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This installment of the Q&A features questions from readers<\/a> about shop electrical supply, convex-sole planes, gel varnishes, ripping, and Claro walnut.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n A woodworker who is planning a new small shop is considering how much and what type of juice<\/strong> to have the electrician wire into it. Here’s what I use in my little playpen and why.<\/span><\/p>\n The pre-existing wimpy<\/strong> household 110V-15A<\/strong> wiring takes care of shop lighting and a few other small items such as a battery charger. Then there is a 220V-20A<\/strong> line with a single receptacle.<\/strong> This runs the bandsaw, table saw, and jointer-planer; one machine at a time<\/strong>, of course, because there’s only one guy in the shop. A 220V-15A line would not reliably handle a surge from the jointer-planer rated at 14A or the cabinet saw at 13A. There are also two 110V-20A lines<\/strong>, each with a pair of receptacles. Two lines are necessary to run the DW735 at 15A along with the dust collector at 16A. This also accommodates any portable power tool that I own along with the Fein shop vac.<\/span><\/p>\n It pays to plan carefully<\/strong> for the shop you have now and<\/strong><\/em> for the shop you aspire to. I think I’ll never need more juice than this in my one-man small shop.<\/span><\/p>\n A woodworker planning to make a coopered door inquires about options in planes with the sole and blade convex across their widths<\/strong>. The radius of the blade needs to be just a bit smaller than the curve it planes. Calculating<\/a> an example, a 14″ wide door with a curve depth of 2″ has a radius of 13.25″. A 1-1\/2″ wide plane blade of this radius will have a curve depth of 0.02″. Taking into account the effect of the blade bedded at 45 degrees (formula here<\/a>), the blade must be cambered .03″, or about 1\/32″.\u00a0A tiny bit more<\/strong> depth than that will keep the outer corners of the blade clear of the wood and enhance control.<\/span><\/p>\n For this, my solution is to take any small wooden plane and camber the blade, and shape the sole to match it<\/strong>. Test and adjust. One nice option might be to get a Krenov style plane kit from Ron Hock<\/a> and alter it accordingly. A Japanese convex sole plane<\/a> is a more expensive option that is not tailored to the specific task, and is likely to be too curved for it.<\/span><\/p>\n I was a fan of Bartley’s gel varnish<\/strong>, which is no longer available as far as I know. A few questions came in regarding alternatives. Here are three:<\/span><\/p>\n A reader asked about my preferences in handsaws for long rips<\/strong>. My preference is the bandsaw<\/em><\/strong>, the “hand tool with a motor.”<\/a> In most cases, I see no particular virtue in sweating out a long rip by hand, but the Disston D-7<\/a> is my weapon of choice if I really want to commune with the wood.<\/span><\/p>\n\n