Handplane irons should be sharpened completely straight across. No curve. Ever. No, scratch that. All bench plane irons should be sharpened with some sort of curve. Always. Ah yes, this is one of the many debates that twist the knickers of modern woodworkers. The truth is that you can work with your tools set up … Read more
One of the best things about the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool event we hold in our shop each year is getting to hang out with the toolmakers and demonstrators who come to town for the event. One of the guys I got to spend some time with was Raney Nelson of DAED Toolworks. He’s been making … Read more
For years now, Lie-Nielsen has made 55° frogs for its No. 4-1/2 bench planes. I’m a big fan of higher planing angles, but I’m not as big a fan of the No. 4-1/2. I prefer the smaller smoothing planes – give me anything from a No. 2 up to a No. 4 and I won’t … Read more
The best sharpening advice I ever heard was from Tony Konovalov: Grind, hone and get back to work. Or, to put it another way: Which is more fun? Making your tools sharp or making your tools dull? When it comes to sharpening tools, I am not meditative. I am not slow. I am not interested … Read more
I made some cavetto moulding for a version of The Schoolbox I’m building. And because a cavetto is one of the easiest mouldings to make with a round plane, I decided to demonstrate the basics of laying out this moulding using a No. 4 plane. Cavetto, which means “to hollow,” is sometime called a simple … Read more
I’ve been meaning to write up a review on Veritas replacement blades and cap irons for months, but every time I sat down to do it I realized that I didn’t have the tooling here at work for photography – it was at home and getting the snot used out of it. Veritas has done … Read more
If you had only one bench plane, it would be nice if that plane could do both roughing and smoothing chores. Woodworker John Wilson tackled that problem in our April 2011 issue with his adjustable-pitch jack plane, which can be switched from 45° pitch to 52° pitch in less than a minute. I’ve had the … Read more
