Scrapers are one of the most misunderstood but useful tools in a woodshop. A scraper in its simplest form is simply a piece of hardened steel that has a small...
There’s one question that I’m asked almost every week that I cannot answer. And here it is: What brand handplane should I buy if I don’t want to fix up...
I recently bought your “Coarse, Medium, and Fine” DVD, from Lie-Nielsen. I wanted to thank you for it, I found it very informative and useful. I have two questions: 1....
Sometimes a craftsman-made tool surfaces that is just plain mysterious and wondrous. Today I spent the morning with Carl Bilderback, a semi-retired Chicago-area carpenter who has an astonishing [...]
At least once a week I’m asked if I prefer handplanes that have the iron’s bevel facing up (like in a block plane) or facing down (like in a traditional...
Some days it’s overwhelming to think about all the woodworking and toolmaking knowledge that’s been lost. Last weekend at the Mid-West Tool Collectors Association national meeting it [...]
I sometimes shudder to think about all of the chisels and plane irons I’ve set up in the last 10 years. Every review has involved hours and hours of setup...
The first handplane I ever bought was a Popular Mechanics block plane I purchased one night at Wal-Mart. There was no blade-adjustment mechanism. No adjustable mouth. And the iron was...
The scrub plane is unusual in that it doesn’t fall neatly into the traditional English system of classifying bench planes. Rough stock was prepared first with a “fore plane,” which...
