Well, duh….of course they are! (especially if you have a hand tool ‘problem’  like yours truly?)

Veritas DX60 on the left and the Lie Nielsen 102 on the right.

But seriously, having two planes, in this case two block planes set up at different depths really saves time while working through a project. I’m back into the plywood edging, this time for the second part of my latest commission- a large armoire. It’s made up of two parts, a lower base cabinet with two large drawers and an upper closet area with a second bank of drawers for added storage. The lower base is solid cherry with mortise and tenon joinery. It has two large dovetailed drawers using all solid wood throughout. The top closet portion of the cabinet has two frame and panel solid wooden doors but the large carcass panels for the top section are made up of plywood. This plywood is the from the same lot as the ‘habinet’ was built and will stand next to the already installed  ‘bed in a box’ in my clients home in another couple of weeks.

So back to the plywood and the solid wood edging; I have two block planes set up at different depths. The first, my small 102 low-angle bronze from Lie Nielsen. This plane doesn’t have an adjustable throat so it makes sense to use this one for the heavier cuts. I follow with my Veritas DX60 low angle block which has an adjustable throat and in this case I’m making the final passes bringing the solid cherry edging down to the plywood while trying hard not to take anything off of the thin cherry veneers. Having the two planes really saves time and lets face it- who has enough of that?

If you’d like to read more about edging plywood read  back through my post Working (ply) Wood.

Cheers!

Veritas® Skew Block Plane from Lee Valley Tools

Now you’re probably thinking ‘not another skewed plane’ or ‘isn’t it the same as the original Stanley 140 or the Lie Nielsen skew block?’ the answer is ‘yes’- and….well-  ‘no’.

First off lets look at some of the similarities in form it shares with the other planes mentioned-

It’s a 6-3/8″ x 1-3/4″ ductile, cast iron body block plane that comes with a 25° cutting iron seated on a 12°  bed that’s skewed at a 15°  angle. In other words, a low angle block plane with a skewed blade.

In front of that blade it has a movable scoring spur that helps reduce tear-out on cross-grain work. The spur can be raised up above the level of the sole so you can use the plane as a common block plane and the cutter won’t be digging into your work-nice.

Like its cousins, the other skewed planes on the market today, it comes with a fence that will register to the edge of your work piece while cutting rabbets. Pretty standard stuff so far for a skew block plane and these features are pretty well the same across the board with the skewed block planes I’ve seen with slight differences in size, materials and finishes. Oh yeah, I should also mention the obvious- it comes in both a left and a right handed version. (no surprises so far)

The scoring spur not only helps with cross grain tear-out but helps draw the plane into the work while in use.

But now lets look at what the Veritas has that the other skewed block planes don’t and what sets it apart from the competition.

(this is where it gets exciting)

A fully enclosed, adjustable front shoe makes fine to heavy shavings possible.

The new Veritas skew block plane comes with all the features mentioned but unlike the others it has a movable front toe that’s fully enclosed by the contoured body casting allowing the throat to be opened for heavy cuts or closed up tight for the thinnest of shavings.  This was always a complaint I’ve heard about the skew blocks of old, the pointed, fragile area of the throat that was exposed while in use. Veritas has eliminated this problem with the contoured body and once again the word innovative comes to mind!

Blade adjustment is effortless thanks to a Norris style adjuster which I found to be extremely responsive. Another unique feature to the skew block plane but not to Veritas hand planes is the small set screws through the side of the plane body. These are designed to control lateral movement while in use but I find them handy while initially adjusting and setting the iron.

I should also mention that Veritas went the extra step and included a small wooden (bubinga) fence already attached to the assembly- not a big deal but a nice feature to include and it saved me from having to make my own.

In use, the plane performed as you’d expect a tool of this quality- comfortable in hand and is actually a little smaller than the competition which made more of an impression to me while using it one-handed, without the fence as a low angle block plane.

So there you have it, another choice wood workers have in the market for an excellent quality plane suited to joinery tasks, planing end grain or other block plane associated work and to top it all off- Lee Valley is offering an introductory price until May 31, 2010…check it out for yourself at Lee Valley Tools

Detail Rabbet Plane by Veritas

The Detail Rabbet Planes were introduced in February and if you’re like me you probably noticed little blurbs and reviews popping up here and there around the internet. Being a hand tool user, I always take new product reviews with a grain of salt because I’m well aware that most of those people you see out there doing these hand tool reviews haven’t actually used the tools other than perhaps those  ‘incredibly demanding and rigorous-work-shop- tests‘ for at most, 10 minutes..??

Well thanks to the side table I just finished building, I  now feel I can give an honest opinion about this new line of miniature hand planes available at Lee Valley Tools.

The side table had three floating panels per side with rabbets wrapping around each one; that’s 48 rabbets cut in my usual method: I begin with my skew rabbet plane and  establish the width of the cut. I’ll usually take about half a dozen passes and then I prefer switching over to a shoulder plane to finish the job. From there, with a small chisel I would generally clean up any bits of waste, test fit and move onto the next but one area I found this new plane really handy was in the clean up and fine tuning stages of the operation.

The small size fits the hand and makes fine tuning a breeze.

It was easy to set the iron depth and because the plane sits so comfortably between your index finger and thumb, it was extremely well suited to fine tune the joinery. A few quick passes and test…not quite there? Another pass or two and we’re done.

Maple panels are rabbeted and ready to fit

The detail planes are available in different widths or can be purchased in sets of 3 or 5. You may prefer to pick up one at a time depending on the specific needs but I think you’ll find them useful in the wood shop.

Veritas logo is ‘Innovation in tools’ and once again they’re proving that to be true.

Cheers!

Where the Krenov sings,

it must be spring –

The wooden throat waving

these less-than-paper-in-thickness curls of soft maple.

Almost dancing, the tiny, transparent ribbons -

an origami sway you might say…

“Well it’s not always like that…

’the throat can be a cranky ‘ol bitch on some mornings! “

Here in my wood shop, the Krenov smoother is ’singing again’ for anyone listening.

A little winter-hibernation and now it’s seems to be ‘set for another season’.

Those humid summer months be here before you know it-

just a few quick blinks between the drought and the flood.

(they prayed for rain right?)

krenov smoother, angelique and brass stock hammer- haBinet side table panel in curly maple

Wooden bodied hand planes may indeed   ‘flex a little’ during those autumn-evening-cools

and straight on through to the dry roasted, New Year months of late winter.

These changing seasons (where applicable) can really make it tempting and I can certainly understand when economics dictates the need to try ‘bettering’ a tool in some vain attempt to make it work throughout the entire year- but sometimes…

you just have to wait and be patient.

In some scenarios it just doesn’t make sense to start ‘messin’ with it’.

Some hand planes sure,  in a heartbeat…always adjusting and setting, tuning and fettling…

guitars are the same but we’ll save that for another day.

I have a couple of wooden bodied hand planes that I expect, almost welcome the inevitable, mid- season tune up…but not this Krenov.

”…just gonna let it sit for a long winters nap.”

Believe me when I say this-

every spring time comes around just when you thought it may never,

and like some kind of magic the sole tightens up and it gets ready to sing for another season-

Maybe it’s me and just my imagination but it feels like winter slides directly into summer ’round here-

I’ll never get used to that…

where did the spring time go?

The wood, always moving-

from rock maple cradles

to the pine box days of summer-

April one tomorrow…already-

almost there.

CLICK  HERE FOR CLIP

Good quality plywood should have at least 7 layers of veneer and no voids between layers.

Do I like working with plywood? Well let me say that once you get it dimensioned it really has some advantages- its extremely stable, much more than solid wood.  It comes with beautifully matched veneers that are 90% finished and because of the high quality of the products available,  it’s very durable. The current project I’m working on is a ‘fold away bed’ so I have large surfaces in the neighbourhood of 7′ high and 5 ‘ wide- using solid wood for this application while possible, wouldn’t be very practical. Weight alone would be tremendous with wood movement issues being a thorn in my side to say the least. My shop time alone would be close to tripled thus elevating the cost of the piece out of reach for most clients.  The plywoodallows me to use these large panels without the associated wood movement issues, much less jointing and finishing involved so a less expensive outcome, with a finished look that once complete, the common eye won’t be able to tell the difference anyway. Using plywood is conjunction with solid wood edging, face frames and drawer and door details can really make a project work well.

To begin, its important to use a quality product and plywood comes in many grades with different characteristics. Veneer core, particle board, medium density fiber core as well asdifferent combinations of all the above. I prefer using a veneer core for its stability as well as holding power when any mechanical hardware or fasteners are being used.  The face veneers are also graded and some plywoods are sold with only one good surface. Watch what you’re buying and try to use a product that works for your specific situation and budget.

The extra thickness will be removed once the glue has cured.

So that’s some of the good points of plywood but obviously there are some bad- first off is the size of the sheets so the initial dimensioning can be a challenge. Fortunately for me, a friend came over on Saturday and we ripped all of the components to size in my back yard on a portable table saw. The saw was more than adequate but having an extra set of hands to handle the 3/4″ sheets was essential. It was minus 16 on Saturday but thankfully the sun was out and the wind wasn’t blowing too strong. We made quick work of the cut list and I moved the pieces in doors. From there, on Sunday I cross cut the pieces to length using a fine tooth panel saw (12 tpi) and then went on to attach the solid wood edgings. You could purchase the iron on veneer tape with matching wood species or apply a slightly thicker edge treatment- I chose to edge the stock with 1″ solid cherry. The cherry is dimensioned 1/8″ wider than the plywoodnd the extra thickness will be planed down once applied. I don’t own a biscuit joiner so I pre-drilled holes in the plywood edge and inserted my dowel centers.The solid edging is pressed into lace leaving small dimples to show me where exactly where to drill for a perfect fit. I drilled the solid wood with mating holes and used some blind hardwood dowels as fasteners. I could have only used glue or went with a spline or tongue and groove typejoinery option but felt this method would be more than adequate and didn’t take hours to execute. Once the glue is applied I clamp up the pieces to let cure and with a series of hand tools I bring the solid wood edging flush with the plywood. I think alot of woodworkers find this last step to be the most intimidating part of the plywood process but can be easy and effective when some simple hand tools are used.

5 1/2 Bench plane removes the bulk of the waste

 I take down the bulk of the material with my 5 1/2 bench plane being sure I’m always working out and away from the plywood surface. At this point I still have 1/8″ to remove so there really is no danger of damaging the veneer. A fairly light shaving and I’m soon ready to move over to a low angle block plane.

Again setting the tool for a very fine shaving, I work down the side making sure to check my progress as I go. Once I no longer feel than tiny solid wood lip I move on to the next area. The front of the plane rides up onto the edge treatment and this protects the delicate veneers on the surface. Working down until that final shaving brings the two surfaces flush. 

Notice the front of the plane is riding up onto the edge material. This will keep the cut off of the delicate veneers.

Always working out from the veneer I keep the plane at a skewed angle and before long I’m ready to switch again over to a simple card scraper. This will finish off the process and clean up any plane marks from the skewing action of the previous cuts. I wathc for the darkened surface where the glue squeeze out slowly lightens telling me that I’m done. The card scraper is a great tool for this final pass, it doesn’t remove much material so again there is little danger of tearing through the surface veneer.

The card scraper, with a well honed edge will finish off the process.

I follow with a light rub of 220 grit sand paper. If you still see tiny voids along the edge a trick I will sometimes do is after sanding, before you brush away the dust, apply a light coat of finish, in this case I’m using an oil and varnish blend. I deliberately mix it into the light dust left behind from the previous step and work it into any small voids along the edge treatment. Once applied I’ll wipe off any access and let dry as normal.After its cured I’ll go back and rub out the finish with some 000 steel wool and then follow with a tack cloth. Re-apply the finish as normal, coat after coat until you’ve reached your desired sheen and protection. Edging plywood shouldn’t be too difficult for anyone but using very sharp tools set for a very fine cut is key to a successful project.

Cheers!

It’s Sunday afternoon and I spent the morning out in Pickering, Ontario at the Tools of the Trades Show. It’s a really nice gathering of vintage and antique tool dealers peddling their wares to wood geeks like me! I would have posted some info on the event sooner but I only found out about it myself this past week. Oh well, for those that missed it you can catch the Spring session in April.
I went there this morning with nothing in mind really, I don’t actually have a short list of tools I currently ‘need’ or even ‘want’(imagine that). Once there though I found many, many tools I would have loved to acquire but my wife would have shot me if I came home with a truck load of new-old tools!
Anyhow, I did make two small purchases- the first is a small little oil can; I wanted one of these for awhile now and this one fit the bill perfectly. I’ll use it to keep my Jojoba oil in. Jojoba oil is a natural, non-toxic oil product I use on my tools to keep rust at bay. It’s similar to the camellia oil you may find for sale at places like Lie Nielsen Toolworks. The main difference is it’s a little heavier but easily found off-the-shelf at health food stores while camellia oil is a little more rare(at least it seems to be in Toronto). The little oil can is copper or brass I believe and will live nicely above my work bench.

The second treasure I stumbled over is a beautiful example of a 1930’s Stanley No.22 Transitional Smoother. If you’re familiar with transitional planes you may have read reviews about the problems they seem to have with the rear totes moving and becoming loose while in use. One big plus about the No.22 is it doesn’t have a rear tote, so……no problem! For anyone that isn’t familiar with transitional planes they were wooden bodied planes that had a cast iron frame screwed into the body which was usually made from Beech. This perticular model has a kind of squat, mushroom shaped knob that’s a little beafier than the taller, slimmer styles found on Stanley’s metal planes. I like this ‘robust’ little front knob and find it fits my hand quite nicely.
Stanley claimed that “Every Carpenter needs two or more wood planes in his kit, for rough outside work” and the transitional plane was the answer for it. For a wooden bodied smoother, I really like the feel of this model and the fact that it doesn’t have the rear tote adds to the comfort while in use. This model was also the first with a lateral adjuster. If you’d like some more information about transitional planes or any other Stanley hand planes for that matter, check out Patrick Leach’s web site. It’s an incredible resource of information.

This one is in beautiful shape with the original chip breaker and iron, a near-perfect condition lever cap and very-very few marks on the sole. Having the original chip breaker and iron with the added bonus of the Sweetheart logo still clearly visible was a nice touch indeed but that said, I’ll rip them out of it as soon as I can and replace them with new ones from Ron Hock! What can I say I’m a worker, not a collector!

So these were my finds, small treasures on a nice Sunday morning surrounded by vintage tools and friendly people. If you were there you know what I’m talking about, if you missed it then maybe you can make the next one in April.
Cheers!

“When we discover what wonderful things our eyes and hands are as they seek fine lines and use sharp tools, when we listen to wood and not just use it, then cabinetmaking can take on a new meaning.” JK

Almost six years ago I quite literally stumbled over a small pile of books in a Halifax library. Looking down I noticed one of them had some furniture shots on it so I picked up the hardcover book and read the title: The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking. The front cover photographs, three rather unique looking pieces immediately grabbed my attention enough that I decided to borrow it.
James Krenov eh?…never heard of him but the title alone seemed to conjure up a kind of curious discovery into some alternate path through the craft that I was only beginning to discover and understand. I had been building wooden boats at the time and had come off of about 8 years of set building. Screws and glue, some plywood and lots of smoke and mirrors I’d never felt any connection between working wood and art. I was an established writer and musician and was fortunate to have been exposed to all forms of art and craft growing up on the East coast of Canada but for some reason never felt the connection between the two. This Fine Art of Cabinetmaking, again suddenly hit me like a hard maple mallet; Krenov eh?
I read the book from cover to cover and then started to read it again and again. I wasn’t aware of any ‘on-line’ wood working community at the time and the name Krenov really didn’t mean all that much to me. I certainly didn’t know about any of his unique philosophies nor had I ever heard of the College of the Redwoods; all I knew that as someone who has always enjoyed writing and was starting to begin my own personal journey into wood craft that the words that curled up and out of the pages were more powerful than any of his pieces ever could be. Yes, his cabinetmaking is second to none but it was his words that pulled me into this new path of working wood.
Not too long after that I noticed Lee Valley Tools were selling strange little plane irons and again the Krenov name rang a bell. That’s him, that’s the guy who wrote the book! I ordered an iron and following the chapter on making a wooden plane I built my first Krenov style hand plane. I think it was that same year that I really started to notice this Internet world of wood working and soon discovered his web site. This would have been around 2006 I believe and there I read that Jim’s eyes were failing and while he would no longer be making his cabinets, he would continue working with his hands and making his hand planes available for order. I immediately sent off a letter and waited for a response.
In my mind at the time, still not realising just what kind of man Jim was I suppose I was expecting to get a letter back from perhaps a secretary or something with an order form or a credit card bill. I figured maybe he had an office somewhere at the college and someone would be answering his hand plane requests but this couldn’t have been any further from the truth. If not the following day then it was indeed the same week I checked my e-mail to find a letter.

Tom, Thank you for the nice e-mail. I know the plane you need for building your boats. Before all: don’t send payment before you have the plane and like it. If you want to call me, my telephone number is……best wishes, Jim Krenov

I can still remember the feeling I had after reading this letter, I ran down and told my wife about it and she also thought it was pretty cool that this author and seemingly famous cabinetmaker had written back to me himself. This was who he was and the kind of personality he had. The plane arrived a few weeks later carefully wrapped up in Californian news papers and packaged inside an old sneaker box. Perfect! I’ve used the plane ever since and I’m happy to say that I still ‘like it’
Fast forward a few more years when I started to write my own book on working wood and I again contacted Jim. This time it was to show him my ‘Cabinetmakers Tool chest’ design. While drawing the chest I wondered if he used to lug around a tool box with him, full of his hand planes from client to client. I wondered how he would have built it and if he spent any time on it? I wondered if he would have just tossed his tools into a make shift box too busy to waste time on something as utilitarian as a tool chest?
I told him that my design was indeed inspired by his work, from the split dovetails down the front to my choices of hardwoods for the carcass. “I don’t recall ever being much of a tool box man” he told me! This made me laugh. We corresponded again in February this past year about the design and he always found the time to answer my letters and take time to consider my questions and thoughts. “It’s a very beautiful piece.” I’m proud to say he wrote. I asked him about his writing and if he was planning on any more books. “I’m an old man now” he wrote and I left it at that but again it brought a smile to my face when I read it. He’s a funny old crank that has influenced thousands of wood workers all over this planet, myself being included in that list. He is missed already. I’m happy to have connected with him those few times through this ‘on-line’ platform and I’ll think about him and his words again when I hold his plane in my hands while I work. Perfect indeed.

This past Saturday turned out to be a good one for me; first off I finally made it out to A & M Wood to pick up my order of Quarter Sawn White Oak. Terry Johnston did a fantastic job finding some of the nicest Oak I’ve seen in awhile. I now have a shop full of planks in the neighborhood of 1 3/4″ thick by 8″ wide by 8′ long. Some serious weight there indeed. On my way out to Cambridge, where A & M is located I made a quick pit stop in the Ontario Carpenters Training Center. That’s where I hooked up with Dan Barrett of DL Barrett and Sons toolworks.
I had contacted Dan earlier about an old plough plane I had and was in need of some irons and a wedge. I had never met Dan before but he’s one of those guys that when you do meet him it’s like you’ve known him for years. He said he had some old irons for me and also a wedge I could have. I dropped by with my plough plane for him to see and he ended up fitting the wedge for me and sharpening up an iron to take it for a test drive! Way beyond the call of duty he really helped me out by taking the time out of his schedule.

Now if you don’t know about Dans work he makes amazing wooden bodied planes here in Southern Ontario. Chris Schwarz wrote a review on one of their ploughs at his Lost Art Press blog. I’m putting one of these at the top of my wish list.
As a side note, while I was there visiting Dan he had some of his tools on his workbench. I quickly noticed two backsaws and asked him where they came from. He said they were custom builds from Ed Paik of Medallion Toolworks. One was a small dovetail saw and the other a larger backsaw fitted with an ebony handle. Dan being the kind of guy he is quickly said “Here Tom, take ‘em for a test drive.” I did indeed and can say I was blown away. They looked and performed great although I did only make a handful of cuts with them. Again the wish list grows longer and my wallet is getting nervous! It’s nice to know that here in Southern Ontario, we have some of the finest craftsmen making truly incredible hand tools.

Cheers!

Tom,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I do appreciate your interest in some of my techniques and the mention of these on your very professional looking blog…

If an edge joint is made with a slightly cambered iron, the glue line when visualised from the end should be slightly thicker at the centre of the joint than at the surfaces.

I think he (Tico) is correct. However if sufficient clamping pressure is achieved, Hoadley suggests something in the order of 200 lbs per square inch, I doubt that this effect will be a problem.
Most medium density hardwoods are somewhat compressible. The original hollow from a slightly cambered iron is of the order of a few tenths of a thousandth of an inch, over the width of a 3/4 inch board.

I would suggest that the hollow in width, could only be a problem if the camber is excessive, i.e. a Scrub plane blade, or if the work was very thick.

The correct place to post this is eluding me but please feel free to post it on the blog.

best wishes,
David Charlesworth

After posting the article one reader commented that he had heard Phil didn’t use ‘tapered irons’ in his planes and that this could be a difficulty while adjusting/removing the blade. I didn’t want to speculate so I asked the plane maker himself…here is what he said:
I know that some Folks say that only tapered irons will do, but from experience I have found this to be incorrect…The secret to a wooden plane that is easy to adjust and keeps it setting is a well fitting wedge – if the wedge beds correctly then you don’t need to use excessive force to lock it in place. This also means it is easy to adjust and easy to release the wedge…Traditionally, irons were made by forge welding a small piece of high carbon steel (the cutting edge) to a piece of iron. This section of iron was then hammered and teased out to make the iron longer – this gave the tapered effect. As time went by tool steel became less expensive and the whole blade was made from it, not just the first inch or two, But they still taper ground the irons. I believe they did this because plane makers were used to making planes with the tapered irons, and changing to a parallel iron meant making new jigs at slightly different angles for the layout and making of their planes…Sometimes you have try things out – just because everyone does it this way doesn’t mean its correct!

It sounds to me like Phil has done his homework and considering he’s made over 200 wooden planes I won’t question him. I should have the planes in the next few weeks so I’ll keep you posted.
Cheers!

In the next photograph I’ve just taken a few through shavings down the reference edge. Please note that the stock is simply sitting on my bench top; it isn’t ‘dogged-down’ or clamped in any way. This will insure I’m not pinching the work, creating a bump or hollow over it’s length. I do have it resting up against a thin, scrap piece of plywood secured across the width of my work bench as well as having my bench dogs raised slightly along the front edge to keep the piece from moving about. With this method there’s no danger of transforming the profile of this important, reference edge in any way while I’m working it.

This is important and should be noted.

I arrived at this point after the larger ‘work’ or ‘reference’ surface was first determined and flattened. This first face surface being the most important, it will be our ‘reference’ surface to which all of our other lay-out will be referenced from. Some woodworkers when using the term ‘face side’ are usually referring to the outside ’show surface’ which can get a bit confusing…so to be clear-the work surface is actually my inside ‘reference face’ while dimensioning and laying out.
Now the trick I mentioned is a simple visual solution that clearly determines what your surface edge really looks like. Winding sticks and straight edges are great tools and visual aids showing you how straight and square you’re work really is; even a light rub with your finger tips can assist the eyes in determining this narrow, ’surface flattening’. But to be absolutely sure the reference edge is flat you’ll need some hard evidence…these are the shavings lying before you.If you look closely at the photos you’ll see the shavings I’m taking-these are only possible with a depth of cut in the neighborhood of one thousandth of an inch and taking a full, through shaving you’ll begin to see the signs. This type of shaving can only be obtained after you’ve flattened and tuned the sole of your bench plane as well as working with a plane iron that is razor sharp!
Lying there before me is a kind of road map…this clearly shows where there are still dips or hollows in the surface. In the next photo you’ll see how I’m getting closer to a truly flat edge. Again, the ‘map’ in the edge grain is unequaled in its ability to clearly demonstrate the progress. Simply take a fresh shaving and carefully unroll it. I’ve laid it on my steel flat edge to make it easier for you to see. With each pass these small ‘holes’ in the shavings get smaller. Another shaving and I’m almost there. The small ‘holes’ or ‘tears’ in the edge grain shaving mark any low or hollow spots in the surface. I can plane ‘around’ these valleys and bring things closer together. In the bottom photo you can see the three passes it took: from right, my first pass with two big sections that are obviously low. The middle shaving in the photo represents the next pass bringing the surfaces closer together; and finally the left shaving being my third pass is almost complete. I’ll follow with one or two stopped shavings to uniformly ‘hollow’ the length of the edge slightly and finish off with one or two more through shavings calling this side done.

My steel straight edge, winding sticks and engineers square together will tell the story of square and straight but for these tiny surface hollows, in the thousandth of an inch range, this road-map trick is something you should try. It can be difficult to see with the naked eye any slight valleys and a finger tip touch can only get you so far…this method of watching these signs will give you the confidence to move on with the dimensioning process of the lumber being worked. I should also mention the technique of ‘hollowing’ the edge along it’s length is a technique best demonstrated by David Charlesworth. His DVD on hand planing techniques available through Lie Nielsen Toolworks is extremely informative and should be viewed by all using hand planes in the workshop.

Cheers!

The existing door was put on about 25 years ago, so I’m building a replica of the original. It will be made of 8/4 Quarter-Sawn White Oak and to keep it true to the local history when it was originally made a century ago, I’m building it using only hand tools.
The carcass is a straight forward frame and panel design with some interesting moulding details. In order to reproduce these mouldings I’ve ordered four pairs of hollows and rounds from Phil Edwards in Broadstone, Dorset.
Phil is craftsman, musician and clearly a hand tool enthusiast; during his process of manufacturing my planes he’s sent me a photo of the progress. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on them and taking some fine shavings…
Stay tuned.

If you’ve ever wanted to replicate an heirloom molding perhaps from an antique furniture piece or architectural application, or better yet adding a custom profile to one of your own original designs by way of dedicated hand planes; this production is an absolute must see.
Beautifully filmed at Lie Nielsen Toolworks in Warren, Maine, this instructional DVD offers an incredibly informative lesson in molding making techniques.
As far as the production goes, if you’re already familiar with the Lie-Nielsen DVD’s you’ll notice that the picture quality, editing production and use of clear and easy to understand animations brings the ‘wood working how-to video’ to another level indeed…the soundtrack also serves it’s purpose well creating a welcoming atmosphere to absorb the information.
Don McConnells instruction, pace and execution is seamless, professional and inspiring. It enables us to look well into the working hands of an experienced craftsman and answers the questions most asked when producing this type of work.

I’ve been gearing up to build an exterior, ‘Heritage Door’ for a clients home here in the city. It has an elaborate mix of applied moldings and will be an exciting project to finish off my Spring production schedule. The house is situated in Historic Cabbage Town, a protected neighborhood where you can stroll through beautiful tree lined streets and take in some amazing examples of house design, architecture and historic reference.
Wood working education is everywhere around us whether you choose to take a moment to stop and notice; from the instructional DVD to written pages in books or these living examples in museums and like my clients home here in Toronto, a designated neighborhood perfectly preserved for anyone to stop, look and consider the hows and the whys of wood working technique, design and application.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot…Wood Working Blogs aren’t a bad place to Graze the Brain either!
Cheers.

I noticed as well in the photo a decent looking wooden bodied plough plane and decided to e-mail the seller for a quote. $100. bucks for the lot. Perfect. I made the deal and received the box of antiques. They’ve been sitting in my shop now for a few months and last night I decided to go through the items and have a closer look. Turns out the two wooden bodied planes, a Jointer and this Jack are pretty nice. They’ve both seen some use and have the normal wear and tear, a few decades of grime and decay but both seemed to have been well kept by their previous owners. I took the Jack plane out and disassembled the parts. I gave the entire surface a good going over with some mineral spirits and then this morning I started to re-tune it. The following are the steps I took to resurrect this old Jack plane.
Beginning at the soul, where everything should begin, I took some 100 grit 3X Norton sandpaper and with some double sided tape applied it down to a sheet of safety glass I have for sharpening. I checked the bottom before hitting the abrasive with my winding sticks to see if I could detect any noticeable humps or valleys. Some dark pencil lines scribbled across the bottom will help to keep track of my progress. I’d say no more than 10 minutes on the 100 grit and things were getting pretty smooth. From there I moved along to some 220 grit and repeated the process, again making some pencil marks and carefully monitoring my work. A few more minutes and I was done. I repeated these same steps with the wedge until it too was in the ‘house of pancake range’.
With the soul of the plane addressed and the wedge ready to work I moved onto the chip breaker and iron. If and when you watch my new DVD, (hopefully this coming Christmas when Santa stuffs it in your work sock) you’ll see me explaining some of the advantages and disadvantages in Flea Market tools. I mention that if you do decide to fix up an old tool that I don’t recommend reusing the iron. Instead I usually opt to replace it with a thicker, modern variety. I should say that this philosophy usually rings true, especially with old Stanley planes that originally came with thin irons that are prone to chatter. This plane however had a nice thick iron that seemed like it had lots of life left in it. With that I went to work on flattening the back. Beginning with an aggressive 220 grit Norton water stone I started the ‘ol pushin’ and pullin’ routine. About two solid hours in I had to ask my wife to give my back a rub…serious muscle aches. I was thinking to myself that I should have listened to my own advice but with the couple of hours already invested, I had to continue on. Moving on up from 220 to 1000 to 4000 and finally 8000 the iron was finally there.

Flat…just like the tender spots on my thumbs from pressing down onto and into the antique tool steel. I turned the piece over and checked it across the width for square; not too bad but needed some work. I re-established a straight, square edge on my slow speed wet-grinder, (the only powered tool in my workshop I might add) and then onto re-establishing the bevel. 25 degrees and back to the stones. 1000, 4000 and finally 8000 to finish adding a secondary micro-bevel to the leading edge. Back over to hone and cut off the burr I finish with the ‘ruler trick’ and call the iron done. I cleaned and dressed the chip breaker as well, actually using my water stones to flatten the leading edge. Some more sand paper on glass to clean up the years of rust and a nice light coat of machine oil for both. You’d be surprised at how quickly rust will develop on old tool steel like these. Seems even more so once you’ve cleaned off the grime that was probably preserving them in some strange way. A nice thing now, which always happens at some point in the refinishing of old tools is the story starts to emerge. Up until this point I really had no idea of where this plane had come from. There were no visible marks or emblems anywhere until the dark dirt was removed from the top of the iron. Ohio Tool Co. Ahhh, good to meet you sir. I Googled the company name and found very little information; the company it seems didn’t last all too long but here is a little history for the galoots in the room.

1823-The Ohio Tool Company started operations in Columbus, Ohio.

1841 to 1880-The firm made use of Prison Contract Labor from the nearby Ohio State Penitentiary.

1851-The company was incorporated with a capital stock of $190,000. It employed about 200 and was frequently called “The Plane Factory” since carpenters’ planes were the chief article of manufacture.

1858-The Ohio Tool Co. officers this year were George Gere, President; A. Thomas, Secretary and Treasurer; and C. H. Clark, Superintendent.

1865-Patents issued in this year for mortising machines used in cutting plane stocks helped to speed production.

1887-The Ohio Tool Co. employed 70 hands.

1893-The Auburn Tool Co. and the Ohio Tool Co. merged with offices in New York and factories in Auburn, N.Y. and Columbus, Ohio.

1900-The Ohio Tool Co. received the highest award given on carpenter’s tools at the Paris Exposition.

1903-The Business Directory of Columbus lists the company at 63 North Scioto Street which
was close to the Scioto River. “Scioto” was marked on their second grade planes.

1914-The Company moved to a new plant at Charleston, West Virginia.

1920-The Ohio Tool Company ceased operations.”

With the chip breaker and iron ready to go to work I turned my attention to the throat and mouth of the plane. A little file work to re-establish the edges of the mouth and then into my tail vise to clean out the throat.I test fitted the newly sharpened iron assembly and was happy with the fit. I then gave the entire body of the plane a nice heavy bath of boiled linseed oil. Ahhh….goes down good. The age of the tool and the dryness of the wood soaked up the oil in no time at all. From there it was now late afternoon and finally time to take it for a test drive. A few small knocks with one of the hammers that came in the box of tools and voila! A nice paper thin shaving rolled up and out of the throat. Like a boxer past his prime getting a second chance at the belt; a title shot. This was a good day for the Ohio Tool Company and a good day for me. It wasn’t about how much the plane cost or how long it took me to get it back in working order; it was simply a day spent in discovering a small piece of some history all but forgotten…Cheers!

The overall dimensions of the plane are 16″ long x 2 7/8″ wide. The iron is 2 1/4″ wide and slightly better than 3/16″ in thickness. I mentioned the nice old Jointer and wooden bodied plough plane; they’ll no doubt get this same treatment sometime in the future when my back stops aching and my thumbs return to their normal shapes! Stay tuned…

That’s somewhere in the ‘York Pitch Ballpark” (Galoot, Galoot)

“But wait there’s more…much more!”

From there I added these incredible ‘after-market’ style wooden front knob and rear tote. Incredible! These elements combined with it’s adjustable front mouth and we have ourselves a plane to be reckoned with. It kind of morphed into a quazy-miniature smoothing plane somewhere in the #3 range, if we were talking Bench planes…I use this when all my other planes fail, difficult grain and tear out be damned!

“And that’s not all!”

Flip this thing back into the low-angle block and you can remove the front shoe and add a chamfer guide.
“Stop it! You’re killing me!”
Seriously folks, this is one crazy-little doggy of a hand plane, with so many accessories it’s enough to drive you wild…So you say, how does it perform as the low-angle block plane it was designed as?
I can’t say really, I haven’t put down my low-angle Lie-Nielsen Bronze long enough too find out!
Cheers.

At the time Rob informed me that the left handed version was back-ordered and said he had a right handed model available. He assured me it didn’t really matter if I had the left or right model because it would always depend on the grain direction when planing a rabbet if I needed a specific orientation of hand plane. Trusting Rob knew what he was talking about I went ahead and ordered it. He was right, no big deal that it was a right handed version, it exceeded my expectations and has been a pleasure to use these last few years. Late this summer Veritas introduced their Skew Rabbet Plane also available in a left or right handed version; I decided that those times when my right-handed Lie-Nielsen would tear out wood grain when planing against the grain I would order the new Veritas left handed model. It arrived quickly and well packaged as all of my Veritas tools have. Sharp and ready to go I was surprised at the size of the plane.
Now that I have one of each I’ll compare what I think are the advantages and dis-advantages of each one of these models. First up,
The Lie-Nielson Skew Block Plane:

When this plane arrived in my mailbox it was ready to work right out of the box. Finely casted bronze with a comfortable front knob in Cherry. The plane set up quite easily and even though it was a right-handed model it felt quite comfortable in use. I decided to add a longer fence to the existing bronze one that came with the plane and the folks at Lie-Nielsen had already tapped out a couple of holes just for this purpose. The plane comes with a nicker that’s great for scoring a line just before your cut which seems to help a great deal at eliminating any tear out. I find the size of this plane suits my hand very well but one problem I do encounter while using it is it can sometimes wander away from the inside edge of a rabbet while in use. I’m not sure exactly why this occurs, I try my best at keeping it firmly registered against the side of the work being planed however it still can wander just enough to leave a bit of material on the inside corner. I wonder if the Lie-Nielsen had a second post to support the fence would it correct this problem? This small left-over material is something I’ll correct by finishing off the cut with my small shoulder plane. Not a big deal but one negative against. Another item is the Lie-Nielsen model has no depth adjustment or fence. Again, not the end of the world but a depth stop would be handy when you want to cut to a certain depth and no deeper. I would not hesitate to recommend anyone purchasing this hand plane or any other models from Lie-Nielsen.

Veritas Skew Rabbet Plane

I’ll start of with saying one of the obvious differences you’ll notice right away in these two planes is size. This is not a one handed tool. Perhaps this entire article is a little ‘apples to oranges’…I know the Lie-Nilesen is technically a block plane and the Veritas clearly is not. So why bother comparing? Why not.
The Veritas came sharp right out of the box, great except that the front edge of the bottom fence and the front leading edges on the depth stop were also sharp enough to tear out some wood grain while in use. This I quickly fixed by taking a few light passes with a small file and finishing up with some 320 grit wet/dry paper. Problem solved but still my first experience with this kind of thing from Veritas…perhaps this one was made on a Friday? I also find the Veritas a little bulkier which makes set up and blade adjustment a little tricky. I’m one who likes to see down through the throat of my plane while I’m taking a shaving however the Skew Rabbet design makes this almost impossible to do while standing over it working. The design is aesthetically pleasing, it seems to have some extra ‘contours’ molded into the body just above the mouth and throat area. I’m not sure if these are there to aid in handling however, I found that they created a kind of ‘catch all’ for shavings and needed to be cleaned out after every other pass. Some advantages I found on the Veritas are these: The double pole for the bottom fence keeps things super straight and performance at cutting down a 1/4″ Rabbet in Walnut was effortless. (once I rounded over the sharp edges and finely tuned the set-up) The large front knob is also extremely nice, they also put it on an angle or skew. Having the depth stop is also great for the reasons I mentioned earlier. Another big difference between these two planes is the over-all blade set-up. This is more of a bench plane and features a bevel down blade while the Lie-Nielsen has the blade bevel up. This again is neither here or there except this: The Lie-Nielsen can be used in all sorts of planing scenarios, simply remove the fence and you basically have a nice big block plane. That said the veritas is pretty much dedicated to
what it was made for. Hey, we are what we are…So with that can I say I prefer one over the other? No not really, in my perfect plane world my Skew Plane would be about the size of the Lie-Nielsen, have all of the same features it has but borrow the depth stop, the angled, slightly larger front knob and the double pole system for the fence, from the Veritas model and I think it would be ‘damn near perfect’. I’ll also suggest if you’ve been thinking about purchasing a Skew plane either one of these fine tools are far more than standard or adequate. They each have a few pluses and minuses but hey, nothing is perfect. In my shop the great thing is this; I needed a left handed model and a right handed model…so do what I did and get one of each.
Cheers!

A few years back I made myself my first shooting board, at the time I had a nice old Stanley #5 Jack plane; it’s 14″ long and at just under 5 lbs it made for a great shooting plane. It had been given to me by my father who acquired it from my grand uncle, John Pier; he probably bought it new some fifty-plus years earlier. When I got it it had the usual signs of good use, some light surface rust, a small crack in the tote and some dirt and grease. I took the plane, cleaned and oiled it, flattened the sole and replaced the iron and chip breaker with Ron Hock replacements. I also replaced the original knob and tote with some aftermarket Rosewood replacements. This thing shined like a new dime and worked like a dream. One cold, early morning in February I was about to begin trimming a few shavings off of some nice birds eye maple when it fell to the cold, hard cement floor of my then un-heated shop. As my stomach turned, I was afraid to look down…cracked. Completely in half at the throat…the old cast body was no match for the cement of my garage-turned-wood shop and I felt like I was going to need a psychiatric evaluation. Well, to make a long story longer I decided to try my hand at plane making. I had recently read The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking by James Krenov and was looking for an excuse to make a, what has now become known as the ‘Krenov style plane’.

I modeled the overall dimensions of the wooden bodied, dedicated shooter after my old Stanley (RIP). The new plane turned out to be in the 14″ length by 2 1/4″ wide. I used a nice piece of quarter sawn white Oak harvested and milled close to my home back in Cape Breton and to add even more protection/armour I laminated a piece of Jatoba to the sole creating a versatile shooting/Jack plane. I also used the Jatoba for the wedge and cross pin. Again, using a custom Ron Hock chip breaker and iron, I was quite pleased with the results. Well at least for a few days…it turned out that even in my attempt to make the plane sides accurately square to the sole I missed my mark a little. The plane functioned perfectly as a kind of Jack/Smoother, but as a shooting plane it just wasn’t up to snuff. So on to brighter days. The spring time came after that long, lonely winter and I decided it was time to replace the old #5. I did some research and discovered a modern replacement that not only would be an ideal shooting plane, it by far exceeded my good ‘ol buddy Jack.

The Lie-Nielsen # 5 1/2.
Amazing, simply amazing. What more could be said, this thing arrived right out of the box ready to work. It’s just over 14″ long and weighs in at a whopping 7 lbs. As a dedicated Shooting plane I’ve been quite happy using this tool day in and day out. Sometimes while smoothing larger panels like the top for a trestle table I built last year, I would re-adjust the mouth and actually use the 5 1/2 as an over sized Smoothing plane. Again the performance of this plane excelled and for jointing short boards, ideal. You won’t ever regret owning this heirloom quality hand plane. And with that I say, “Why stop there?”

Bring out the IRON MITER…

That feeling of revelation or better said, awe inspired-mouth hanging open, dumb-foundedness I sensed all those years ago when I finally decided to build a shooting board came flooding back this past week when my Lie-Nielsen # 9 arrived from their head office in Warren, Maine. To finally know and truly feel what a dedicated Shooting plane is like was really something special. This thing smokes! Seriously, if you were ever half considering but couldn’t justify purchasing a ‘dedicated’ hand plane like I had been doing for the past couple of years and finally want to make the plunge, I say go for it. You will not be disappointed. While all of the other planes mentioned in this article performed from adequate to quite well, this is the real-deal. Effortless and consistent. The blade adjustement controls perform like a finely tuned race car and the body and workman ship-a true master piece. What more can be said…I’ll still use the 5 1/2 as a (to quote David Charlesworth) ‘Super Smoother’ and the Krenov style wooden plane still finds it’s way to the workbench on ocassion; but the Iron Miter, this #9 will be from this day forth my Shooting Plane.
My dedicated ‘Shooter’ and cement floors be damned! Cheers.

 I had purchased it a year or two ago, the day after I read that Mr. Krenov was no longer making cabinets but selling his hand planes. You can search my Archive section for the full story. Sometime last year, I was telling my friend Mike the whole Krenov story and he too decided to order a hand plane from the cabinetmaking Guru. One of the main reasons for the visit on this particular day was to do a kind of comparison; see if they were any where near the same or completely different beasts all together. When I walked in to his shop and finally held the two planes together I was pretty shocked at the differences between the two. Visually, they’re clearly Krenovian in appearance, his seemed at first somehow ‘denser‘ or ‘sturdier?‘ than mine; although I thought this may be due to the comfort thing I get from having used mine for a year. On this day we were like two kids on Christmas morning, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours! I tried out his on some long grain hardwood he had on his bench top and although it felt like a finely tuned plane, comfortable and yet somehow foreign, it didn’t feel like my Krenov. I realised I’d have to spend some more time on it but couldn’t on this day due to another engagement I had. I left my Krenov in Mikes very capable hands, (obviously a very close friend, if you leave your James Krenov Smoothing plane in his trust)and he spend a few hours comparing the two planes. He’s promised to post a Blog on the findings he had and will post them soon on his site, Morrison Woodworks. Find the link on the side bar. You can also find the James Krenov link where perhaps you too can acquire one of these finely crafted instruments.