Waxing philosophical - hand planes

[Frederick Skelly]

I started down the slippery slope about 3 years ago and I have planes, chisels, spokeshaves, backsaws, marking gauges and marking knives - plus a TON of sharpening stuff. For me, I think the biggest single game changer for my woodworking are my planes. I have the full variety. But each and every one of them lets me do something I couldn't before - take very controlled cuts to improve the fit and/or finish of each project I build.

I can tune the fit of a drawer, improve the way my boards glue up, smooth the surface to near perfection without sandpaper and improve the fit of dados and grooves beyond what my (:eek:) tablesaw can ever do.

Yeah, my chisels and backsaws are great. But for me, learning to sharpen and use handplanes has made a huge difference.

What tool made the difference for you?

Fred

[Mike Baker 2]

Planes, too, as well as chisels.
A good, well sharpened chisel is a thing of beauty, and capable of just as controlled of a cut as any hand plane. And it is a natural extension of the hand.
I'm building my first bench. One of the great joys in doing so was using a chisel to do very basic, rough type work like splitting tenon, and then turning around and fine tuning the fit of those same tenon by making super thin, very precise cuts with that same chisel.

[Patrick Chase]

What tool made the difference for you?


DermaBond. Without it I would have had to stop drinking while working wood...

[Doug Hepler]

Frederick,

Interesting question. You asked about tools. Definitely hand planes, especially bevel up planes. The LV shooting plane and a shooting board top the list. Learning to sharpen on sandpaper and then learning to sharpen by hand (not that I can sharpen every blade without a jig).

Other than a specific tool, the things that radically changed my woodworking skills are (1) learning that I had to check and adjust every tool in my shop to perform as I assumed it would when received; (2) learning that s4s lumber is not necessarily square, flat, etc.; (3) learning to find, mark and use a reference edge on every board every time; (4) learning that hand work methods are essential, even if I am using a power tool. Another way to say that is that I learned to mark the work as if I was going to work it by hand and not necessarily rely on a power tool setup to cut where I want.

There's more but I will try to keep this short.

Doug

[george wilson]

I heard about a WWII Japanese tool kit which used a chisel as the blade for the wooden plane that was in the kit. Slight saving in weight or cost.

[Frederick Skelly]

I heard about a WWII Japanese tool kit which used a chisel as the blade for the wooden plane that was in the kit. Slight saving in weight or cost.

Hi George! I could see that. If I'm carrying my toolbox on my back, every once less would be a blessing. Also, LV sells a gadget today that does something similar, here (http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=32661&cat=1,230,41182,41192).

[Brent Cutshall]

Saws. I love saws. Until I bought a one-man logging saw, I had to hew all my trees down. Before my coping saw, carving was a peach, a bow saw would be better though. Of course, all of my carpentry would lack greatly with out my complete set of crosscuts and rips. That said, it's kind of hard to pick one tool that completely changed the way I work. I used to do work without most of my current tools, but I can't imagine work without any of them now.

[Todd Stock]

The need to produce work to a competitive standard, on schedule, and to budget has been the 'engine of difference' in my shop. Anyone that has been doing this for a bit knows a guy that have a large, well equipped shop which produces little more than the occasional shop aid or practice dovetail. They also likely know a few fellow woodworkers with far-from-ideal shop situations that produce well regarded work. In my view, that work drives the exploration of tools, techniques, and skills development to a greater degree than the reverse.

[Archie England]

Frederick, I agree with your comments. For me, learning what sharp is, and then being able to get all my blades to that level, has become the gateway to more enjoyable woodworking. Having (or acquiring) all the tools is just the extra "fun" now.

[Bob Glenn]

With out a doubt, a card scraper. Properly sharpened it is magic!

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Fred, for me it was the opposite. Planes got me into this, but learning to use chisels and saws properly are the biggest breakthrough in my woodworking. Using the right tool for the job instead of trying to do everything (rough dimensioning particularly) with a plane.

[Pat Barry]

I think the biggest thing is the wealth of information out there on the internet, whether it be watching someone use tools effectively, learning new techniques, getting inspiration from completed work, etc.

[Patrick Chase]

I heard about a WWII Japanese tool kit which used a chisel as the blade for the wooden plane that was in the kit. Slight saving in weight or cost.

"A plane is just a jig that holds a chisel" - T. Lie-Nielsen

[Nathan Johnson]

DermaBond. Without it I would have had to stop drinking while working wood...

Well, this got me thinking....
Maybe whiskey is the most important tool. It very quickly allows me to care much less how my mortises look.
What other tool allows you to be a better woodworker with no practice?

[lowell holmes]

I buy a lot from Lee Valley, but the chisel plane left me cold.

[steven c newman]

Biggest thing I've found out? That I do NOT need to spend $300 -$700 per tool, just to be called a woodworker...learned it was more about HOW to use the tools, than how much bling was on them...

[Kevin Perez]

What tool made a difference for me? It would have to be the properly-tuned handplane.

When I began woodworking about 20 years ago, I focused on power tools, and spent as little time as I could with hand tools because I was not good at using them, and did not have them tuned or sharpened properly (nor did I really understand the absolute need to do so). About ten years ago, I joined this site and started reading up on hand tool "exploits." A few years later, I began learning in earnest about how to use hand tools, learned the scary sharp sharpening method, and tuned up my "old" Stanley #4. When I started making gossamer thin curls of wood with it, the woodworking world changed for me (and required less use of earplugs and protective goggles). Simple tasks did not require tons of set up time, I wasn't making as much of a mess, and I started to pay more attention to the wood itself rather than machine specs. Fast forward to today, and I have a very modest collection of planes (#4, #62, #190, LV shoulder, and a #7 on the way) and a couple nice dovetail saws (LV crosscut, LN rip) and understand at least the basics of how to use them with decent results. Now I am looking for a nice set of bench chisels so I can relegate my back-beveled low end chisels to rough carpentry tasks.

[Archie England]

Biggest thing I've found out? That I do NOT need to spend $300 -$700 per tool, just to be called a woodworker...learned it was more about HOW to use the tools, than how much bling was on them...

Outstanding!!!! Well said.

[Jim Koepke]

What tool made the difference for you?

This had me thinking for a while trying to think of the woodworking tool that made a difference to me. Then it came to me, it wasn't a woodworking tool that started me on my path to working wood. It was my gardening tools. We had just cleaned up our back yard and had a small lawn and a few other niceties to make it an enjoyable place to be. We needed some chairs. To me, the plastic junk available in most stores at the time wasn't acceptable. A trip to the library turned up a book from 1938 by William W. Klenke. It had working drawings of many projects, one being an adirondack chair. My wood came from some old pallets. My wood working tools consisted of a hammer and a saw at that time with sandpaper to smooth things out.

The slope has been pretty slippery ever since.

jtk

[James Pallas]

A 10 oz maydol finish hammer, that now resides with daughter and SIL. A few nails and some wood scraps put in my hands by my Uncle. Something to keep a 6 year old busy. Little did he know it would stick for 64 more years and counting.
Jim

[Joe A Faulkner]

I feel like my game is still changing, but if I had to point to one tool that has added to my enjoyment and provided the most utility it is without a question my workbench. For the stuff I do, I could probably get by with a few hand planes, a few chisels and a few saws, but I would never want to go back to working without a solid bench.

[Frederick Skelly]

Lots of good thoughts here guys. Too many to reply to, but all of them worth noting. Thanks for your thoughts!
Fred

[Stew Denton]

Hi All,

For me, like Archie, being able to sharpen tools well has been the major thing. I am still not great at it, but I can produce good edges, at least, and sharp planes and chisels have made a major difference. Thus, for me it was a couple good waterstones and the jig to hold the tool at a good angle for sharpening.

Stew

[john zulu]

Learning to sharpen no doubt. Even when there is a gap of no woodworking I always use my stones for something.

The subject is very wide. Each tool has it's place so there is NO golden philosophy here.

[Jim Koepke]

Learning to sharpen no doubt. Even when there is a gap of no woodworking I always use my stones for something.

The subject is very wide. Each tool has it's place so there is NO golden philosophy here.

My sharpening skills were not anything great until after getting involved in woodworking. Maybe it was all the practice with woodworking tools that accounts for my improvement.

jtk