Eighteenth-century woodworking tools. This 20"-wide piece of  mahogany will make a great tabletop when I get it flattened. My long try plane may not be the fastest tool for the job, but I sure am glad I have it. I could never justify purchasing a 24" stationary power planer because I come across stock like this infrequently. This plane allowed me to buy a piece of wood I probably couldn't work otherwise. Eighteenth-century woodworking tools can be restrictive in some ways. In this case, however, my try plane has opened up opportunities I wouldn't have had without it.

I use 18th-century hand tools because I make reproduction furniture. In my mind, the simplest, most efficient way to make authentic-looking furniture is to simply use the tools and techniques from the period. So for 18th-century reproductions, I think hand tools are the best tools. But for other jobs, I’m not so sure. Last year, I made plywood kitchen cabinets by hand. That wasn’t fun. Eighteenth-century hand tools simply weren’t designed for plywood and the sorts of joints used in kitchen cabinets. So I recognize my 18th-century tool kit isn’t universally superior. But there are some 18th-century hand tools that I think no shop should be without, regardless of the sort of work done. In this article, I’m going to list the tools I think you should have and tell you why I think you should have them.

I’ve been reluctant to discuss topics such as this in the past. From its conception, Arts & Mysteries has always had a strong anti-consumeristic theme. Arts & Mysteries is now and has always been about skill. So I’ll make a deal with you: I’ll agree to talk about the tools you need if you promise not to ask me who makes the best versions and where to buy them.

Try Plane
Every shop needs a long handplane (traditionally called a try plane). Try planes are used to flatten or straighten stuff. Think of them as the 18th-century equivalent of a power jointer. The advantage they offer over a power jointer is that you can use them to work stock that’s too wide or heavy for your jointer. Use a try plane to flatten a tabletop or your workbench. It’s a lot easier and more accurate than a belt sander. Don’t be afraid to work perpendicular to the grain.

Try planes are also used to straighten edges. They can be helpful if your stock is too heavy to safely pass over your jointer, and you’ll never cut yourself working with small pieces.

When selecting a try plane I think you should get the longest plane you can find. The theory is that the longer sole will allow you to work more accurately. In reality, I’m not 100-percent sure it makes a huge difference.  Look for a plane between 20" and 30" in length and don’t worry too much if it doesn’t take smoother-like shavings. You can always clean up after it with a smooth plane, cabinet scraper or, dare I say it, sandpaper.

Crosscut Handsaws
I can understand why someone might not want to do all their ripping by hand. Long rips through thick stock can be strenuous. But crosscuts are generally not difficult by hand and handsaws offer a few advantages over power saws. I’m not sure how folks rough crosscut boards, or glued-up panels that are too wide for a chop saw or radial-arm saw. If the stock is 6/4 or thinner, this is fairly easy work with a handsaw. I also take my panel saw to the lumberyard. Sometimes I find stock that doesn’t fit in my van. So I just cut it right there and then while the yard man stares at me, tobacco juice rolling down his chin from his gaping mouth. (Handsaws are an anathema to some people; I hope not to you.)

I used a chop saw a few times and was disappointed with my accuracy. The saw cut perfectly straight and true, but I had some difficultly adjusting to the saw to the 82.3789542° angle scribed on the stick I was cutting. I had no stock, time or patience for test cuts. A backsaw filed crosscut will actually jump into a knifed scribe line. All the precision bearings in the world can’t do that. If you have 20 of the 90° cuts to make, obviously it wouldn’t make sense to use a handsaw if you had a chop saw handy. But for off-angle or compound-angle cuts, a simple backsaw can make quick work of the job.

Marking Gauge
Technically, a marking gauge is used to transfer a mark from one board to another. But I’ve found mine are useful for other tasks. I use them like a caliper, to see how uniform a thickness is (in the few instances when I actually care). I also set my marking gauges to chisels (using them as width gauges) to transfer a given measurement accurately and repeatedly. Instead of scratching a line as is typical, marking gauges can be used to mark the locations of nails or screws equidistant from an edge. The advantage I see of the marking gauge over the dial indicator or caliper is that you can mark and measure with it at the same time.

Making your own marking gauge is a fun afternoon project. My friend Dean Jansa wrote an excellent article in this column for the December 2006 issue (#159) detailing step-by-step instructions. In that column, he mentioned 18th-century-style fixed-pin mortising gauges. I wonder if some of you would benefit from making one of these with the pins set to the thickness of plywood.

Cabinet Scraper
The cabinet (or card) scraper is your friend. Get to know it better and you will be rewarded. No shop should be without one. I think period cabinetmakers used them to tame curly woods and veneers. You can use them to scrape glue, brass or your favorite figured wood. You can buy them new, or make your own out of old rusty saw blades. If you don’t have one, get one. The only trick to using it is learning to sharpen it – and Editor Christopher Schwarz tells you how in the February 2007 issue (#160).

Small Moulding Plane
Small moulding planes are wonderfully fast and effective. For a small job, it’s hard to beat the quick work and smooth finish left by a moulding plane. They’re really not that hard to use. You may need to read up on sharpening them and it may take you an hour to do it. This is something you could do on a jobsite. When your stock is straight grained, the finished moulding will be crisp and so smooth. Mouldings cut with a plane usually can’t be improved with sandpaper.

Wide Paring Chisel
I’m guessing most woodworkers have at least one chisel. Many of you probably have a set of chisels. Craftsmen in the 18th century had several sets of special-purpose chisels. I think every woodworker would benefit from reserving one wide chisel for use as a dedicated paring chisel.

I use a wide chisel for a great variety of tasks. I clean up tenon cheeks and faces with one, pare end grain to perfect miters, and level proud dovetails and pins. The trick is keeping it sharp. Choosing a high-quality chisel will help with that. You don’t need a special long-pattern paring chisel. Any wide chisel will do. You can pare bevel down (I do it all the time and actually prefer it). I recommend you grind it with a low angle (20°-25°). I like a convex rounded bevel and a little back bevel doesn’t bother me one bit. Think of it more as a carving tool than something you hit with a hammer, and sharpen it accordingly.

Each year, I go to Williamsburg, Va., to the “Working Wood in the 18th Century” conference. Call me nuts, but watching the cabinetmakers use their chisels to quickly, accurately and elegantly define features is like watching a professional athlete hit a homerun, catch a “Hail Mary” pass or sink a three-pointer. It makes me want to stand up and cheer. If you could see that, I think you’d feel the way I do about chisels. Get yourself a wide chisel, keep it sharp and try it.

Gimlet
I often come across jobs around the house that require the drilling of one small hole. I don’t own a cordless drill, so I find the gimlet is a perfectly acceptable way to drill up to four or so small holes. If you have to drill many more than that, you might as well go find an extension cord. Gimlets can also be handy if you are working on a ladder, as you can keep a few in your shirt pocket.

Center Bits and Brace
Center bits are useful for boring large shallow holes quickly. To avoid break out, work until you feel the centerpoint break the far surface of the stock. Then finish the hole from the other side. As good as center bits are at drilling holes, I often use them for excavations. I made boxes for my oil stones out of solid wood. I use centerbits to excavate for half-mortise locks, or mouth patches in wooden planes. You may use a drill press for the same operations, but the center bit offers maybe a little more control. You can remove one shaving at a time and see it happening. You may find you don’t need a set of these. Maybe just a single 5⁄8"-diameter bit will suffice.

Wooden Handscrew
When woodworkers think of clamps, they often think about gluing. When period furniture makers think about clamps, they think about holding. My bone-crushing wooden handscrews are invaluable to me. They are big and very strong. I think you only need two. I like those with wooden screws better than the metal-screw versions, which all seem to have one left-hand screw thread; it always confuses me. The wooden-threaded versions have two right-handed screws, which I like better. But if you are smarter than I am, go ahead and get the metal-screw clamps. Get the biggest pair you can find. But don’t turn your nose up at cheap, old wooden clamps at the local antique shop. They are there on the floor under the table with the cast iron kettle with the plastic daisies in the spout.

Conclusion
When recommending tools to woodworkers, it’s easy to lose sight of the importance of the work and instead become mired in the often ambiguous world of “performance.” In this article, I’ve tried to suggest not necessarily top-performing tools, but tools that add some additional capability to a wired shop. In so doing, I’ve revealed the very heart of this column.

Last year, I wrote about my vision of what period furniture making is all about. It was a series about period woodworking, for period woodworkers. I’m not looking for puffy-shirt wearing converts, though. And this is not an elite clique. I’m hoping folks with no desire to reproduce 18th-century furniture read this column and glean something of use for their work. It may be something as small as trying a gimlet instead of a cordless drill.
I hope that instead of restricting yourself to one sort of tools as I have, what you read here in Arts & Mysteries will encourage you to try new things, explore new possibilities for your woodworking – whatever sort that may be. PW

Visit Adam's blog at artsandmysteries.com for more discussion of traditional woodworking techniques and tools.