Hand tools are the core of what we do and how we build.
There’s many ways to approach your woodworking, but I’ve always believed that a minimal tool kit is the best.
Fewer tools means we get to understand each one that bit better. We learn how they work, and build up skill with less confusion.
And in all honesty, woodworking by hand is simple. So you really can be minimal.
Below you’ll find all our posts on hand tools.
From saws to hand planes, & drills to marking tools.
There’s thoughts on buying, videos on setting up, and ideas for building you own…
I don't use screws often in furniture making but when I started building lots of benches I found myself in need of a good cordless drill for all of the vice fitting and particularly around the tool wells of the Little John's. I also needed something with plenty of...
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...
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...
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...
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW4BWfC3cIA] 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...
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmDVa5cxq8w] 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...
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVfJxDFNinc] 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.
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...
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...
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bhh6kxXZOQ] 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...
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I'm the most untraditional woodworker who came to traditional woodworking. I just can't stand wooden mallets. To get any sort of clump from them they have to be massive; these huge cumbersome things. And on top of that, they absorb everything. It doesn't matter how...
I'm always whinging about something. So the thing this blog is good for is that someone always has an answer. And it shuts me straight up. When I was moaning about drill bits in the marking knife post, we got plenty of suggestions for bits that you find overcome my...
... and why you need one. Most of you will know that the vast majority of my tools are what I would call good quality 'workman like' tools. I have a few modern posh things, but they're not in daily use. It's nothing against them, but my old friends are like comfy old...