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• Sunday, June 30th, 2019

Lee Valley and Lie-Nielsen both use a 12° bed for their bevel-up (BU) bench planes. At least for smoothing planes, I think there are better options. I addressed this issue in a 2010 post but now would like to add additional reasoning. Let’s start with the issue of attack angle. One of the advantages of […]

Category: Tools and Shop  | Tags:  | Comments off
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• Saturday, September 11th, 2010

Before using this unimposing little plane I was doubtful that it could get much work done but having put it to work in the shop I am convinced that it really performs. It brings an effective combination of toughness and control to curved work and hollowing. The plane has a bevel-up A2 blade bedded at 20̊ […]

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• Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

If you’ve read the two previous posts on this topic, you might think that I’ve thus settled contentedly into scraping plane heaven. Not quite, there is one more thing. The scraping plane is generally thought of as a finishing tool, analogous to a smoothing plane, suited for difficult, figured, dense woods that are prone to […]

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• Sunday, July 18th, 2010

Now for the blades. Veritas offers three choices: a 0.055″ thick blade that is meant to be bowed, a 0.125″ (1/8″) that is not bowed because of its thickness, and a 0.125″ (1/8″) thick toothed blade. I find that the 0.055″ blade, when sharpened with a 45̊ bevel and burnished at 15̊, as recommended, is too […]

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• Saturday, July 17th, 2010

Here are my preferences in a scraping plane, followed by the styles that are thus disqualified in parentheses: a sole long enough relative to its width to register on the work and not “fall off” at the end of a stroke (not: Stanley #80 and other spokeshave-like styles) an adjustable frog angle (not: #’s 80, 85, Veritas small […]

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• Saturday, September 03rd, 2016

Sanding does not get much respect among woodworkers. Hand planing uses more gratifying tools in a more pleasing process, and when suitably employed, leaves lively surfaces and is more efficient. This series of posts will attempt to put sanding in perspective in the world of fine woodworking and present practical information on tools and techniques. James […]

Category: Techniques  | Tags:  | 2 Comments
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• Friday, December 14th, 2012

Planes, bats, birds, and bees: they all fly. The object is to get there. In this segment, the final installment in the series, let’s look at some different but very effective plane designs that you may want to consider. Japanese planes make use of a very thick blade tightly nested, bevel down, in a dense […]

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• Monday, April 02nd, 2012

This Wednesday, April 4, 2012 I will be presenting at the Woodworker’s Guild of Rhode Island. The meeting starts at 7:00 pm and is held at the Scituate Community House in North Scituate, Rhode Island, which is just west of Providence. Click here for a link to a map and directions. The nice guys at […]

Category: Resources  | 2 Comments