An Experiment: Changing Smoothing Planes for a Year

I’m the weirdo who counts the number of steps and hand motions it takes me to brew a cup of coffee. And I’m always looking for ways to shave away a few minutes here and there from my routine activities (for example, brushing my teeth while simultaneously fetching my clothes for the day).

So it’s no surprise that I also do this in the shop. During the last couple years I’ve noticed how much I use my block plane for smoothing large panels. Its small sole helps me get into the hollows on tabletops and case sides, shaving off lots of time to get a finished panel.
The only problem with using a block plane as a smoothing plane is you don’t have a cap iron (a handy thing to have when you face nasty grain), and getting the iron curved just right for the tool’s low bed is more difficult than it is on a traditional bench plane.

So last week I decided to switch to a No. 2 bench plane for a year and put my No. 4 on the shelf. So I purchased (at full retail) a bronze Lie-Nielsen No. 2.

The No. 2 is just a wee bit longer (7-1/2”) than my block plane (6-1/4”). And its blade is 1-5/8” wide, which is just 1/4” wider than my block plane’s. And the No. 2 has a few things my block plane doesn’t, including a cap iron, a lateral-adjust lever and a blade adjustment wheel that is easier to reach while my hands are pushing the tool.
This afternoon I set up the No. 2 by sharpening the iron and tuning up the cap iron so it could be used for the most difficult woods. Tomorrow I’ll post a video that shows how I go about tuning and setting the cap iron – I’ll also show the grip I’m using on the tool right now.

What Hand Tools Do I Really Need?

I hear from a lot of woodworkers (or woodworkers-to-be) who are so excited to start using hand tools. Either in that same correspondence or a few minutes later I get another message from the same woodworker who has just been sticker shocked by how much this hand tool thing is going to cost them. One could make a case that the hand tool route is cheaper than going with power tools, but I think quickly that case would get very thin. Woodworking is expensive and this is before you even head to the lumber yard!

Yes, yes, I know one can save a bundle by buying vintage hand tools. But even those have gone up in price a lot and with them comes a lot of time spent restoring a tool that you may not actually know how it should perform. In other words, even buying all antique tools can result in a pretty hefty sum of money.


Usually I spend several minutes talking them back from the ledge and helping them understand that not every tool is needed right away and that beginner hand tool lists are something to strive towards, not a prerequisite. This immediately begs the question,

“So what tools do I actually need right now?”

This question is answered very differently depending on whether the asker is starting with no tools at all or if they are like me, a power tool user converted to “the light”. The list of tools also depends heavily on what it is the woodworker wants to make. This “it depends” answer is why everyone has a different list of “must have” tools. It is also why so many people get frustrated and often spend lot of money on tools they don’t need or tools that end up stunting their skill growth.
The Beginning Hand Tool List
Underhill Tool ToteSo here it is folks, the actual list of hand tools you need to get starting building stuff by hand.
Jack plane
Hand Saw (backless saw ~26″ in length)
1/4, 3/8, and 1″ chisels
Back Saw
Coping Saw
Marking Gauge
Square
Some kind of sharpening set up (stones, sandpaper, whatever)

Setting Up a Shop with Woodworking Hand Tools

For many of today’s woodworkers setting up a shop means buying a bunch of often expensive machines and power tools, figuring out how to plug everything in, making sure you have enough outlets and electricity, and all this before you even begin to think about dust control and noise issues.

Even apart from the health and safety issues, and ignoring the expense, there is still a learning curve involved in becoming familiar with table saws, jointers, planers, router tables, and a variety of other powertools, stationary or otherwise. All this can seem overwhelming for the beginner, and while ultimately the rewards of woodworking are typically well worth the effort, it can be a lot to deal with in one gulp.

There is an alternative — much less expensive, simpler, safer, healthier, and for many, even more rewarding. For hundreds of years there were no power tools, and yet the craft produced amazing woodwork, and more importantly for the hobbyist, an enormous amount of satisfaction and pleasure.The secret is to start with woodworking hand tools by setting up a shop that relies exclusively on relatively inexpensive items. As you progress you may well have the urge and opportunity to add in some basic power tools to make certain jobs such as stock preparation easier — which, incidentally, is what power tools were invented for — but in the meantime you will have learned a lot of skills and techniques that cannot be easily duplicated with power tools alone (try making a cabriole leg on a router table or a Bombay chest on a jointer — it can be done but only with a complicated array of extra jigs and fixtures, which seems to defeat the purpose of being efficient).

The heart of a hand tool workshop is its bench. Thereafter you need a certain number of basic sawing, planing, and cutting tools. You will need to understand how to prepare and sharpen them, how to use them and the jigs and devices that go along with making their use easy, secure, and accurate. And you will need to understand the best way to organize your workflow and storage. It’s a lot of information, but it can provide the foundation for an almost limitless array of techniques that will equip you to produce virtually anything. A hand tool workshop is by no means an inferior substitute for the more typical power shop.

Hello!

I work wood as a hobby for my own enjoyment therefore I work in ways that I find enjoyable.  For the most part that means doing thing by hand.  In some cases a power tool may get the job done easier and faster, but I don’t find using power tools to be enjoyable, so my use of them is limited.  There seems to be a growing divide between the power tool and hand tool users on some woodworking forums.

I will also blog about hand tools and toolboxes brands which I find awesome. I recently tried a new brand of toolbox, called Wilson and Miller, which is apart from making awesome tools and toolboxes donating a portion of their profit to American War Veterans. Try it out, you will not regret it!