· �ARRETT HACK Photographs by John.S. Sheldon The HANDPLANE Book The HANDPLANE Book GARRETT HACK Photographs by John S. Sheldon TheTauntonrn Press TauntonBOOKS & VIDEOS forfellow enthusiasts © 1999 by The Taunton Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The Handplane Book was originally published in hardcover © 1997 by The Taunton Press, Inc. The Taunton Press, Inc., 63 South Main Street, PO Box 5506, Newtown, CT 06470-5506 e-mail: [email protected] Distributed by Publishers Group West. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hack, Garrett. The handplane book / Garrett Hack. p. cm. "A Fine woodworking book" - T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-56158-155-0 hardcover ISBN 1-56158-317-0 softcover 1. Planes (Hand tools). 2. Woodwork. I. Title. TT186.H33 1997 684'.082 - dc21 97-7943 CIP About Your Safety Working wood is inherently dangerous. Using hand or power tools improperly or ignoring standard safety practices can lead to permanent injury or even death. Don't try to perform operations you learn about here (or elsewhere) unless you're certain they are safe for you. If something about an operation doesn't feel right, don't do it. Look for another way. We want you to enjoy the craft, so please keep safety foremost in your mind whenever you're in the shop. To Helen and Vinny who saw the possibilities, Ned who encouraged me, and Hope who has kept me tuned and planing true ACKNOWLEDGMENTS No one can hope to bring together a book Helen Albert, for her insights and Noel Perrin, for his insights about all like this without help. Very few of us will encouragement from the beginning things besides tools ever own all of the planes discussed within Jonathan Binzen Jack Playne these pages; the range and numbers of M. S. Carter, a special collector of Violinmaker David Polstein different ones are simply too vast. Some are miniature planes Cooper Ron Raiselis and the Strawbery so scarce and expensive that they are Violinmaker Jonathan Cooper Banke Museum, Portsmouth, New beyond the means of most of us. Luckily, Hampshire Auctioneer Richard Crane, who's seen there's no shortage of people who love and more tools than most of us ever will Mark and Jane Rees, writers and lovers of collect planes willing to share them. I'm old woodworking tools appreciative of all those who offered their Michael Dunbar, a chairmaker tools, books, and insights into the different knowledgeable about all hand tools Gordon Riesdel types of planes and how they're used. Deborah Federhen, Curator of Plane maker Leon Robbins Collections, Bennington Museum, Equally important were the people who gave Ken Roberts advice or encouragement along the way. Bennington, Vermont Photographer John Sheldon, for his Jay Gaynor of the ColonialWilliamsburg enthusiasm, spirit, and creativity Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia, who Richard Starr, inspiring kids to use together with Joseph Hutchins made hand tools planes as art Charles Stirling, of Bristol Design, Barbara Hamblett, Polly Mitchell, and Bristol, England the Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont Plane maker JeffWarshafsky, ever curious about the fine points of planes Gerry and Jane Haviland, eternal springs and planing of encouragement Caroline and BillWilkins, astute Bill Hildebrandt collectors and gracious hosts Ted Ingraham, a plane maker and Windsor Precision Museum, Windsor, savant of 18th-century woodworking Vermont skills and tools Dean Zoerheide, for his workingman's Tool historian and collector Paul appreciation of planes Kebabian Vincent Laurence, a wonderful friend and teacher And for my support at The Taunton Press: Leonard Lee Peter Chapman Jim Chiavelli Tom Lie-Nielsen and the crew of Rick Peters Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, Warren, Maine, Joanne Renna redefining how fine new planes can be Carol Singer John Lively, who challenged and encouraged my ideas CONTENTS 3 Introduction ONE 4 What Is a Plane? TWO 12 History of Planes THREE 28 Plane Mechanics FOUR 50 Tuning a Plane FIVE 74 How to Plane SIX 92 Planes for Truing and Sizing Stock SEVEN 120 Planes for Joinery EIGHT 152 Planes for Surfacing NINE 170 Scrapers TEN 184 Planes for Shaping ELEVEN 210 Specialty Planes TWELVE 228 Contemporary Plane Makers THIRTEEN 242 Buying Planes 258 Bibliography 260 Index INTR ODU CTION A man who wants to work must attach value tothe best tools. -Goethe andplanes have become such an Learning to tune and use planes isn't Specific planes and techniques are integralH part of my furniture making difficult. Any woodworker has the introduced as you might use them in that I cannot imagine working without skills but maybe not all of the necessary building a piece of furniture. The planes them. This isn't to cling to some information. No planes I've ever bought are grouped according to the work they romantic image of the past-I'm still a came with an owner's manual, although do: truing and preparing stock, cutting practical Ya nkee with a shop fu ll of it would be nice if they had. Maybe joinery, smoothing surfaces, and cutting machines. The simple truth is that a then my first attempts wouldn't have moldings or other shaped decoration. plane works better and more efficiently been so frustrating-the plane ending up The range runs from essential bench than a machine in many situations. so thoroughly clogged that it did more planes to such oddities as a spill plane, What machine can fit a drawer as well damage than good. Few books were where producing a useful shaving-not as a plane, one thin and thoughtful helpful; they focused more on the history an improved surface-is the intent. shaving at a time? of planes than on offering practical The final chapters offer a different Learning to use planes can improve information for the contemporary wood­ perspective on planes. Here are the your craftsmanship. No tool matches the worker. So I've set out to remedy that. plane-making techniques of a handful clarity and polish of a surface cut with a I like to think of this book as a plane of contemporary craftsmen, advice plane. No machine leaves a better glue owner's manual. It explains the basics from an auctioneer 30 years in the tool surface or cuts such a tight-fitting joint. of how a plane cuts and describes how business, and the stories of a few There are so many varieties of planes­ to tune, sharpen, and adjust a plane to incurable collectors. panel raisers, molding planes, and work better than you ever thought Planes were once one of the most chamfer planes to name but a few-that possible. Every type of plane you'll ever important tools in a carpenter's chest, using them can't help but encourage you likely need is discussed, along with making possible a whole range of to work in new ways or add interesting planing techniques for each, from techniques difficult or impossible with details. And if that isn't enough, planes holding the plane to clamping the work other tools. They are no less relevant are a lot more plea sura ble to use than and troubleshooting problems. I've also today. Use this book as a guide and no machines and will make your shop a included the especially useful matter what you know about planes, it quieter and cleaner place to work. information that ordinary manuals will help you gain greater confidence and never seem to discuss, such as how to skill and experience greater pleasure read the grain of a board and plane working wood. figured wood, how to decide which planes are essential for your shop, and how to know where to look and what to look for when buying them. 3 WHAT IS A PLANE? Many woodworking operations which we take fo r granted would be impossibly laborious without Planes. A worker with the right Plane fo r a particular task has only to concentra te on holding it in the correct attitude in contact with the workpiece, and he can then push away freely until the task is completed. -R. A. Salaman, Dictionary of Wo odworking To ols, 1975 f you'd looked inside the tool ch est many of the molding planes the joiner When a colonial joiner built a ca se of ofI an 18th- century co lonial joiner, you'd likely cut himself from yellow birch and drawers, for example, he first marked out have found ch isels, gouges, a bit stock beech and fitted with thick imported all the different parts on the boards and and bits, handsaws, hammers, squares, ca st-steel irons. Essentially, these were sawed them apart with a handsaw. The gimlets, a hand adz, and an assortment wooden tools for working the resources real work began in earnest with planing of planes. Some of the tools were of a land rich in timber, for creating the the parts to size, leveling and smoothing imported from England, while others wooden essentials for the settler, villager, ea ch surfa ce, and working each part were made loca lly. Planes for spe cial and town dweller alike-from buildings down to uniform thickness. For this he tasks were bought from other joiners to bridges, wagons to hay forks, barrels to would have pulled from his chest a heavy who produ ced them as a sideline to their sap bu ckets, furniture to spoons. jack plane-a stock of beech a little over a furniture work, or from skilled Before the development of the planers foot long fitted with a double plane iron co mmercial plane makers.