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I use hand planes quite a lot and give each one a special role to play. My ensemble of metal planes includes long and short, wide and narrow, expensive, but also dirt cheap eBay bought and later [...]

The single most important hand-tool appliance is 3 sticks of wood. Owning a backsaw without owning a bench hook is like riding a bicycle without handlebars. This simple hand-tool appliance (three [...]

When I teach beginners, one of the most common phrases I hear is, “I cannot get this (insert tool name) to work. What’s wrong?” They hand the tool to me and the fun begins. Though block planes [...]

Armed with a little trickery, you can make the block plane perform a wide variety of tasks. Hang around enough woodshops (or Internet discussion groups) with a block plane in your hand and you’ll [...]

Grab your torch and pitchfork; the hand-tool guy has a table saw. Editor’s note: this article appeared in the November 2016 issue of Popular Woodworking People react with shock and horror [...]

Tool: Veritas Side-Clamping Honing Guide Shop Now  Manufacturer: Veritas MSRP: $39.50 When I saw that Lee Valley has release two new honing guides last month I knew that I have to give [...]

While most newly-purchased chisels are supplied together with their integral guard, any vintage tool, mortise chisels, corner chisels, and all gouges do not come with such protection.  A few [...]

Tool: Nx60 Shop Now  and DX60 Shop Now  Manufacturer: Lee Valley MSRP: $209+ These low-angle block planes from Lee Valley are beautiful marriages of fine art and sound engineering. [...]

Tool: Small Scraping Plane Buy Now  Manufacturer: Veritas MSRP: $139 Sometimes a wood’s grain direction is so unruly that planing just gets you in trouble–tearout is [...]

Hand Tool Starter Kit Tool: 45th Anniversary Set of Three Woodworking Tools Buy Now Manufacturer: Garrett Wade MSRP: $253 For a long time, there were really only a couple options to get [...]

Modern hand planes continue to be popular, and this low-angle block plane excels at trimming tenons, rabbets, and end grain. Tool: Skew Block Plane Buy Now Manufacturer: Veritas MSRP: $229 [...]

Planing the edge of a long board perpendicular to its face is a real challenge. To make the job easier, I built a guide that attaches to the side of my plane with rare earth magnets. Now jointing [...]