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Thread: Hand Plane Ignorant

  1. #1
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    Hand Plane Ignorant

    I am completely (well, almost) in the dark about hand planes. I have acquired a few that belonged to my father and will be getting some more. I have read some magazine articles and now understand and believe in their neccessity for fine woodworking. So, now I need to educate myself. I need to learn how to select the proper plane for the task, how to use it, how to adjust and tune it, how to sharpen it, and heavens knows what else I don't know.

    I have searched the threads here at SMC and the internet in general and have found what I believe are 3 good books on planes. I list them below in the order that I think I shoud acquire and read them. Do you agree? Are there other books you would add? Would you strike one from the list?

    1. The Handplane Book by Garrett and Hack
    2. Handplane Essentials by Christopher Schwarz
    3. Planecraft: Hand planing by Modern Methods by Hampton & Clifford

    TIA for your advice

  2. #2
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    Welcome to the slippery slope. Those are all great books. I would also suggest a sharpening book. Leonard Lee, Thomas Lie-Nielsen or Ron Hock's new book would all be great. I have both the Lee and Lie-Nielsen books and will certainly get Hock's book when it's available. Learning to sharpen is absolutely essential.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Rimmer View Post

    1. The Handplane Book by Garrett and Hack
    2. Handplane Essentials by Christopher Schwarz
    3. Planecraft: Hand planing by Modern Methods by Hampton & Clifford

    TIA for your advice
    I don't have the book, but I've been reading Christopher Schwarz's stuff for several years in Popular Woodworking, Woodworking, and blogs. I think he's by far the best writer I've seen with regard to hand tools, so I would recommend the book highly. (I understand that a lot of the book is a collection of his earlier writings, and I would buy it in a second if I didn't already have a lot of that material!).

    Jim

  4. #4
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    Careful, they're addicting. Personally, I haven't found books to be as helpful as trial and error. I guess I like learning the hardway. A lot depends on how much hand planning do you want to do. Somene that uses a power jointer and planner would have different needs then someone planning rough stock.

    The Coarse, Medium and Fine DVD looks interesting, it's on my xmas list...

  5. #5
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    I highly recommend "Course, Medium and Fine" - it's a DVD by Christopher Schwarz. I learned a great deal about how to use them in conjuction with each other - thier intended purpose and what the numbering system was all about. The puzzle came together quickly.

    Next - sharpening is the key. Most people have tried several methods over time including myself. I think you have to settle on one and stick with it and allow yourself to get better and better at a method you are most familiar with. Your choice could certainly be different, but I saw Deneb Pulchalski on youtube (he works for Lie Nielsen). They have a method that allows you to acheive a razor edge in very little time. You can download the pdf file from the "sharpening" option on thier website. This has worked well for me, but use whatever is comfortable with you.

    Fix your Dads planes up and enjoy them - as others have said, you have done and fell onto the slippery slope.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Rimmer View Post

    ....I have searched the threads here at SMC and the internet in general and have found what I believe are 3 good books on planes. I list them below in the order that I think I shoud acquire and read them. Do you agree? Are there other books you would add? Would you strike one from the list?

    1. The Handplane Book by Garrett and Hack
    2. Handplane Essentials by Christopher Schwarz
    3. Planecraft: Hand planing by Modern Methods by Hampton & Clifford

    TIA for your advice
    Jim,

    For a good, detailed, overall primer on hand planes, I would start with Planecraft; it covers almost all of the available Bailey-type metal plane types, how to set them up, how to use them, and what they are used for. The other two books are also excellent, but are more specialised, and not as comprehensive. (Warning: Planecraft reads somewhat like a 255-page ad for Record planes, since that is what is used as examples; ignore that part, and absorb the info; much of it is not available anywhere else, and this is the only place where all of it is put together in one volume.)

    I would also take a look at Mike Dunbar's Restoring Tuning & Using Classic Woodworking Tools, and Aldren Watson's Hand Tools.

    Dunbar's book has two extensive chapters on restoring and then using hand planes, one each for metal and wooden planes.

    Watson's book covers hand tools in general; the hand plane chapter is thorough, but more importantly, other parts of the book cover important hand plane-related subjects such as benches, work-holding devices, etc.

    Hope that this is of some use to you.
    James

    "Uke is always right."
    (Attributed to Ueshiba Morihei)

  7. #7
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    Jim - I found this book by Anthony Guidice to be excellent and logical. It focuses on hand planes, but touches on other pertinent info.

    The Seven Essentials of Woodworking
    Happiness is like wetting your pants...everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth....

  8. #8
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    I'm a book junkie, but sometimes watching a video helps more, altho nothing is better than actually using the tool after a few pointers. Spend time learing how to sharpen and tune a plane.

    That said, I think "The Wooden Plane" by John M. Whelan has lots of info on planes and their uses, for the most part you can easily find the metal equivalents of the wood planes shown there.

    Another favorite of mine (again to show what tools are for; more than technique) is Aldren A. Watson's "Hand Tools".

    /p

  9. #9
    I also like this book. It's a collection of articles from various authors. In the original post, to 'acquire' means to use your library card first, right? I've got several tool books that I rarely look at these days. I should have used my local library first; more money for tools.

    http://store.taunton.com/onlinestore...es-070810.html

    Tom

  10. #10
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    I am with Derek on this one. I have a few books. Some of them have blatant errors. One in particular instructs the reader to use the lever cap edge as a screw driver to remove the cap iron screw.

    It is not one of the books listed in the OP.

    Maybe if you have a stamped steel lever cap. Of course, in that case you probably have a crappy plane anyway.

    Some of my techniques are learned by what is needed at the time. Some by making one mistake and having to deal with working around it.

    I do not have a lot of experience with mortise and tenon joints. A current project is a small table with M & T joints on tapered legs. There is a flute around the leg where the taper begins. My learning by experience has taught me to put the flute in the legs after planing the tapers.

    Experience is what you get from making mistakes. So now, I am learning how to come onto the leg's taper from the side to smooth the saw cut surfaces adjacent to the flute cut.

    Sharpening is a skill one needs to begin working on before they will be in harmony with a hand plane. As your sharpening gets better, you will be amazed at how much better your planes treat wood.

    I use variations of scary sharp and water stones mostly, but also do some sharpening with oil stones. All three methods have their strong points, all three have their drawbacks.

    I think currently if you subscribe to Fine Woodworking online edition there is a special offer to be able to down load the Garret Hack book.

    http://www.finewoodworking.com/member

    Getting back to the original direction of the question,
    I have acquired a few that belonged to my father and will be getting some more.
    What do you know about the planes you have?
    Can you post pictures?
    With a few good pictures, their vintage can usually be determined and also the model numbers.

    When you say you will be getting some more are they ones you intend to buy or more of your fathers?

    If you are intending to buy, you may want to hold off on that if you are not sure what you have.

    jim
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  11. #11
    Welcome to the dark side.

    It starts off with a quiet "snik,"
    a feathery shaving,
    a glistening surface like the God of wood intended.

    Then, you realize that you need another plane...
    Hey, at least it's not Meth.


    Great books, BTW.
    I second Leonard Lee's sharpening book. It's really good.

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