[Video Post]
The router plane is one of those rare tools that seems to always be in my hand despite not really being an essential in my minimal tool kit.
In doesn’t quite have the versatility of a chisel which can pretty much come in for anything. But when it does suit a job it offers precision with such simplicity that it’s an absolute joy to use.
If you’ve got one (and you should have) then you’ll be eager for excuses to put it into action, so here’s a tip for a use that the manufacturers might have overlooked – accurately cleaning up mortice walls.
The video above is a clip taken from our Danish Stool Series – and it explains when and how to benefit from this approach.
It’s not for every mortice.
Most mortices can be scruffy inside and won’t benefit much from this added step.
But in some builds like our stool, it can really help us gain maximum strength.
It can be limited by the depth of your cutter but the accurate start that it creates gives a reference for your chisel to finish up the rest.
More to come!
We’ve been busy in the background these past couple of years, and though we’ve created plenty of video builds for you to follow along things have been quiet around here on the blog.
We’d like to pick up the pace again so start keeping an eye on here for new posts.
And if you’ve got a good question or ‘rant’ topic that other people might benefit from then it’s a great time to start making some suggestions in the comments below!
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![How do I Sharpen a Router Plane? [Q & A Video]](https://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/how-to-sharpen-a-router-plane-video.jpg)
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Hello Mr. Maguire, I’ve been learning handtool woodworking from you and others on the internet for a little over a year now. I am currently practicing basic frame construction, and struggling. I’ve really paid attention to wood preparation, and I’ve tried making a mortise guide to make things a little easier with the joinery. But, for some reason, my frames are still coming out a bit inaccurate – nothing super inaccurate, but enough to annoy me (I’m a bit of a perfectionist). Any chance you might cover hand-tool frame making in a future series, showing what’s essential and not, as well as what is acceptable in terms of an outcome and not using handtools? In terms of suggestions, I’m really hoping that you will release a really challenging project in the future, something that will really make us struggle and, accordingly, grow. In the meantime, maybe some good quick YouTube videos can be about making some useful things, such as winding sticks, mortise guides, shooting boards, etc. Of course, other people have already done so, but no one really explains things like you do. Other teachers like to pretend that everything is perfect all of the time, and that’s no help. But, the way you explain things, showing what you have to get right and what you don’t have to get right, is a huge help for an aspiring handtool furniture maker like myself. Thanks, and please keep making video series! Best, Robert
Really nice idea for the SHOW side of a mortise with a thru tenon.
Brilliant. Great explanation and great job illustrating with good video.
Excellent tip! Many thanks, Richard.
Glad to see you’re still around, Richard! I watched your English workbench video a thousand times during the pandemic. It was like a security blanket that gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling during the long isolation. And I’m now ready to go out and buy the wood to start my build. But I always eyed your old workbench in the background that had the central stop and was a take-down design, and wished you would have also shown how to make that one. I’d like the option of being able to disassemble it in case I have to relocate it. Would you consider making a companion video showing how you made that one?
Great to see you back! And what a fabulous use for the Router plane. Blindingly obvious, but only once you’ve been shown it!!
Thanks so much for sharing.
That is brilliant mate. Now, c’mon Veritas, we need that long reach blade!
Nice to see new post on this blog 🙂
I see you are looking for ideas : I have some subjects I would like to ear you about (I apologize if you already wrote about but I may missed some posts on the entire blog):
– No money tools for the shop (smart jigs, some tips you use like the one you presented for drilling square, etc.)
– Shop organization for efficient hand-tool working (I would like to see how you installed your shop and I am waiting since the sharpening video to see your sharpening station in every day configurtion :-D)
– How you design things (software, paper, etc.)
– Your work is frequently based on router plane but this tool is quite expensive and rare. For me it’s OK because I have found an old Record but it may be nice if you present an alternative-home-made router plane, a bit like your plane build video.
– I have not followed all videos but I am sometimes a bit jealous because I haven’t got a band saw. I would like to read a post with your thought about long rip cutting (saw bench, work bench, roubo style frame saw, classic hand saw, etc.). Maybe a specific focus on the next video about this also.
I can find more ideas but I think I will stop there.
I thank you for the quality of the your work. Your posts and videos courses are always a good source of inspiration for me and by far the best content I have found on the woodworking-internet.
Sorry for my English …
Cheers !
One more idea: tool setup.
You’ve shown us how to sharpen our planes and chisels, and that was great. It would be nice to have some short videos showing novices like me how to set up for optimal use all of the basic hand tools, such as the joinery planes. I have them all, but I have no idea how to set them up best and get them working optimally. The router plane could be a good place to start. I have the Veritas one. For some reason, it leaves scratches on the reference face and I am not sure if the blade is cutting parallel to the sole. Maybe there’s also some user error. Basic stuff like this would also be a huge help.
This was a real facepalm video for me – since I got my router plane, I always use it to square up my tenons for final fitting. Not once has it ever occurred to me to use it to give a properly square start to the mortice walls!
Thanks for this and all of your excellent videos.
So, so glad to see you posting again, Richard (and Helen)! The hand tool woodworking world really need your unbiased and no-BS way of presenting things.
Ideas for topics: dovetail sizing (strength versus looks) to compliment your scruffy dovetail rant, how to choose finish (milk paint recipe would be great, and I’ll _happily_ pay for a one-episode video series!!!), benefits of posh tools over more simple and/or vintage ones – if any.
Other things I would love to see: book case, possibly with glass doors. Dining chairs. Exterior door construction (which also would cover interior doors). Chest of drawers, or perhaps a china cabinet with a drawer or two.
There’s lots of things that has been done by others, many times before. But your way of presenting and teaching is unique! The mix of hand tools with some power tools are perfect for me, as I do prefer to outsource donkey work to machines.
I also love your designs, as they are unpretentious while being modern and “fresh”.
Good to see you back again! This makes me really happy!
You are back! I am really looking forward to more posts- Topics – yeah, that’s a good question. There are things that have been done to death by others, though your look at it would be refreshing. Not sure how sensible of a time investment they would be. Here are a bunch of thoughts, that may or may not make sense…
Having some update about how the shop is set up, how things are coming together, what _not_ to do when setting up your shop would be cool – the last thing I remember was installing the oak floor boards.
I second the router plane build, though that has been done by many others, and I did build one already (which works ok). Would I watch it? Sure. Would I build another one? Maybe.
Something about joinery? How to cut a wide sliding dovetails e.g. for a brettstuhl or a worktable or so, joining cross pieces / battens to a wide surface? Or maybe maybe a rant why this is a faff and we should rather not do it?
A rant about which joinery (not) to use when using hand tools, and how people cut perfect joinery and yet build pieces that are bland or even ugly.
A jolly good rant where you tell us that we should stop overanalysing stuff and just get building (seriously, hobbyists are the worst).
Finishing? Like… oil or paint, or cooking up your own paint from milk or beer (apparently that is a thing, my Norwegian side does not get that, abuse of alcohol etc.), or shellack, or…
(but then I also have to admit I have still not finished wathing the Danish Stool series – let alone begin building it… moved house, still have to finish the kitchen cabinets and my desk – not your industrial desk design, which is not my style, cool as it is, and it would probably work with the bookshelves in the office. dang, I now need to rewatch that series)
Thanks for this, Richard. It is a freakin’ awesome technique. It amazes me how spending time with the tools allows us to make new discoveries and push the bounds of what they can do. I think that long blade is some thing a black smith could make. The router plane I use is a steel plate with a round hole toward the back back where the blade goes up and down on a round bar. A set screw fixes it in place. Fairly primitive one I found at a flea market. No brand on it. I have used it as it as a marking gauge sometimes and it has worked well in that capacity.
A topic I would be interested in are various traditional ways to hang cupboards.
For example, if you wanted to hang the small wall cupboard and have it be flush against the wall, how would that be done? Or one of the larger cupboards, like you had behind you in many previous videos.
Of course, they could be nailed or screwed in through the back, or maybe with a wire or some sort of clip for the small one.
Anyway, I would appreciate your thoughts.
French cleats are ideal for that. Easy to do, too.
Brilliant use of the router plane. Glad you passed that bit on.
Cheers.