Hand plane learning, questions

[Rick Moyer]

I have not ventured onto this section of Sawmill Creek before as I have very little experience or knowledge with non-powered woodworking tools.
I apologize for not reading all I probably could have to maybe answer my questions from what may already be posted here. I'm not intending to convert to Neander, but I have some planes that were my father's (and grandfather's) and I wish to preserve, refurbish, and understand them better.

I guess I am mainly looking for advice on a book or other resources to help my understanding. I'm not looking for mentoring as much as some good reference material to get me started.
Thanks.

[Joe Bailey]

As far as books go, you could do a lot worse than Garrett Hack's "The Handplane book".
For non-book resources, go to here:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...al-wisdom-FAQs
where Mr. Naqvi has been kind enough to categorize and link to everything worth saving.

[Jim Koepke]

There is some great reference material here on SMC in the Sticky: Neanderthal wisdom/FAQs post near the top of the forum.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?148076

Is one I posted.

Bob Smalser has a few posts that will also be helpful.

There are a few links included in the my post.

Garret Hack has a good book on general plane information.

Chris Schwarz also has a book that many recommend.

If you want to figure out when the plane was made, Johnny Kleso has a great site with plane information and information about the changes to the Stanley planes and when they took place.

https://home.comcast.net/~rarebear/p...ing/typing.htm

Post some pictures and the folks here can help with more information.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

Just to prime the pump;
if you intend to be a tool user, rather than tool repairman - buy new.
If you only want to buy once, buy the best you can afford. Second hand Lie Nielsen planes are my recommendation, they tend to hold value and work well.
I prefer wooden body planes, but have a very damp basement that generates more rust than sawdust.

Were I to recommend one plane at the outset, it would be the Lee Valley (Veritas) or Lie Nielsen Bevel up jack plane.
With a couple spare blades, sharpened to do different tasks, it could be the only necessary plane for quite some time.

I believe Lee Valley has some pre-ground blades for this method, Lie Nielsen will send every blade with the same basic grind.

I also recommend that you take a couple of introductory handtool classes, near you. Keep a log of every tool you employ, with a tic mark for each time it gets used.
If something has lots of marks next to it, you'll likely use it at home. (For example - I sold my huge Jointer, which I owned six years and used only once. I've just built my second block plane, the first was worn to a nub.)

jim
wpt, ma

[Jared McMahon]

They recently (well, kinda) posted more online episodes of The Woodwright's Shop with Roy Underhill. He's a good one to watch just in general but one of the new episodes is Hand Plane Essentials with Chris Schwarz. It's pretty high on the goof-ball factor but there's plenty of good info in there between the horsing around. Chris and Roy are each excellent resources, and videos like those episodes are great places to see the tools actually being used. A picture might be worth a thousand words, but sometimes even one short video can be worth a whole pile of still images.

My local Woodcraft store has a few planes lying out on a display with some wood offcuts for people to try out. Might be a good way to wrap your hands around one or two different kinds/sizes if you have a local store and they do something similar.

[Archie England]

My local library has about a dozen books that really helped me to get going with tools in general, and a couple were really spot on for hand tools.
Next, anything written by Christopher Scwharz is really helpful (but harmful to the pocket book).
And, ta...da...the postings here, both searchable and on-going, are very helpful due to the interactive aspect.

There are numerous, really well done books--whose authors tend to post here and other significant forums.

Arch

[Bill White]

Jut get ready to be sucked in to the word of hand planes. You'll be amazed at the work you can do with a well tuned and sharpened plane. YouTube has a bunch of stuff too.
Bill

[Michael Peet]

They recently (well, kinda) posted more online episodes of The Woodwright's Shop with Roy Underhill. He's a good one to watch just in general but one of the new episodes is Hand Plane Essentials with Chris Schwarz. It's pretty high on the goof-ball factor but there's plenty of good info in there between the horsing around. Chris and Roy are each excellent resources, and videos like those episodes are great places to see the tools actually being used. A picture might be worth a thousand words, but sometimes even one short video can be worth a whole pile of still images.

Thanks for that, I just watched it. I've seen Chris on a few episodes of TWS. He and Roy seem to have a genuine rapport that is fun to watch.

Here's the link, in case anyone else is interested (hopefully I can post that here): http://video.pbs.org/video/2172600556/

Mike

[David Castor]

If you are thinking about the C. Schwarz Handplane Essentials book, be advised that it is basically a collection of magazine articles. After waiting for a couple of months while it was back-ordered, I was a little disappointed after it finally arrived. There is some good information, but it is not a structured book that progresses from front to back. I've got several other books by Chris and enjoyed them all, but this one didn't quite meet my expectations - at least so far.

I've checked out a lot of books from my library, but honestly have not found any book on handplanes that I thought was really a good primer on how to use them. If you read enough of them, you'll begin to find some common elements and things start to make a little more sense.

Jim Tolpin of Port Townsend Woodworking school has a few videos on Youtube that I found pretty helpful as well the ones already mentioned by others.

I'm a total novice myself, but there is something strangely satisfying about watching those shavings coming off and floating down to the floor - even while I'm totally destroying a nice piece of wood 8-)

[Rick Moyer]

Thanks for the info guys. My main interest at this point is as basic as learning what all the components are and how they relate to the function of the plane. I need to know how to set one up to use it properly, so you see I am really green when it comes to this. I have no intention of buying any right now but I know I could probably put a small block plane to use from time to time. My father and grandfather didn't do much woodworking per se, but both were good carpenters so I have a jointer plane and one or two bench or smoothing planes that got passed down. I'd like to be able to adjust them properly and know what I'm doing better.
I'll check out the sticky noted, as well as the other info posted. Should get me started.

[James Owen]

These videos have in-depth information on tuning and using hand planes.

-- These are by David Charlesworth, and available from LN:

Hand Tool Techniques Part 1: Plane Sharpening
Hand Tool Techniques Part 2: Hand Planing
Hand Tool Techniques Part 3: Precision Shooting Simplified

-- This one is by Rob Cosman, and available from his website or from Woodcraft:

Rough to Ready

*****

You might find some of these books useful.


These focus specifically on hand planes:

Planecraft: Hand Planing by Modern Methods (C. W. Hampton and A. E. Clifford)

Taunton's Best of/New Best of FWW & FWW On hand planes (Editors of Fine Woodworking Magazine)


These have good sections on hand planes, but also cover other (hand) tools:

Restoring, Tuning, and Using Classic Handtools (Mike Dunbar) [If you need to restore or tune your planes up and aren't familiar with the procedure, this is the book to get.]

Hand Tool Essentials (Editors of Popular Woodworking Magazine)

Old Ways of Working Wood (Alex Bealer)

Traditional Woodworking Techniques (Graham Blackburn)

Traditional Woodworking Handtools (Graham Blackburn)

Choosing and Using Hand Tools (Andy Rae)

Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings (Aldren Watson)

The Handplane Book (Garrett Hack) [Already mentioned by others]

*****

[Erich Weidner]

I would also recommend Garret Hack's "The Handplane Book".
Also I really enjoyed reading a reprint of an old 1911 book on handplanes "Planecraft". I got mine at woodcraft.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/200...lanecraft.aspx

[Rick Moyer]

Thanks for the help. I did in fact purchase "the Handplane Book". It was exactly what I was looking for.

[Peter Hawser]

Hey Rick, I am not among the wise and learned here, but why not post a pic of your family planes? I am betting many here can give you an assessment and tell you what you might want to look into doing with each. I'm hoping you have some nice gems there. I'm betting sharpening will be your first step and that opens a huge discussion with no shortage of info and opinions. As a relative newbie myself, I found the huge amount of info on sharpening to be confusing, but your book (which I also have right here) seems to cover it well.

[Leigh Betsch]

Sheesh, 14 posts and no one has warned him about the slope! Rick take a look at the kind of work some of these guys do with just hand tools. It's pretty incredible.
If that doesn't hook you, buy a router plane, you'll stop tweeking your table saw dado height setting and pull out the router plane every time. I don't claim to be a converted neander but that's just because I could never be as good as these guys so I have to be faster. I think I must be the missing link.