which wooden plane book?

[lawrence munninghoff]

I have just watched Bill Anderson's videos on moulding planes, and joinery handplanes and would like to buy a book on the subject. Not sure which book to buy, "The Wooden Plane:Its History, Form and Function", or "A Guide To The Makers of American Wooden Planes". Any suggestions would be appreciated since at this time I do not want to buy both. I am not a collector.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Lawrence and welcome to the creek. My curiosity always has me wondering what part of the world members are located.

It is hard to suggest a particular book without knowing the interest. The two titles mentioned sound more like tomes meant for historical research than how to books on the use of wooden planes.

If you are interested in use, the book "Moldings in Practice" by Matt Bickford might be a good choice:

http://blog.lostartpress.com/2012/06...s-in-practice/

If you are in the Pacific Northwest and you would like to get some hands on use of molding planes, send me a PM.

Note: I have not read any of the books mentioned.

jtk

[Steve Voigt]

It depends what you are looking for. If you are not a collector, I would not buy the Pollak book--it's really aimed at collectors.

The Whelan book is a good general guide that covers plane history and briefly discusses every type of plane you can imagine. I find it most helpful when I am trying to learn about particularly weird or unusual critters, like sash coping planes.

If you want to learn to make molding planes, buy the Old Street video on making side escapement planes. If you want to learn to make all types of planes, buy Whelan's other book on making traditional planes, but be aware that it is not nearly as easy to follow as the Old Street video. If you want to learn to sharpen molding an joinery planes, Old Street has a video for that, too. If you want to make bench planes, watch Dave Weaver's videos on YouTube. If you want to learn how to use a minimal kit of molding planes to cut virtually any molding, buy Matt Bickford's book, and/or the accompanying video.

[Robert Norman]

Here's a PDF of Charles Hayward's book. http://toolemera.com/bkpdf/haywardhowtobk.pdf
it's a great book and free. More of a shop-made tool book. Whelan's books are here: http://www.astragalpress.com/John_Whelan_Books.htm
The top one is for making planes specifically and works gradually from easy to complex.

[lawrence munninghoff]

Thanks for the information. I am more interested in the historical side at this time. Based on Steve's input it sounds like I would benefit the most from the Whelan book. Unfortunately Jim I live in Northern Ky. otherwise I would take you up on your offer. Does the Pollak book give any kind of historical data on the various planes? The Pollak book was recommened by Bill Anderson in his videos, which I thought were excellent.

[Frederick Skelly]

Here's a PDF of Charles Hayward's book. [url]http://toolemera.com/bkpdf/haywardhowtobk.pdf

Thanks for posting that Robert!

[Dave Lehnert]

Northern Ky is the home of Christopher Schwarz. contributing editor to Popular Woodworking ( in Cincinnati). He writes about hand tool woodworking and the history behind them . Look for his blog and his books on ""The Lost Art Press"