Hand planes are awesome!

[Richard Hutchings]

I just started building a new light duty, ply topped bench. I bought some bargain bin wood at HD and figured it's good enough for this. Well it is and it isn't. I was hoping to just throw it together but I took it apart twice because the top was so twisted. I finally broke out the big guns and removed the twist from the rails. Took all of 5 minutes for the one I did before going to work.

I wish I had taken a before picture of the twist but I remembered to take a shot of it after. My $10 Record #6 I found at a yard sale made short work of it.
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[Jim Koepke]

Interesting winding sticks. :D

jtk

[Richard Hutchings]

Yeah, I always planned to make some proper ones but these will do for now :)

[lowell holmes]

Google "Bedrock Planes". I have 604, 605, and a 607 Bedrocks

[Frederick Skelly]

Yes they are! Learning how to use them opened up a whole new range of possibilities and precision for me!

[Richard Hutchings]

I have an old Stanley #6 and a bunch of others, not a bedrock but they work great as well. There's absolutely no reason that I can see to spend a lot on hand planes while all these are out there to be had for peanuts and a little elbow grease. I have never tried or seen a bedrock so I can't compare, I only know that what I have works really well.

[Julie Moriarty]

Hand tools are to power tools like pencil and paper are to CAD. With the latter, perfection may be easier but usually not as satisfying.

[chris carter]

Yeah, I always planned to make some proper ones but these will do for now :)

My winding sticks are a pair of slats from a really old chair. I keep telling myself to make proper ones, but they won't function any better than these so I just keep putting it off!

[Tom M King]

My winding sticks are whatever is laying around that are straight.

[Jim Koepke]

My winding sticks are whatever is laying around that are straight.

That used to be my practice until recently making a pair:

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The maple came from a table top found discarded on a free trash pick up day.

jtk

[Warren Mickley]

Yeah, I always planned to make some proper ones but these will do for now :)



If you are doing precision stock preparation, you want to have a pair of carefully made winding sticks. You want a matched pair of appropriate length that are light and easy to pick up and place on the board. And you want to use the same pair each time so you can quickly and easily make an assessment. Familiarity is your friend; you don't want to be bending over squinting at the sticks for very long.

Stripes and inlays are not necessary. However I can see where they would be helpful to someone just learning at an advanced age. It is also helpful to have an uncluttered background at the end of your bench when you are sighting.

[Brian Holcombe]

I agree with Warren that the inlays are unnecessary, but carefully made sticks are important for precise work. I made inlays for my sticks but I noticed a traditionally trained joiner using plain sticks, he had even made them so that they are dovetailed together in his tool box, but otherwise appeared very plain.

I have a wall at the back of the shop painted white so that I can easily sight for twist. Winding sticks are useful also for spotting errors in glue ups. When making doors, frames or other parts I always set the winding sticks on and check for twist. Better to spot this before the glue sets.

Two boards from the waste bin may not actually be parallel or one may have a curve to it.

[Richard Hutchings]

Don't make me build winding sticks. I have better things to do with my limited time. But I'm tempted :-)

[Brian Holcombe]

They’re an excellent use of your limited time. :D

[Jim Koepke]

If you do decide to build a pair of winding sticks you may want to look at the method of making three straight edges to get a pair of winding sticks:

https://www.scribd.com/document/50097193/Making-Accurate-Straight-Edges-from-Scratch

The full article used to be on line, but it seems that link has gone away a long time ago.

The theory being if there are three pieces that match in all orientations, then they must be flat.

jtk

[david charlesworth]

My recent posting on You Tube shows a classic method for achieving straightness. ( David Charlesworth woodwork channel ).

I have found that thin acrylic from the sign shops makes very superior reflectors.

The far stick has a protruding inlay of ebony so that the white keys do not get lost in a white wall.

This is 1/16" thick and sticks up no more than 5mm. It is easily replaceable if the sticks needed truing in the future.

David Charlesworth