Tools

A Love Letter to Impact Drivers

I made a comment on a recent post about how I ever managed to live without an impact driver for almost a decade of woodworking. I’d like to expound on that a bit more.

As folks may know, I build a lot of workbenches. I haven’t actually built one for myself in a while. I’ll find a design that seems intellectual stimulating, build it, and then gift it to a friend or family member. So whenever I’m at the lumber yard, if there is a particularly wide and clear slab of 12/4 or 16/4 lumber (typically ash, poplar, douglas fir, or red oak), I can’t usually help myself. The pile of slabs was becoming a problem, so I made a full size lumber rack. Not one of those wall hangers (Bora, you’re great, but I am constantly worried my entire wall is going to tumble down). A proper, free standing, rolling cart.

Do you like my “The English Woodworker” style saw horses in front?

There are probably 250 star drive construction screws of either 2 1/2″ (65 mm) or 3 1/2″ (90mm) screws in the entire assembly. As much as I’d love to say I drove each with a brace and bit, I in fact used an impact driver. It’s just so useful and effective (if a bit loud; I wear foam earplugs for work like this). To put it in perspective, I wore out not one but two (!) of the included star drive bits in the boxes of screws. I know these aren’t of the highest quality, but still.

I used a lot of what I learned from the television easel project in making this project. That is, the lumber rack is a series of posts set into a foot that is offset from center based on the calculated center of gravity when loaded with lumber. With a 24 inch foot and 13″ or so of shelf, I calculated that the post should be centered at roughly 8″ from the back of the foot.

So each post of the lumber rack was comprised of the following, all 2×4 framing lumber, glued and screwed together (a la Naked Woodworker workbench) after drilling clearance holes for the screws.

One vertical beam at 72″ high (part of this is a tenon that laps into a dado in the foot)
Four shelf spacers of 15″ high (although the top one is cut to length)
Three shelf bars at 16″ long
One foot beam at 24″ long
Two foot spacers, on at 6″ long (back) and one at 14.5″ long (front) [these create the dado around the vertical beam tenon)

I made four posts, but one of them was like 1/2″ off every single shelf height so I scrapped it.

With the posts made, it was time for the base. I started by joining the two end posts with an 84″ long beam, and added a 27″ long end cap on both (creating an enclosed mortise for the tenon on the vertical beam, rather than just a lap joint). Then I added spacers between the ends and the middle post (to form dadoes) and tied everything together with an 87″ long cap beam on top. The back cap beam also created a convenient catch for storing a few things vertically, leaning against the posts.

First cap beam installed as shown above.

After adding a long rail to plumb up and tie together the tops of the posts (with spacers to make more dadoes), it was time to add some bearers beneath the post feet. These, made of 2×6 (instead of 2×4), would both (a) further support and secure the posts and (b) give a wide surface (away from the joinery screws) to attach some heavy duty casters.

The last step (aside from knocking down the rough corners with an orbital sander) was to add a diagonal brace to each post, reinforcing the base of each post. I’m not 100% sure these were needed, as the posts were each secure and restrained by a tenon that lapped into each foot assembly, (x) cap beams front and back on top of the foot, (y) a bearer below where the casters attach, and (z) a shitload of glue and screws on the general base assembly. But they make me feel better and this thing will have about half a ton of lumber at the outset. It was either this or add some rachet straps, which looked ugly(ier) to me.

I am sure (because I checked) there are plans out there for prettier lumber racks. And I absolutely could have spent 10x the time and 2x the money mortising 4×4 posts and drawboring everything. I wish I could say otherwise, but other than a combination square and a marking knife for some more precise cuts, I did not use a single traditional hand tool on this entire project.

But when you need a giant lumber rack, and you’ve got handy a chop saw, an impact driver, some 2×4’s, and a giant box of screws, you do what you have to. I even think I learned a thing or two in the making.

And, most importantly, I can at least walk around in my basement again.

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New Year 2023 – Remake a Hand Saw

Another year on the Gregorian calendar has passed and I’m back in the workshop. As I always say, “ABCD – Always be Carpen them Diems!” And today, like every other New Year’s Day, is no different.

My first project of the year is making a panel saw from “scratch”. Those quotes are doing some pretty heavy lifting, as the plate is taken from a 26″ vintage Simonds 10 TPI crosscut hand saw. I’m not in the mood to cut new teeth today. The plate is in very good shape but the handle was a mess. Clearly an aftermarket job, the slot for the saw plate was at like 10 degrees to the handle and it made for terrible hang.

So first I made a new tote. There are a ton of good tutorials on the yutubs about this, so I’m not going to offer any real pointers here. However, a small oscillating spindle sander (I have the handheld one from Wen, which seems to be a knockoff of the Triton model) makes the job a lot quicker. I don’t have a band saw, so bringing the outline of the tote into flat on the OSS (instead of by hand with rasps and files) is a godsend. Especially on quartersawn hard maple.

Once the outside was shaped, I took my cues from the BTC Hardware Store Saw and busted out the trim router with a chamfer bit. Once the hard arrises are sanded down, it’s just as comfortable as full rounds. Plus, the intersection of the chamfers made a cool lamb’s tongue-like feature at the bottom of the tote, without having to do an actual lamb’s tongue.

I used the Blackburn Tools handle pattern and stayed pretty true to the overall shape.

When I make the next hand saw tote, if I use this pattern again, I will lighten the chamfer along the front (seen left, where it meets the saw plate). That heavy chamfer, as cool as it looks, nearly overlapped with the top saw nut and left a fragile edge that will probably break off soon.

Next I had to modify the plate to fit the tote. That vertical dotted line on the pattern to the right of the saw nuts shows where the plate seats into the tote. Problem is, the sourced plate did not have a straight line at the heel. That means it’s angle grinder time. I just use a scrap of plywood as a fence (learned that one from Pask Makes) and go to town. I also nibbed off the corner at the heel.

I am aware the guard is off. This operation doesn’t work with the guard on.

The angle grinder leaves the plate rather work hardened at this point. Files still work, but you really have to draw file to get down to fresh steel. I pop it in the saw vise and use the same jig for jointing the teeth. It’s important this be straight and true so it seats nicely in the tote.

You can see the reshaped heel, before a bit of rounding.

I didn’t get pictures of it, but I next cut the slot in the tote for the plate. You can freehand this (like the guy who last owned the saw did), but three is a better way. Just clamp to a flat surface (like a benchtop) another panel saw with a thinner plate and a fine set to the bench with a spacer underneath that centers the cut. Then draw the tote, flat against the bench and cut the slot as deep as you can. You can then finish the cut by hand in the vise, as the portion of the slot you already cut will guide the saw the rest of the way. Lee Valley has an excellent guide on this. If the slot is slightly off center (mine was by about 1/32″), just plane down the thicker side.

Now came the part I was dreading. When re-handling panel saws in the past, I used the existing handle as a pattern and located the saw nuts exact where they had been on the previous tote. For this, I was starting fresh and that meant drilling new holes in the plate. The spring steel plate. With a cheap benchtop drill press.

I had previously drilled 1/16″ pilot holes through the tote and bored the initial recesses for the saw nuts. So I started by clamping assembled saw onto the drill press table and locating the 1/16″ holes, which I then drilled through the plate. I then set the handle aside, recentered the drill press on each pilot hole in the plate, and clamped down the plate to the drill press table. You do not want a spinning hand saw plane. Then I just worked my way up from 1/16″ to 7/32″ incrementally until there were three 7/32″ holes in the plate. In truth, I cooked about four 7/32″ drill bits. It’s just too much for my little drill press to handle. But they were cheap drill bits (scavenged from various box store sets).

All that was left to finish the tote was drilling out the saw nut holes (9/32″ for the slotted nuts and 1/4″ for the medallion and bolts) and tweaking the depth of the recesses. I think I set the recesses in a little deep, but it works. Some boiled linseed oil really makes the quartersawn holographics of the hard maple pop.

I still need to hack off some of the toe to get the plate itself down to about 19″ of tooth line. That, in my experience, makes the plate stiff enough to not need a half back or magnetic guide for basic joinery. Plus it gets rid of that kink that always develops about 5-6″ from the toe of every 26″ hand saw. And, of course, that will allow it to fit in the toolbox.

The hang of the saw is a bit toe heavy, which makes me think it should be a medium rip (8-10 TPI). I find that useful for crosscutting wider, thicker stock on the saw bench and still able to rip efficiently at the vise. A saw like that is a workhorse for my travel toolbox. Once the BLO dries, it’s time to carpe some more diems and reshape the teeth.

But, for now, Happy New Year and I hope you find some time in the shop soon. Thanks for being a reader and stay tuned for some new and exciting things this year.

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Apartment Woodworking: Year 10 Retrospective (Part 1)

I recently celebrated my 10th woodworking anniversary. About this time in 2012, I got sick of paying for furniture that didn’t quite match my sensibilities and took matters into my own hands. I’ve probably covered this before, but growing up, we were a New Yankee Workshop household (not a Woodwright’s Shop) household. So when I decided to get back into woodworking as an adult, I went first for some power tools. A home center run with my father resulted in 12″ chop saw, a plunge router kit, a cordless handheld tool bundle, and a boatload of wood screws (plus one hard point saw and one chisel). Those tools alone got me through a bed (that was reclaimed into the base frame for my bar), a desk (that was reclaimed into the base frame for my regular outdoor workbench), and a console table (reclaimed into god knows what).

But I quickly gravitated toward working primarily without power. Not just because it’s loud and dusty using a plunge router in your foyer, no matter how great your shop vac. But also because it’s meditative to me. Now I am sure there are some folks who Zen out with the random orbit sander. But not I. My happy place is a No. 6 or No. 7 hand plane and a stack of rough sawn lumber to S4S.

Sure, I still have that same chop saw and cordless circular saw. And I regularly use them, along with a hollow chisel mortiser and a thickness planer. I even bought an impact driver a couple months back and can’t believe how I’ve lived without one for all these years. But the fact is, nowadays my power tools support my hand work; not the other way around.

Although I joke that I am an artist, I will never make anything that ends up in a museum. I’m not a savant at anything woodworking related (although I consider myself well above average at hand cut dovetails). I have a day job, that keeps me very busy. And in these 10 years, I’ve devoted enough time to the craft to have picked up a thing or two. And I’d like to share that collected wisdom with the world.

This will be a multi-part series. I’m not sure how many installments there will be, and I certainly expect I won’t make it straight through without deviating to regular posts. I have literally no sponsors.

Getting Started in Woodworking

If you’re here, it may be because you’ve searched “Woodworking in an Apartment” or “Small Space Woodworking” and took a flyer. If so, welcome. I’m James and I have very strong opinions on literally everything.

If you think you might want to get into hand tool woodworking with a limited tool kit and limited space, there are better resources than me. You should go to YouTube and check out Paul Sellers and Richard Maguire. Paul and Richard are giants to me. Paul’s 10 part workbench video came out a few months before I started woodworking (although I didn’t discover Paul until 2014, after 2 years of fapping about with power tools). Paul is like a combination of Mr. Rogers and Bob Ross.

Richard started posting a year into my woodworking career. Paul’s website, Common Woodworking, didn’t exist when I needed it most. Richard’s site, The English Woodworker, has long form content (both paid an unpaid) that cannot be beat. Richard is at the same time exceedingly practical and esoteric. Trust me; you’ll see.

So check their stuff out and maybe come back here if you want more of those very strong opinions of mine. If you’re open to using more substantial power tools, the Woodworkers’ Guild of America and the Wood Whisperers Guild are both good resources.

Beginner Woodworker Hand Tools

People have written entire books on this question. I have my own thoughts, sure. My only piece of real input is to buy a few tools of good quality, rather than a bunch of tools of crappy quality. But if you want my 10 year retrospective take on the absolute core tool kit, here it is.

Hardpoint panel saw from the home center (Home Depot has DeWalt; Lowes has Craftsman; I have used both)
1/2″ (and maybe 1″ too) Lee Valley bevel edge chisel (the ones with the clear handle; they work both for fine work and mortising)
No. 5 Stanley Bailey pattern Hand Plane (Patrick Leach at http://www.supertool.com/ can get you a good worker that won’t take much to restore; sign up for his monthly tool list so you can build your kit with good vintage stuff if you want to go forward)
Stanley 10-049 folding utility knife (Paul Sellers swears by this knife and so do I; get it from Amazon)
Thorex double face mallet (both Paul Sellers and Richard Maguire use one and so do I; get it from Amazon)
12′ tape measure (the Starrett “exact” one is pretty great, and cheap, from Amazon)
12″ combination square (I use a Starrett, but Lee Valley sells a 12″ in a set with a 6″; they are pretty accurate for the price)
Taytools double sided diamond plate sharpening stone (these are pretty good for the price, Amazon available, but also get a sharpening stone holder from powertec or peachtree and some 3 in 1 oil)
Vise type honing guide for plane and chisel sharpening (I like the eclipse-style one you can get from Lee Valley, but make sure to make a stop block system for repeatable angles)
Cordless drill driver (let’s face it, you probably have one already)

And that’s it. Don’t forget the glue and the mechanical pencil.

You can probably get away with a speed square from the home center instead of a combination square.

Workbenches

I currently work on a Moravian-style knock down workbench based on Will Myers’ excellent video series. And Christopher Schwarz of Lost Art Press is the modern authority on workbenches of all styles. His Ingenious Mechanicks book changed my life.

But for my money, I would check out either The Naked Woodworker workbench, which can be built with just dimensional framing lumber from the home center and the tool kit described above. Or check out Rex Krueger on YouTube and his “Joiners Workbench“, which is similar but arguably easier to build with the same kit.

Or just find a thick plank and make that Grandpa Amu low workbench, which I love.

I’ve built a few of those Chinese-style low benches, two of which are shown in this one picture.

I’m going to stop it there for now. I could otherwise go on forever.

Btw, I’m not on twitter anymore. I have a strict “no social media owned by delusional man child” policy (I’ve been off facebook for several years for the same reason and never had an instagram).

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Dutch Tool Chest for Sale

When I start something, I nearly always finish it. So when I set out to make a wall mounted cabinet for my workshop, it was clear the old tool storage solution (the aforementioned Dutch Tool Chest) had to go.

So it’s for sale, $750 cash, and you have to pick it up (I’m in lower Fairfield County, Connecticut).

The case is made with usual DTC construction: through dovetails at the lower corners, shelves are dado’d and nailed into the sides of the case. The face boards are screwed on. Lamp Black milk paint on all external faces.

This DTC is a bit larger than standard varieties. In addition to being the large version at 30″ tall (with two shelved compartments AND a sliding tray), it’s 30″ wide (up from the usual 27″). This means it’s wide enough to hold a No. 7 and a full size block plane left to right (it also holds a No. 5, No. 4 and a general compartment for tape measures.

In addition, the storage area is 13″ deep (instead of the usual 11.25″). I made it this way to accommodate a No. 10 (jack rabbet) plane and some larger tool rolls, all of which can be fitted front to back instead of being piled in lengthwise. The drawer runners are just nailed on so the drawer can be easily removed if not desired.

The lid has a till for two panel saws and the tool well, in addition to being french fit for the planes described above, has a saw till that will fit dovetail, carcass and tenon saws plus two combination squares (or one with an extra beam). All of this stuff is just tack nailed in, so you can remove it easily.

The tool rack on the back wall has holes on 1.5″ centers and is screwed in from both directions. Totally modular.

Some more pictures for your reference (tools not included, obviously).

Before some additional painting; showing the orientation of the various tools in the racks/tills.

Detail of the tool well. Lots of room for more french fitting.

As with everything else, please email for more details. I’ll even throw in a couple of saw bucks to elevate it off the floor.

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Reclaiming Some Space

The last few months, I have been [very] slowly making a wall-hung tool cabinet. While my dutch tool chest holds all of the tools I could ever need (and quite a few I don’t), I have recently added a No. 6 to my everyday kit and there was no room in the DTC for the new plane. I have also gone back to using a No. 4 1/2 smoothing plane (instead of a No. 4) and, similarly, the DTC didn’t have room for it. Even with the No. 4 back in storage.

Bench planes from left to right: 7, 6, 5, 10 (jack rabbet), and 4 1/2. That’s a small router and rabbeting block plane up top.

It also started to feel cramped in the workshop. The DTC lived on the left wall of the shop, near the leg vise. The chest (and the platform it sat on) took up significant floor space that I couldn’t get back. The area below the cabinet is now free for a saw bench that is otherwise blocking my sharpening station at times.

I have never built a wall-mounted tool cabinet before. So this is just a prototype of white pine, poplar and cheap birch plywood; the usual materials for figuring thing out. And I have in fact figured a few things out in this project so that. If I ever make a better one out of my nice, reclaimed genuine mahogany, it will be better.

What I struggled with the most was the saw till. The backing board for the plane till is pretty steep (to accommodate the 9″ case sides) and therefore a regular saw till didn’t do the trick. The saws just fell out of them. And, unlike with the planes, there is no quick fix with rare earth magets.

I thought for a while and realized that my three back saws are all of the same make and therefore the totes should all be roughly the same shape. I could hook them onto something (like a 1″ dowel) and then use a till block to keep the plates aligned and safe.

I started with dovetailing together a U-shape out of some 1/2″ poplar. The sides each took a 1″ hole to accommodate the dowel, which was screwed (but not glued) into place so I could easily get to the screws attaching the hook to the backer board.

I ultimately changed out the oak dowel for a pine one, which will be easier on the saw totes.

I then located a till block (with a 1/2″ thick tongue on it for ease of attaching to the backer board) so it supported the saw plates without breaking the plane of the carcass. The kerfs in the till block (which is 5/4 material) which hold the saw plates are cut with a fine panel saw. I wish I had left more meat below the ends of the kerfs. But poplar doesn’t split like pine or oak, so it should be okay. I will report back if it ever splits apart.

The tongue is lapped and screwed into the till block for a strong joint. Not that it takes any great strain.

The overall saw till assembly has usable space around it. I’m no Henry Studley, but I was able to fit some tools into the available crevices. My 3/4″ dowel centers, which I use quite a bit for bench-making to reuse existing benchtops that attach via pegs, sit above the hook. Under the saws are a few machinist squares I don’t use often and also some brass calipers. My pinchrods hang off the side of the saw till between it and the case wall. And a 12-1 tool rests in a free nook.

As you can see, there is an unused area at the top of the case. I’m not 100% sure what to do here. I’ll hang another panel to the right of the main cabinet with racks for chisels, screwdrivers, gouges, raps, and other handled tools. So that just leaves my panel saws, a mallet, a hammer, and the boring tools (braces, auger bits, etc.). I could hang a shelf up there and pile the boring tools in (like with the middle compartment of the DTC). That feels a little like cheating.

Let let me think on it some more and revert.

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Fixgasm (Part II)

Speaking of fixgasms, I finally got around to installing the Veritas Inset Vise in my Moravian Workbench. It’s not quite a revelation, but I’m glad I did it and it officially completes the workbench.

For those who aren’t familiar, it’s a compact, easy to install, and well made tail vise option for benchtops of pretty much any thickness of 1.5″ (38mm or so). It’s really a carriage vise or wagon vise that’s easily retrofittable into any benchtop of sufficient thickness. HNT Gordon makes a similar option, but I’ve never used one of those.

I’ve had this inset vise for a while (which was a Christmas present from my parents few years ago). It used to live in another workbench before I gave that away. Veritas/Lee Valley is not a sponsor btw (no one is, lol). They just make great tools, especially bench appliances.

Maximum capacity of 68.5 inches (1740mm or so). More if I use a clamp on the far end to gain another inch or so.

To use a tail vise of any sort, you’ll need a row of bench dog holes in line with the movable jaw on the tail vise (see above). Pinch a board on its face or edge between the dog in the bench and the dog in the tail vise and it stays put. For planing in any direction (especially traversing across the grain or at a diagonal). For mortising or other detail work on the face of the board. If the line of dog holes is close enough to the front edge of the bench, you can use it like a sticking board for use with fenced joinery planes (like a rabbeting or fillister plane).

I like a good tail vise, although series of pegs or a holdfast and doe’s foot are just as good in my book. I wasn’t sure I’d ever install the inset vise into this particular bench, but when laying out the overall size of the undercarriage. I’d gotten by just fine with those other options, but it was time to finish this off.

So now that it’s finished, I would imagine I’ll immediate move on to another workbench.

LOL. Just kidding. Not really. Maybe?

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A Valiant Effort

I too read that recent Popular Woodworking online article about Taytools hand planes. I’m not much of a tool collector (I have a spare Stanley No. 5 for my out and about toolbox and a cadaver of an extra Stanley No. 4 to scavenge parts if necessary), but I couldn’t help myself at the Amazon price for a No. 4. I’ve wasted far more money on other tools, after all.

The No. 5 was sold out and, besides, I have a No. 5 I love already.

Let me start by saying that, for the price, this seems like a pretty good tool. I paid US$65 and got something that felt solid in my hand. Would I recommend it for a new woodworker with limited space to work in? Very probably. I think it’s a valiant effort, all told. But let’s explore a bit further.

I’ve restored between 5-10 antique Stanley planes and setting this thing up for relatively refined work took about an hour. The most work went into the cap iron (about 20 minutes), which started out a bit rustic. I also had to grind a bevel onto it, which went slowly and carefully to avoid removing too much material. The cutting iron was ground hollow and only took about 10 minutes to flatten and another 5 or so to sharpen and introduce the back bevel with the ruler trick.

I’ve seen worse. Much worse.

The plane’s sole was also ground pretty hollow, which is fine. I haven’t fully dressed the sole for smoothing yet, which I plan to do to 220 grit. The manufacturer seems to have erred on the side of hollow grinding where possible. For the record, I am 100% okay with this approach.

Three things about the Taytools plane stand out to me, though.

First, the mouth of the plane is cavernous. On my Type 11 Stanley, the mouth is a smidge under 3/16, and closes up nice and tight with minimal frog advancement.

The pitting doesn’t affect performance. Stop complaining.

Compare that to the Taytools version. The mouth is over 1/4 wide. Now, 1/6 may not sound like a lot, but it’s noticeable (and a 33% increase!). If I wanted this plane for general work, it’d do fine. But as I’ve noted before, smoothing takes a tight mouth. I had to move the frog significantly forward to close up the mouth. Will this result in chatter? Who knows?

Notice the scratch pattern around the edges from testing the flatness.

Second, the frog adjustment mechanism is just garbage. Novel, but garbage. The yoke is cast into the frog itself and the tapped hole for the adjustment screw was not parallel to the bed. This meant the frog kept binding as I turned the screw. I eventually gave up and removed the frog adjustment screw entirely.

Finally, the plane is longer than a vintage No. 4. Not by much, but I could see it making an incremental difference over the life of the tool.

Weird, right?

I would be remiss if I didn’t weigh them both. I prefer the lighter Stanley No. 4 Bailey pattern plane to the modern Bedrock copies for smoothing tasks. My current smoother clocks in at a manageable 1615 grams.

That’s 57 oz or 3 lbs 9 oz for the imperial types.

Surprisingly, the Taytools No. 4 is only 1890 grams (aka, 67 oz or 4 lbs 3 oz). A bit over half a pound heavier than my Type 11 No. 4. Not bad – and a far cry from the advertised 5 lbs. of some modern Bedrock copy No. 4’s.

It lost a couple of grams when I ground the cap iron, in fairness.

So, again, is this I tool I would gift to a beginner woodworker interested in apartment woodworking on a budget? Yes. But that “yes” assumes the beginner has basic knowledge of how to prepare and sharpen a plane iron. I don’t think the rustic cap iron would be much more of a nuisance when shavings got clogged. And everything else seemed in relatively-good working order (apprentice marks and all).

And setting this tool up would be a hell of a lot less effort than fully restoring a swap meet piece.

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Harlequin Baby

Warning: DO NOT image search the namesake of this blog post.

For a while now, I’ve been rehabilitating a Type 15 Stanley No. 5 smooth bottom bench plane. After a couple of hours of work, it’s as pretty as I’m going to make it.

Other than my Veritas scrub plane, there are officially no modern bench planes in my tool chest anymore. I really like the lighter weight of the antique planes (as compared to their modern counterparts). If one of the modern makers made new versions of these lighter planes to the precision specs they do for their Bedrock copies, I would be all over it.

Even after scrubbing, there is some of the patina on the sides.

This No. 5 is intended to be a worker and, suffice to say, it’s a bit of a harlequin. The sole and frog are original. As is the cap iron. The blade, however, is salvaged from my Type 17 Stanley No. 4 smoothing plane (which now has a Veritas replacement blade and is my main smoothing plane).

It’s not a pretty grind, but the frog is perfectly flat. And it’s a bedrock frog!

The lever cap (seen above) is scrounged from another Stanley No. 4 (a Type 10, I think). The lever cap that goes with this Type 15 exists, I just haven’t cleaned it up yet. It has a chip at one corner so I’m in no rush to expend that much elbow grease.

The knob and tote are replacements as well. I source wooden replacement parts for planes from Greg Droz. He does a great job and his prices are very reasonable. They both fit first try without any fettling.

Honduran rosewood, which is beautiful enough for a worker.

The sole of the plane is in very good shape and didn’t take long to de-rust or flatten. This is a jack plane so I didn’t obsessed too much. In fact, I only took it to 80 grit (which, admittedly, had worn to probably 120 grit by the end) on the granite slab. There is a very slight hollow around the mouth that can be seen below. If the spirit ever moves me, I may dress the sole a bit more. Maybe to 220 grit and perfectly square on the shooting side.

I’m pretty sure this plane was well-used before it came to me

But I now have no place in my tool chest for my well-loved WoodRiver bench planes (No. 4, No. 4 1/2 and No. 5 1/2). They have served me well but I’d be happy to part with the No. 4 for $100 and the No. 4 1/2 and No. 5 1/2 for $125 each. UPDATE: ALL THREE PLANES SOLD.

If interested, shoot me an email at theapartmentwoodworker@gmail.com and I can send pictures. They are all in used but otherwise perfect condition.

This is the first of a few sets of extra tools that I plan to sell off. I am not a tool collector, per se. But I do have some extra tools, which are pretty much only good for cluttering the shop and procrastinating when it’s time to sharpen.

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Surprises at Every Turn

One of the most (if perhaps not the most) treasured tool in my tool chest is my vintage Stanley Bedrock No. 7. I’ve had it for a bit less than year and I love it more and more every day. It was a gift from my late godfather, and it is a joy to use.

No idea if the red paint is original.

I’m generally familiar with the dating criteria for ordinary Stanley planes. But I hadn’t looked into the history of the Bedrock variants. Until last night. Turns out, my No. 7 is a Type 2, built between 1898-1899. It’s not my oldest tool (that probably goes to the firmer paring chisel I recently restored), but it’s still in great shape for its age.

One patent here. One patent on the lateral adjustment lever.

Despite hanging on a basement wall for however many decades (it has a hanging hole), the plane had minimal rust (no pitting) and the sole was still very flat. It merely required a wipe down with mineral spirits, a replacement iron (Veritas A2 from Lee Valley), a quick re-peening of the lateral adjustment lever, and a few passes on the granite slab with 220 grit sandpaper to be fully functional.

I don’t know how much use it got originally, but it gets used every day I’m in my shop. If it came down to it, I am 100% certain that it’s the only bench plane I would keep. They really don’t make ’em like they used to.

And, for the record, I sharpen my No. 7 with a slight camber.

JPG

Pluses and Minuses

I almost never buy tools off eBay. Not used ones, anyway. I usually stick to the “New Old Stock” variety. So it was particularly out of character for me to take a leap of faith on a random Stanley No. 4.

I think it came out okay.

The tool in question is almost certainly a Type 17 from 1942-1945. It has a hardwood knob/tote and a steel depth adjustment knob, plus a heavier casting. Its heft feels more like a modern Bedrock copy than a vintage Stanley. I’m willing to bet this plane helped defeat the Nazis.

You can really see the thickness of the walls in this shot.

The tool was either (i) well-loved and cared for in its former life or (ii) used a little bit and then squirreled away. My vote is for well-loved and cared for. There was a hanging hole in the heel of the sole. All the arrises were carefully broken with a file. The lateral adjustment lever showed signs of re-peening. The depth adjustment knob was caked with sawdust. All the signs of a craftsman’s tool.

My only reservation is that the iron seems off. There is just so much steel left. It could be a replacement iron. And the shape of the cutting edge was strange, with a very slight hollow along the width. Not a hollow grind on the bevel. The cutting edge itself had the opposite shape of a smoothing plane camber. If it had been sharp, you could have beaded with the plane when it arrived in the mail. Perhaps the skilled craftsman was two owners ago.

Easily fixed in the honing process, though.

Also a surprise: the sole was very flat to begin with. It took less than 30 seconds with 120 grit on the granite slab to get it as flat as it ever needs to be. This is not exaggeration. 20 or so passes and it was flatter than most new planes. And the sides were very square to the sole. Another 30 seconds on the granite slab with a squaring block and it was good to go for shooting.

Strange place for a hollow. But completely harmless on a smoothing plane.

I was pleasantly surprised at every turn. In fact, tuning was going so well, I developed the intention of making this one of my main worker planes. But then, after all the scrubbing and sanding and honing, I moved the frog forward and extended the blade to take a thin shaving and what did I see? Wood. Lots of it.

It was like looking under the hood of an old car and seeing asphalt. My heart sank.

Tearout will always be a problem with this plane.

On a hand plane, the blade, in its cutting motion, lifts under the wood fibers. As I understand it, the leading edge of the mouth presses down on the fibers while the blade cuts. The wider the mouth, the more likely the fibers will lift and split ahead of the blade edge. This is called tearout.

On a smoothing plane, you want the narrowest mouth possible. The opening between blade and sole should be barely wider than the shaving taken. A perfectly tuned and set smoothing plane can take a tearout-free shaving in any direction on even the most figured or swirling grain because of this narrow opening. That is, the leading edge of the mouth applies downward pressure so close to the cutting edge that there is no opportunity for fibers to lift and split as the cut progresses. No opportunity for tearout.

But with a mouth this size, this particular plane would eat figured food. Literally tear it up and spit it out. So, with a heavy heart, I have put this plane in the reserve bin (i.e., my Craftsman Top Chest). But I will name it James, Jr., for it has a mouth so big that it ruins everything it comes in contact with.

Perhaps it will one day find life as a scrub plane. It certainly has the mouth for heavy shavings.

JPG

The Apartment Woodworker

Hand-tool Woodworking for the Urban Apartment-dweller

Tools

A Love Letter to Impact Drivers

New Year 2023 – Remake a Hand Saw

Apartment Woodworking: Year 10 Retrospective (Part 1)

Dutch Tool Chest for Sale

Reclaiming Some Space

Fixgasm (Part II)

A Valiant Effort

Harlequin Baby

Surprises at Every Turn

Pluses and Minuses

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