Freehand sharpening on oilstones: just one of 5 different sharpening methods covered. Sharpening is just one of 7 parts of the course.
59 videos. Over 12 hours of content (see episode guide below). 5 months of effort from the first email discussion. Hours and hours in the workshop weekends and nights, and more hours on the train editing video and writing accompanying text. A lot of understanding and support from my wife.
My
Intro To Hand Tools course is available at Popular Woodworking University for online viewing, or you can purchase individual parts as
digital downloads at Popular Woodworking's online store. Both formats are completely self-paced, so you can watch the videos at your convenience.
If you're new to hand tool woodworking, or just want to add some skills, this course is for you. The cost is only $59.99 for the online course, just over a dollar per video, or $4.99 for each of the six downloads, even more economical. You can read reviews of the first online session
here.
Note that Popular Woodworking University provides registered students permanent read-only access to courses after they end. That means you can watch the videos any time after the course end date, but you won’t be able to ask questions or use the discussions after that.
It's divided into 7 parts. I cover multiple methods so you can pick the one that you like or that best matches the tools you have available. Try as many methods as you can to build your versatility. That will give you the background to incorporate other methods that you learn about.
"Fistfights And Fundamentals" videos highlight the different methods and compare them. "Exercise" videos provide practice exercises to develop hand and tool control.
While I show everything using easy-to-work eastern white pine, all the skills apply to harder woods. Do the exercises first in easy wood to get the skills, then repeat them with more difficult woods.
This is like learning to play a musical instrument: start with easy material, then advance to harder material as you make progress. Each step forward is a new learning experience.
Don't be afraid to make mistakes. As long as you don't hurt yourself or damage anything, mistakes are also great learning experiences. Get your mistakes out of the way on practice exercises so you don't make them on real projects. Everything you make in the exercises makes excellent firewood! Meanwhile, you've acquired skills.
And just like learning to play a musical instrument, you probably don't want anyone to hear your early practicing, full of mistakes. But with persistence, you start to get it.
If you haven't seen them, check out the sample
free course video and my
silent trade show trailer that I'll have running when I do live demos. The first is an example of an individual video, and the second shows snippets from all the videos.
A tool list is
here.
Here's a complete episode guide with running times so you can see exactly what's covered:
TOTAL 7 PARTS: 59 videos, 12:03:13 total running time
Part 1: Introduction (0:22:42 total)
1.1 Introduction (05:06)
- Why hand tools?
- Fistfights and fundamentals of the different methods of doing things.
- Cost and space.
- Like learning to play a musical instrument, practice!
1.2 Tools (04:24)
- Workbenches: Roubo, Sellers, Underhill portable, apartment folding.
- Handsaws, handplanes, chisels.
- Measuring and marking.
- Other tools: router, rabbet, and shoulder planes, spokeshave, drills, scrapers.
1.3 Safety (02:20)
- Chisels
- Saws
- Planes
- Marking
- Drills
- Mallets
- Sharpen dull tools!
1.4 Saw Types (04:03)
- Saw anatomy.
- Rip vs. crosscut.
- Tooth shape and size.
- Joinery backsaws.
1.5 Plane Types (06:49)
- Plane anatomy.
- Adjusting the iron.
- Plane sizes, functions, and order of use.
- Wooden planes.
- Cambered and straight irons.
Part 2: Sharpening (1:48:31 total)
2.1 Sharpening Fistfights And Fundamentals (16:26)
- Fistfights: bevel shape, abrasives, sharpening motions and techniques.
- Flat, convex, and concave bevel shapes.
- Oilstones, sandpaper, waterstones, diamond stones, and strops.
- Sharpening motions, freehand and jig.
- How to evaluate an edge.
2.2 Back Preparation (04:11)
2.3 Convex Bevel On Oilstones (12:22)
- Freehand sharpening a plane iron with a convex bevel on oilstones.
- Stropping.
- Easing the corners of the iron.
- Sharpening a cambered iron.
- Sharpening a chisel.
2.4 Double Bevel On Sandpaper (10:37)
- Freehand side-to-side sharpening a plane iron with a double bevel on sandpaper on glass.
- Sharpening a chisel.
- Sharpening a spokeshave.
2.5 Double Bevel On Waterstones (09:30)
- Flattening waterstones.
- Freehand sharpening a plane iron with a double bevel on waterstones.
- Stropping.
- Sharpening a chisel.
2.6 Double Bevel Jig On Waterstones (09:42)
- Flattening waterstones.
- Jig sharpening a plane iron with a double bevel on waterstones.
- Sharpening a chisel.
- Angle setting jig.
2.7 Hollow Ground With Diamond Plates (06:19)
- Hollow grinding a chisel.
- Freehand honing the chisel on a diamond plate.
- Stropping.
- Sharpening a plane iron.
2.8 Saw Sharpening (19:43)
- Saw vises.
- Jointing and setting saw teeth.
- Rake, fleam, and set.
- Sharpening a rip saw.
- Sharpening a crosscut saw, simple fleam guide.
- Sharpening joinery backsaws.
2.9 Scraper Sharpening (19:41)
- How a card scraper works.
- Burnishing, draw-filing, and honing.
- Forming the hook.
Part 3: Stock Preparation (2:42:39 total)
3.1 Gauges, Squares, And Marking Knives (16:48)
- Pin, knife, wheel marking gauges.
- Thickness center-finding.
- Marking edge, end, and cross grain.
- Squares.
- Checking and using a square.
- Marking knives.
- Marking pieces around.
3.2 Rough Stock Preparation (13:13)
- Classifying work.
- Sawing on a sawbench and the workbench.
- Crosscutting, ripping, and resawing.
3.3 Rough Sawing Exercise (06:45)
- Crosscutting, ripping, and resawing practice.
- Using bench hooks.
3.4 Handplane Fistfights And Fundamentals (03:02)
- Fistfights: bevel orientation, number of planes, body style.
- Bench plane functions and shavings comparison.
3.5 Fine Stock Preparation 1 (19:59)
- The FEWTEL sequence.
- Workholding for face planing.
- Planing order of operations and iron profile.
- First face: roughing, flattening, smoothing.
- Using winding sticks.
- First edge: roughing, jointing.
- Marking reference surfaces.
- Alternate workholding methods for face planing.
3.6 Fine Stock Preparation 2 (17:27)
- Second edge: roughing, jointing to precise width.
- Second face: roughing, flattening to precise thickness.
- More alternate workholding methods.
- Using a card scraper.
3.7 Fine Stock Preparation 3 (14:41)
- Using a shooting board.
- First end: shooting.
- Second end: rough trimming, shooting to precise length.
- The well-shot end.
- Planing end grain.
- Correcting twisted edges.
- Alternate workholding methods for edge planing.
- Roughing, flattening, and smoothing with wooden bench planes.
- Using scrub planes.
3.8 Planing Exercise (09:00)
- More alternate workholding methods for face planing.
- Rouging practice.
- Planing cupped boards.
- Face, edge, and end grain planing practice.
- Chamfering.
3.9 Tapering (10:24)
- Tapering legs with bench planes.
- Alternate workholding methods for tapered pieces.
3.10 Panel Raising 1 (19:47)
- Frame and panel construction.
- Making a pillow-style raised panel with bench planes.
- Alternate workholding method.
3.11 Panel Raising 2 (15:52)
- First method: making a raised-field style panel with chisel and bench planes.
3.12 Panel Raising 3 (14:41)
- Second method: rabbet and shoulder planes.
- Third method: skew block planes.
Part 4: Simple Joinery (2:33:52 total)
4.1 Grain And Strength (02:21)
- Short and long grain.
- Edge vs. end grain gluing, cross-grain joints.
- Wood movement.
4.2 Chisel Exercise 1 (10:48)
- Chisel types and safety.
- Chamfering, curves, and cross-grain.
4.3 Chisel Exercise 2 (15:08)
- Using a mallet.
- Chopping, paring, and controlled splitting.
- Wedging action of the bevel.
4.4 Edge Glued Joints (19:07)
- Edge jointing for perfectly flat joint.
- Glue up and cleanup.
- Destructive strength test: how much weight can it hold?
- Ganged planing of complementary angles.
- Grain orientation in large panels.
- Spring joint.
4.5 Bookmatched Joints (05:31)
- Using a luthier's style large shooting board.
- Glue up and cleanup.
4.6 Coopered Joints (12:01)
- Forming up a half-round panel with a bench plane.
- Glue up and cleanup.
- Destructive strength test: how much weight can it hold?
4.7 Tongue And Groove (07:32)
- Metal and wooden match planes.
- Tongue and grooves with 3 different types of match planes.
- Edge chamfering.
4.8 Rabbets 1 (13:27)
- First method: making edge and end rabbets with a chisel.
- Second method: joinery backsaws.
4.9 Rabbets 2 (14:00)
- Third method: wooden skew rabbet plane (moulding plane).
- Fourth method: shoulder plane.
- Fifth method: rabbet plane.
- Sixth method: skew block plane.
- Seventh method: moving fillister plane.
- Inside corner rabbets.
4.10 Grooves (18:28)
- Plow and combination planes.
- First method: making grooves with chisel and router plane.
- Second method: saw and chisel.
- Third method: shoulder plane.
- Fourth method: wooden plow plane.
- Fifth method: combination plane.
4.11 Dados (14:49)
- Making dados with saw, chisel, and router plane.
- Alternate cleanup with a shoulder plane.
- Side rabbet plane for widening dados.
4.12 Lap Joints 1 (15:20)
- Gang-planing matching widths.
- Making face lap joints with saw, chisel, and router plane.
- Paring to fit.
4.13 Lap Joints 2 (19:48)
- Making edge lap joints (notched joints).
- Making a half-lap end.
- Glue up and trimming flush.
- Using a shoulder plane or chisel instead of router.
Part 5: Mortise And Tenon (1:44:00 total)
5.1 Mortise And Tenon Fistfights And Fundamentals (05:24)
- Fistfights: chop vs. drill, fitting straight off the saw.
- Quiet woodworking to avoid disturbing the family or neighbors.
- Wedged tenons.
- Fit of joint.
- Width of mortise.
- The horn.
5.2 Blind Mortise And Tenon 1 (11:10)
- Mortise layout.
- First mortise method: chopping with a chisel.
5.3 Blind Mortise And Tenon 2 (19:37)
- Tenon layout.
- First tenon method: sawing for fit right off the saw.
- Cleaning up sawing defects.
- Trimming and adjusting fit if necessary.
5.4 Blind Mortise And Tenon 3 (04:44)
5.5 Blind Mortise And Tenon 4 (14:46)
- Second mortise method: drilling and paring.
- Second tenon method: sawing fat and paring.
5.6 Mortise Exercise (08:02)
5.7 Tenon Exercise (17:35)
- Sawing to the line practice.
- Paring to the line practice.
5.8 Through Mortise And Tenon (11:30)
- Mortise layout.
- Making the joint with saws and chisel.
- Glue up and trimming flush.
5.9 Bridle Joint (11:12)
- Bridle joint layout.
- Making the joint with saws and chisel.
- Glue up and trimming flush.
Part 6: Dovetails (1:51:09 total)
6.1 Dovetail Fistfights And Fundamentals (07:44)
- Fistfights: pins vs. tails first; sawing vs. chopping waste; angles.
- Joint anatomy.
- Quiet woodworking to avoid disturbing the family or neighbors.
- Strength test of a dry fit dovetail: how much weight can it hold?
6.2 Through Dovetails 1 (18:14)
- First method: tails first, sawing out the waste with a coping saw.
- The Moxon vise.
- Tail layout.
- Making the tail board with backsaws, coping saw, and chisels.
6.3 Through Dovetails 2 (15:52)
- Continuing the tails-first method: pin layout from the tails.
- Making the tail board with backsaws, coping saw, and chisel.
- Glue up and trimming flush.
6.4 Through Dovetails 3 (13:02)
- Second method: pins first, chopping out the waste with a bench chisel.
- Pin layout.
- Making the pin board with backsaws and chisels.
6.5 Through Dovetails 4 (10:10)
- Continuing the pins-first method: tail layout from the pins.
- Making the tail board with backsaws and chisels.
- Glue up and trimming flush.
6.6 Dovetail Sawing Exercise (09:00)
6.7 Half-Blind Dovetails (18:29)
- Making the tail board.
- Pin layout from the tails.
- Making the pin board with backsaws and chisels.
- Glue up and trimming flush.
6.8 Sliding Dovetails (18:38)
- Socket layout.
- Making the joint with backsaw, chisel, and router plane.
- Making a tapered sliding dovetail with the same method.
Part 7: Boring And Curves (0:40:20)
7.1 Boring Holes (12:03)
- Using brace and bit.
- Using eggbeater and push drills.
- Using gimlets and awls.
7.2 Roughing Out Curves (13:35)
- Roughing curves with chisels, straight saws, and gouges.
- Roughing curves with bowsaws and coping saws.
7.3 Refining Curves (14:42)
- Refining curves with wooden and metal spokeshaves.
- Refining curves rasps, scrapers, chisels, and gouges.