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Handplane Performance Tuning #1: Sharpening Blades / Irons
I have been fortunate enough to assemble and use an array of handplanes – Stanley Bailey bench, block, and specific use planes, oriental woodies of various sizes, Lee Valley Veritas bevel up and...
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Handplane Performance Tuning #2: Sole Flatness
Why Sole Flatness?Convex (bulging out) and concave (hollowed out) soles will cause uneven cut depths and skipping and chattering. For a convex shape, the plane rocks front to back and/or side to side....
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Handplane Performance Tuning #3: Chip Breakers & Cap Irons
Cap iron or chip breaker, blade or iron – Some folks write treatises about which term is “correct”. I use the one that comes to mind, they mean the same thing. Chip Breaker Function The chip breaker...
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Handplane Performance Tuning #4: Frog / Lever Cap
The lever cap, chip breaker, blade, frog, and main casting all need to be held together well to act more or less as a single mass. Major sources of chatter are the frog not seated to the bed well, and...
View ArticleHandplanes #1: Rust Removal & Rust Prevention
A lot of folks use electrolysis for rust removal, which works great and if you are going to do a lot of rust removal, I recommend it. I don’t do a lot of it, and find Evapo-Rust works spectacularly to...
View ArticleHandplanes #2: First Handplane
First Handplane.A very common question – “What planes do I start with?” – and a plethora of opinion out there to answer it! So, I thought I’d throw mine out there as well. It’s possible you are at the...
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Handplanes #3: I Want A Better Plane
I want a better plane We’ve covered the lower end in the previous blog. There are mid-tier, premium, and art object categories remaining. Three features get pushed a lot as shortcomings of the Stanley...
View ArticleHandplane Performance Tuning #5: Schwarz On Honing - Guides vs Freehand
The Church of ‘Leave me Alone, Please’ By: Christopher Schwarz | May 1, 2014 During the last 17 years that I have been using a honing guide to sharpen, I’ve been approached (sometimes nearly assaulted)...
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Handplanes #4: Custom Hand Plane Totes Stanley & LV Veritas
I don’t like Stanley or Veritas factory totes. I made modifications to the drawings provided by Lee Valley. The result is kind of in between the two designs. I start with stock about 1-1/4” thick and...
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Turning #1: Segmented Bowl Process
This tutorial is about the process I use to create a segmented bowl, or about any segmented turning item. After researching many methods and trying many of them, I’ve been able to put together a fairly...
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How To: #1: Clamping Cauls - Making & Using
Clamping cauls are superior to dowels and biscuits for aligning panel glue ups. No, they don’t align the ends of the boards, but biscuits have too much play to do so, and have too much play to align...
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Finishing #1: Blotch Control
Blotching is uneven coloring on the substrate, and wood is the substrate I am discussing here. There are many ways to change the look of wood – dyes, dye stain, pigment stain, and variations of both...
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Finishing #2: BLO, Danish Oil, Tung Oil, Poly
Lots of questions come up concerning various “oil” and poly finishing mixtures and methods. Some of the “oil” products: Watco danish oil, deft danish oil, Minwax tung oil (actually urethane wiping...
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Turning #2: Tool Steel Wear Resistance
As an engineer I’m always curious about claims of big improvements. When it comes to turning tool steel, there are a lot of marketing claims that some of the newer tool steels can get 3x to 10x more...
View ArticleFinishing #3: Reference Books
I consider the finish 50% of a project. I continually read/hear woodworkers who are disappointed in the finished look or who are afraid to try color (dye/stain) on a project. Finishing is a learned...
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