From how to get started with hand tools to mastering (and super-tuning) your handplane, this exclusive value pack has it all. Learn everything from designing and building a proper tool chest to sharpening a saw, to cutting a huge array of joints. Get top-notch instruction in sharpening, chisels, awls, marking knives, spokeshaves, planes and Read more
Chuck Brock, host of The Highland Woodworker web TV show made to trip from sunny and warm Georgia to cold and snowing Cincinnati a few weeks ago, to film segments for upcoming episodes of the show. We’ve changed the name of the segment to “Popular Woodworking’s Tips, Tricks & Techniques,” because we wanted to include … Read more
I’m the first to admit that I have some bad habits. I drink beer. I occasionally curse. And I sometimes drag my planes back across my work on the return stroke. When you receive traditional training, dragging a plane back across your work will get your knuckles rapped by the shop nun. That’s because when … Read more
I’ve turned hollow mortise chisels into square punches, refashioned chisels and their handles, made a number of scratch stocks, ground steel bar stock into embossing punches and a made a few other quick tools. And I’ve built a few wooden, Krenov-style handplanes over the years – I had a fine time and wound up with … Read more
Did you know that you can plane plastic? Me neither. I used my old Stanley #4. Its sweetheart era blade was razor sharp, though I’m not sure it needed to be. The “shavings” are UHMW (Ultra High Molecular Weight) polyethylene. I also mic’ed these (never measured shaving with a micrometer before either). They were exactly … Read more
This week I’ve been surfacing a lot of wood by hand, from pedestrian sugar pine to funky metals that have wood-like properties (e.g. purpleheart). And all the while I have been testing, testing, testing things with my chipbreakers and the cutting angle of the iron of my handplane. Huh? You might say. Yes, there might … Read more
In hand-tool woodworking, brains almost always trump brawn. For example, when I need to remove a lot of material from a localized area, I need to think like a tree assassin and exploit its weaknesses. Think about it for a minute: Trees are much stronger in the vertical axis than they are in the horizontal. … Read more
