Despite all my years in Arkansas, I don’t sound like a redneck. But I have a lot of redneck tendencies.
1. “Barbecue” is a noun.
2. Fire is an important accessory to every party. And yes, it’s OK to bring homemade napalm to a potluck dinner.
3. What is unsweetened iced tea? Can you get RC Cola “unsweetened?” I did not think so.
4. All good stories begin with “me and my buddies were drinking” and end with a pickup truck stuck in the muck, a back brace or a second-degree burn in your bathing suit area. (Also acceptable endings: Amorous activity with barnyard animals, snakebites in embarrassing places, waking up naked on the front steps of the Baptist church.)
So when Charles Brock of “The Highland Woodworker” asked me to do a segment on my planing jigs, I asked if I could call them by their proper name: Redneck Jigs.
I do not get precious with my planing jigs. They are nailed and glued-together scraps of plywood or construction material. They are designed to get used up and recycled into smaller redneck jigs.
And they work great.
Most notable part of my segment: How to true a shooting board with a shoulder plane. This works far better than making the fence adjustable.
— Christopher Schwarz