Category: Handplanes

Woodcraft Supply LLC caught a rash of criticism in recent years for introducing tools that were Chinese-made copies of current American-made tools. First Woodcraft started carrying hammers that were obvious copies of the Glen-Drake hammers. Then the company introduced its line of WoodRiver handplanes that were – in my opinion – merely imported copies of Lie-Nielsen planes.

This copying lead to some hand-tool makers severing their ties with Woodcraft – most notably Lie-Nielsen Toolworks. And there have been some hard feelings and behind-the-scenes grumbling about Woodcraft, which for years carried the hand-tool banner when few other companies would.

Now I don’t have inside information on Woodcraft. I’m just a hand-tool customer and observer – I’m no longer a woodworking journalist. But recently I’ve noticed that Woodcraft has been coming out with hand tool products that aren’t just copies of other tools that are in production by competitors. It’s refreshing to see this. So I want to encourage the behavior and tip my hat to them.

Earlier this year I saw two new spokeshaves from Woodcraft under the Pinnacle name that showed real spirit. The shaves are based on the venerable Stanley 151 platform, but the company has made them out of stainless. That’s a new thing. And they look like they are based on original patterns – not just cast copies of someone else’s tool.

I have yet to try the shaves (I have two spokeshaves already), but I definitely will test drive them next time I’m in my local Woodcraft.

Also notable: Woodcraft has recently released its new No. 92 shoulder plane under the WoodRiver name. While this shoulder plane shares DNA with the fantastic and extinct Preston shoulder plane line, Woodcraft made the tool its own by improving the design a bit by adding an adjustable toe. The company also added some stylistic details marking it as its own.

It’s a 3/4”-wide plane, which wouldn’t be my first choice for a shoulder plane, but it still looks pretty good and is definitely not a copy.

Perhaps this is a trend or the work of Jody Garrett, who was named the new president of the company in May 2012. Or perhaps I’m just grasping at straws. In either case, I hope Woodcraft continues on this course by adding diversity to the hand-tool market instead of just copying the successful designs of others.

— Christopher Schwarz

In the last month I’ve received a lot of e-mails about an article and video from Fine Woodworking magazine about how to set up a new handplane.

The e-mails all had the same question: Is this true? Should I really be doing all the steps listed in the article and video?

It’s not my style to simply dismantle other people’s work, point by point. So instead, I asked Lie-Nielsen Toolworks to loan me a new No. 4 plane in iron, and I set it up last week with the camera rolling.

Whenever I set up a new plane, this are the exact steps I take to get it out of the box and planing wood. It’s a different approach than the one in the article and video. I think my method is valid, and I hope you will consider it.

— Christopher Schwarz

Disclaimer: This video was my idea. I was not asked by any toolmaker to produce it. I was not paid for it. And, of course, I did not keep the plane I borrowed.

Thanks to Megan Fitzpatrick at Popular Woodworking Magazine, we have a winner of our Lost Art Press haiku contest.

I had to call upon Megan to judge the entries because all the haikus I liked had to do with “poo.” (And not the honey-loving morbidly obese bear.) So Megan combed through the entries and selected the following as the winner.  I couldn’t agree with her choice more.

forgotten in time
I hold her like men before
her sole cries, “Save me!”

The winner is TJ, who will receive the Stanley Type 11 plane that I restored for my latest DVD: “Super-tune a Handplane” from Popular Woodworking Magazine. Megan also selected a runner-up, in case TJ could not fulfill his duties as LAP poet laureate, or is for some reason not snared in a sex scandal.

Here’s the runner up by Mike Agnew.

MIstress seductive
Whispers, “Come and play with me.”
Cubicle life sucks.

Thanks to everyone who entered our contest.

— Christopher Schwarz

When I first dove into handwork, I could barely afford diapers, wipes and formula – never mind a nice Bed Rock or infill handplane (this was before we had premium bench planes).

So I bought all my planes at antique markets and fixed them up using techniques I had to invent for myself – many of them too silly to even mention here.

The point? I had to fix up (and mess up) a lot of planes before I could get my tools to plane anything and everything I put under them. I wasted a crapload of time doing stuff the wrong way. Eventually, however, I perfected my methods after I talked to machinists, fellow woodworkers and abrasive manufacturers to figure out how to do it correctly.

So I know how to tune old planes, not to mention the unmentionable junk from Groz, Anant et al. And earlier this year I put it all down in a DVD called “Super-tune a Handplane” that was produced by Popular Woodworking Magazine.

In this DVD I take an off-the-rack old Stanley plane and tune it to the highest level possible using home-center materials and basic skills. You don’t need to learn to scrape a sole like a machinist. You don’t need special dyes or tools – just stuff you can find at any hardware store.

In the DVD, I cover the following topics:

• How to purchase a vintage plane, including how to identify a solid candidate for restoration using a simple flow chart.

• How to disassemble, clean and de-rust all the parts using completely harmless materials you can find in the canning section of your supermarket.

• How to flatten all the critical surfaces, including the sole, the frog, the back of the iron and the sidewalls of the plane. You’ll need only some belt-sander paper, a floor tile and a block of wood to get results.

• How to decide if you need to upgrade to an aftermarket iron and chipbreaker.

• How to reassemble the plane, lubricate the key components and tune up the tool to take a fine shaving.

• Plus a lot of information on troubleshooting a tool that won’t take a good shaving – information you don’t see very often out there.

• And tricks and tips on planing boards that allow the tool to really do its job.

The plane I tuned for the DVD is a Stanley Type 11, which was made during the early years of the 20th century. This particular tool had good bones but needed a full restoration. At the end of the video, I can easily plane a row mahogany board with crazy interlocked and reversing grain — without tearout.

Tonight I took that same plane downstairs to my shop and put it back to work. It is indeed a super worker. And it took only a few hours of my time to bring it up to this level.

To demonstrate my confidence in the tool, I’m going to give it away to one of our readers in a little haiku contest. To win the plane, all you have to do is write the best woodworking haiku ever and post it in the comments section of this entry. Be sure to include your e-mail and real name – we cannot send you your plane if we cannot contact you. Deadline for entries is noon EST, Nov. 22, 2012.

Note that you will receive the plane with the tool’s original iron and chipbreaker. I use my Veritas breaker and iron (shown in the photo above) in my No. 5, which I also tuned to this level, by the way.

Oh, and if you want the DVD, it is being sold by Popular Woodworking Magazine at its ShopWoodworking.com site. You can pre-order the DVD for $24.99. Lost Art Press will not be selling the DVD, so ShopWoodworking is the best place to get it.

And one more detail, if you order through this link, I’ll get credit for the sale. No, I’m not an affiliate of the ShopWoodworking site or any other site. I don’t believe in affiliate logrolling. So I won’t get a percentage of the sale. But using this link will encourage them to do more DVDs like this one. Just saying.

In any case, fire up your haiku gene and win this plane. I’ll pay the shipping and feature the best haikus next weekend.

— Christopher Schwarz