Popular Woodworking 2003-12 № 138, страница 10

Out on a Limb

Checkbooks, Beer & Hand Planes

I'm always amazed by a misconception among woodworkers about hand tools. It goes something like this: Because power tools have replaced hand tools in many woodshops, power tools must therefore be more precise and clearly superior.

Nothing could be more wrong.

Really excellent work (tight joints, shimmering surfaces, perfectly fitted doors and crisp edges) are all far easier for me to achieve with hand tools than with a catalog full of jigs, doodads and, yes, power tools.

I first became aware of this noble truth 10 years ago when fitting the bottom into a blanket chest during a woodworking class. I needed to notch the corners of the large bottom piece so it would fit in the groove in the sides of the chest. I had devised an ingenious setup. It involved - no lie - a large torsion-box fence attached to the table saw's miter gauge, an accessory fence attached to the rip fence and a dado stack. It took me about two hours to set it all up.

As I was about to make the cuts, my instructor walked over to the table saw, took my bottom piece to his bench and cut the notches with a backsaw in two minutes. He handed the bottom back to me and my view of the world was changed.

So now when I want to fit a door or drawer in its opening, I use a jack plane to sneak

up on the perfect size in .001" increments if I so desire. I never overshoot.

When I want a mortise-and-tenon joint to have an airtight fit, I reach for a shoulder plane to trim the cheeks and shoulders.

And when I want a surface to look like a reflective pool of water, I use a smoothing plane, which slices open the wood's cells instead of scratching them into submission.

I could go on and on.

Of course, this bliss comes at a price. You've got to learn to sharpen - the most important woodworking skill I've ever picked up. Want a primer? Go to our web site and click on "Magazine Extras." You'll find the article "Sharpening Plane Irons & Chisels" there that will get you started.

And in case you think I'm a nutjob, consider this: I'll never give up my table saw, jointer or planer. In fact, I'm bewildered by people who use hand tools exclusively. For me, there's no joy in dressing lumber by hand.

So when stocking your shop with hand and power tools, remember this: It's just like beer, your checkbook and dancing - finding a good balance is best. PW

Executive Editor

Come Visit our Booth at the WoodWorks 2003 Shows this Fall and Winter

We're on tour with the WoodWorks shows right now and you can check us out at various stops in November and January. Come by our booth, hunt for great deals on subscriptions and woodworking books and sign up to win a tremendous prize!

What makes WoodWorks events special (in addition to the great deals on tools) are the

free demonstrations by the country's top woodworkers (such as Frank Klausz, left). Also, many exhibitors actively demonstrate the newest products right in their booth. You can't help but learn a lot and have a good time. Visit woodworks2003.com for a complete rundown on the shows, dates and free demonstrations. See you there!

Popular Woodworking December 2003

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CONTRIBUTORS BARRY BLACK

When Barry Black was 5, he built a wooden box. "The box wasn't bad," he says, but when he nailed the lid on he knew he would have to learn something about hinges. Black grew up helping his father build cabinets in England. After 18 years in the oil industry, he decided his career was interfering with his hobby -woodworking - so he quit and started Black Board Creations (black-boardcreations.com) in Alberta, Canada, with his wife, Kari-Lynn. Today he thoroughly understands the concept of hinges. His boxes, such as the chessboard on page 66, are functional and beautiful. Black specializes in custom furniture, including Sam Maloof-style chairs. Also an antique tools dealer, Black's favorite tools are his Stanley No. 98 and No. 99 side-rabbet planes.

DON McCONNELL

Though Don McConnell has worked with his share of machinery (in one shop he was the only one allowed to adjust the jointer and planer), his true passion is for traditional hand tools. In 1977 he took an apprenticeship with Tom Clark in the cabinet shop at The Ohio Village - a living history site similar to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia - where he learned to create fine work without the assistance of electrons. Since then he has worked professionally, building furniture, repairing antiques, constructing architectural elements and producing carved curved custom handrails mostly by hand. McConnell's biggest passion (outside of raising his teenage daughter) is for wooden-bodied planes, a topic he discusses in his column on page 98.

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