UPDATE - The Full Build Is Now Available! CLICK for details. We're extremely busy at the moment but I'm still finding the time to continue making my wooden hand planes in between (watch the Video Rant here). In fact I've become a bit addicted to making these planes and am impressed every time … [Read more...]
Wide Mouths
How wide is too wide when it comes to mouths on wooden planes? When looking out for a used one this could be one of your key areas of concern, but that worry might only be justified towards the finer end of the spectrum, and even then it's a quick and easy fix. A cap iron can control your tear … [Read more...]
The Right Plane For The Job
My favourite plane until now has been a very cute and tiny wooden smoother. It was small enough for me to manage the restoration, nice in the hand and just sweet. Time seems to get the better of me so I'm still very much at that stage of enjoying making shavings rather than much else, but with a … [Read more...]
User Made Hand Planes Discussion – VIDEO
UPDATE - The Full Build Is Now Available! CLICK for details. I've been making a few hand planes this week in preparation for an upcoming series we have planned all about getting in to wooden planes. I've trialled a couple of designs and here are my thoughts so far. To see a … [Read more...]
Setting The Cap Iron / Chip Breaker – VIDEO
This is the last (for now) of three videos about cap irons / chip breakers. If you haven't seen the others then you can find them here: Cap Irons & Tear Out Preparing The Cap Iron / Chip Breaker I find a well set up cap iron to be vital for preventing tear out. It allows me to … [Read more...]
Preparing The Cap Iron / Chip Breaker – VIDEO
Following from the last video, we're looking at setting up a cap iron. This one's in two parts and the second video can be found here. … [Read more...]
It Happened Again!
It all started with a lovely sunny day and, ... just read this. Yep, basically that happened again. This time however I was prepared with a nice wooden floor, so there is no damage what so ever to the castings or any of the metal. It did crack the handle clean in two though. Rather than make a … [Read more...]
Bench Top Lathe – The Plan
As I mentioned last week this lathe is very quick to build, don't make it anything other. I've stripped it back to nothing but the essentials and then used screws to fix it all together. The design could be improved to make it more attractive, or maybe a bit more user friendly, but I have decided to … [Read more...]
Cap Irons & Tear Out – VIDEO
Stubborn tear out can be a huge frustration. Particularly when you're just getting everything smoothed off and it shows it's ugly face. I'm not one for faffing about with my tools, and whilst I expect my hand planes to give a perfect result, most of them look dog rough. But getting to know … [Read more...]
Bench Top Wood Lathe
I recently knocked up a couple more commodes and have now turned my attention to the second of the Stooges - The Moravian Back Stool. I'm very fond of this design and whilst the commode was all square this one's all angles and I'm starting out by tooling up. A lathe can be a useful tool for the … [Read more...]