What is surprising, in my opinion, is that those elements are not used in a cursory way. The level of detail suggests a very careful approach to the design.

In the last several decades, as the Greene & Greene legacy has grown and their style has become a favorite among woodworkers, many have designed pieces, typically furniture, using their unique vocabulary. There is a broad range of success, or lack thereof, among the results. Some, such as the work by my friends Darrell Peart, Tom Stangeland and David Wade, are quite wonderful. Many others languish in less rarified air -- I include in this category the first G&G piece I designed, a coffee table on which I wish I could take a mulligan.

Other designers have taken to heart the quote above and created Greene & Greene versions of purely necessary things, crating beauty in unexpected places. Several years ago, my good friend Tom Moore created several fly swatters as Charles Greene might have designed them -- in mahogany with ebony accents. (Perhaps I'll ask Tom if I can post the essay he wrote that was the impetus for the fly swatter project.) I proudly display one of them in my living room. More recently, a woodworker named Chris Adkins, whom I "met" online, created the Greene & Greene hand plane pictured above.

Chris' plane embodies the spirit of Charles Greene's statement. Shop made planes have been around for a very long time. Often, though not always, they emphasize functionality almost completely over appearance. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that approach. Using any good tool provides a woodworker with a degree of satisfaction that increases greatly when that woodworker has created the tool in question. In Chris' case, he gets the added pleasure of using a beautiful object, which is exactly the point.

Visit Chris Adkins’ website at: www.highrockwoodworking.com