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Hand Tool Posts

Understand Your Hand Tools – Improve Your Woodworking

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…


The Ultimate Cordless Drill

July 29, 2015 By Richard Maguire 34 Comments

Drilling with a brace

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 power. Drilling 3/4" holes for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Drilling, Woodworking Hand Tools

Wooden Hand Plane Build & Updates

July 14, 2015 By Richard Maguire 24 Comments

Wooden plane

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...]

Filed Under: Make Your Own Tools, Woodworking Hand Tools

Wide Mouths

June 22, 2015 By Richard Maguire 14 Comments

A look at mouth widths on different types of wooden hand plane

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...]

Filed Under: Tool Restoration, Woodworking Hand Tools

The Right Plane For The Job

June 5, 2015 By Helen 32 Comments

Wooden Hand Planes

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...]

Filed Under: Hand Planing, Woodworking Hand Tools, Woodworking Techniques

User Made Hand Planes Discussion – VIDEO

May 29, 2015 By Richard Maguire 49 Comments

User made wooden planes

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...]

Filed Under: Free Videos, Make Your Own Tools, Woodworking Hand Tools

Setting The Cap Iron / Chip Breaker – VIDEO

May 24, 2015 By Richard Maguire 37 Comments

Setting the cap iron / chip breaker on a hand plane

  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...]

Filed Under: Free Videos, Hand Planing, Woodworking Hand Tools, Woodworking Techniques

Preparing The Cap Iron / Chip Breaker – VIDEO

May 22, 2015 By Richard Maguire 25 Comments

Using hand planes to smooth wood and avoid tearout

  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...]

Filed Under: Free Videos, Hand Planing, Woodworking Hand Tools, Woodworking Techniques

It Happened Again!

May 21, 2015 By Richard Maguire 33 Comments

Repaired scrub plane handle

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...]

Filed Under: Tool Restoration, Woodworking Hand Tools

Bench Top Lathe – The Plan

May 11, 2015 By Richard Maguire 18 Comments

Bench Top Lathe 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...]

Filed Under: Make Your Own Tools, Woodworking Hand Tools, Woodworking Plans, Woodworking Projects

Cap Irons & Tear Out – VIDEO

May 8, 2015 By Richard Maguire

How to set the chip breaker on a smoothing plane

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...]

Filed Under: Free Videos, Hand Planing, Woodworking Hand Tools, Woodworking Techniques

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