Acknowledgements And References

The new woodworking books are here, the new woodworking books are here! 20 copies fresh from the publisher.

I like to give credit where credit is due. These are the acknowledgements and references for the information in my book, Hand Tool Basics.

I'm a self-taught woodworker. That really means I had many teachers, the many live demonstrators and authors of books, videos, and magazine, online forum, mailing list, and website articles who have provided useful information.

Use the information I provide as a starting point. There's plenty more than what I cover; woodworking is a global activity with centuries of history, creating an infinite variety of techniques. I hope that I'll give you the skills and knowledge to be able to assess and incorporate any new information you find.

In general, the tools and methods I show in the book follow American and English woodworking styles. Continental European and Asian styles share many of the same techniques, but there are some differences in the tools. Where information is available, I strive to show historically accurate methods. In general it's safe to assume everything I show has at least 100 years of history. Some things have 2 or 3 hundred. Dovetails date back to the ancient Egyptians.

We are but the custodians of knowledge, passing it on to the next generation.

Acknowledgements

Below is the list of my teachers, in roughly chronological order. These are my primary references. They offer a range of perspectives that don't always agree with each other but still manage to get the job done, showing that it's worthwhile to look at the variety of techniques available.

If you'd like further information on any of the topics I cover in the book, I highly recommend seeking out their work, or even better, a chance to spend time with them in classes or demos. It's always good to have an opportunity to watch someone closeup and drink in the details. Just one new detail about an otherwise familiar technique can make it worthwhile.

My memberships in the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) and the Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers (GNHW), as well as the Lie-Nielsen Open Houses and Hand Tool Events, have given me a number of opportunities to meet and watch some of them.

Don Weber: Don's cover story in the April, 2004 issue of Popular Woodworking is what set me off down this path. He built a table from a log using nothing but hand tools. I was absolutely enthralled. It took me a few years of fumbling around to gain traction, until I started following…

Christopher Schwarz: As the editor of Popular Woodworking, it was Chris' articles on hand tools that put me on the road to success, in particular his articles on sharpening and planing. His books and videos form the core of my woodworking library. He went on to found Lost Art Press, where he continues to publish excellent books and videos on hand tool woodworking. He changed my woodworking forever, and gave me the knowledge to start appreciating other teachers, like…

Roy Underhill: When I first saw Roy's PBS show The Woodwright's Shop, long before I knew anything about hand tools, I thought this guy was bouncing off the walls like a superball shot from a cannon. But once I started learning, I realized every episode was crammed with a breathtaking amount of pure gold. His books and DVDs are another core component of my library. While I'll never be the showman he is and be able to do a half-hour video in one take, I've taken a number of cues from his show in my instructional format.

Philip C. Lowe: I've been following Phil's articles for as long as I have Chris Schwarz's. He's what I call a museum-class woodworker, because when museums need to restore or reproduce a finely detailed period furniture piece, he's at the top of the list. He ran the furniture-making program at Boston's North Bennet St. School for 5 years before starting his own Furniture Institute of Massachusetts, and is the winner of the SAPFM 2005 Cartouche Award. I got to know him when he gave a series of live demonstrations to SAPFM members on building several magnificent furniture pieces.

Michael Dunbar: Mike ran the Windsor Institute in New Hampshire, where he taught chairmaking. He's published a number of articles in Popular Woodworking. He takes a very no-nonsense attitude, as exemplified by his "Sensible Sharpening" method of sandpaper on flat substrate. His repeated frustration at having students show up to classes with basic tools they didn't know how to sharpen or use was what led me to start teaching. My goal was to provide that basic knowledge so people could get on with the more advanced topics of the specialized classes offered by others.

Charles H. Hayward: One of Chris Schwarz's heroes, Hayward was editor and "one-man publishing phenomenon" of The Woodworker from 1936 to 1966. He wrote a number of practical books that are simply spectacular. Anything you can find by him, don't hesitate, just get it! In fact, Chris has since anthologized several volumes of his writings from The Woodworker.

Robert Wearing: Wearing, another of Schwarz's heroes and an acquaintance of Hayward in Hayward's later years, wrote an excellent book that has been re-released by Lost Art Press. This was the source of the three classes of saw cuts terminology.

Bernard E. Jones: Jones wrote two encyclopedic books in the 1910's-20's which have been reprinted several times, one of which is now available from Popular Woodworking.

Garrett Hack: Garrett is a professional woodworker and author in Vermont. I've always loved his designs. He's a master of unique stylistic details done with hand tools.

Jim Kingshott: Kingshott was a British woodworker who put out several outstanding books and videos in the 1990's. He's like your favorite uncle. But of course, Bob's your uncle!

Adam Cherubini: Adam's "Arts And Mysteries" column in Popular Woodworking was a huge influence on my work. With his emphasis on 18th-century work, he showed me I could do everything by hand starting from the raw lumber, and taught me how to use wooden handplanes.

Patrick Leach: Patrick is one of the Internet's premier antique tool sellers, with everything from $20 user planes to $10,000 collector's items. He's partly responsible for the unusually large number of chisels you see on my tool wall; his house is dangerously close to mine. But he's also the definitive reference for information on antique Stanley tools. His website www.Supertool.com is encyclopedic, covering the entire line from the late 1800's through the first half of the 20th century.

Pete Taran: Like Patrick, Pete is another encyclopedic source of antique tool information, this time on saws at www.VintageSaw.com.

Erik Von Sneidern: And like Pete, Erik is another antique saw specialist, focusing exclusively on Disston saws at his Disstonian Institute, www.DisstonionInstitute.com.

Aldren A. Watson: Watson was a professional woodworker, author, and illustrator in Vermont.

Lie-Nielsen Staff: YouTube videos from founder Thomas Lie-Nielsen and demonstrators like Deneb Pulchalski, along with live demonstrations at their Hand Tool Events, cover a great deal about how to use and maintain their tools. I think this educational component is an important part of the company's success, completing the connection with their customers.

Alan Breed: Al is another museum-class woodworker. He's the guy high-end auction houses call when they want a reproduction of an antique that's on the block for millions of dollars, so the sellers will have something to fill the empty spot. He runs the The Breed School in New Hampshire, and is the winner of the SAPFM 2012 Cartouche Award. For a number of years, he's been incredibly generous sharing his time and knowledge in a series of live demonstrations to the GNHW Period Furniture Group on building period pieces.

Paul Sellers: Paul is a British woodworker who put out an excellent book and DVD series. He used to run New Legacy School of Woodworking in Penrhyn Castle, North Wales, possibly one of the coolest school venues around. He's another very no-nonsense guy, attempting to demystify the craft and bring it to the masses without complicated methods.

Christian Becksvoort: Christian is a professional woodworker and magazine author in Maine who specializes in hand tool work.

Peter Galbert: Peter is a professional chair maker in Massachusetts. He's also an inventor, creating several very useful tools and versions of existing tools. He was the one who showed me how to get the most out of a wooden spokeshave, and watching his YouTube videos resulted in a huge improvement in my turning skills on the lathe.

References

Some of these may be difficult to find because they're out of print. But they may be available used or as reprints.

Books (including a few useful references from authors not listed above)

Bickford, Matthew Sheldon

Mouldings In Practice, 2012

Blackburn, Graham

Jigs & Fixtures For The Hand Tool Woodworker, 2014

Fine Woodworking

Working With Handplanes, 2005

Hampton, C.W., and Clifford, E.

Planecraft: Hand Planing By Modern Methods, 1934

Hayward, Charles H.

Cabinet Making For Beginners, 1948 (several editions)

The Junior Woodworker, 1952 (don't let the title fool you, it's for any beginner!)

Woodwork Joints, Revised Edition, 1979

Hoadley, R. Bruce

Understanding Wood, 2000

Hock, Ron

The Perfect Edge: The Ultimate Guide To Sharpening For Woodworkers, 2009

Jones, Bernard E.

The Complete Woodworker, 1920?

The Practical Woodworker, 1920? (reissued as a 4-volume set)

Kingshott, Jim

The Workshop, 1993

Sharpening: The Complete Guide, 1994

A Woodworker's Guide To Joints, 1998

Krenov, James

The Fine Art Of Cabinetmaking, 1977

Laughton, Ralph

Success With Joints, 2005

Popular Woodworking

Hand Tool essentials, 2007

Rae, Andy

Choosing & Using Hand Tools, 2002

Schwarz, Christopher

Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use, 2007

The Joiner And Cabinet Maker, 2009 (with Joel Moskowitz, update of 1839 anonymous original)

Handplane Essentials, 2009

Sellers, Paul

Working Wood, 2011 (also available as a set with 7 DVD's listed below)

Underhill, Roy

The Woodwright's Shop: A Practical Guide to Traditional Woodcraft, 1981

The Woodwright's Companion: Exploring Traditional Woodcraft, 1983

The Woodwright's Work Book: Further Explorations in Traditional Woodcraft, 1986

The Woodwright's Eclectic Workshop, 1991

The Woodwright's Apprentice: 20 Favorite Projects From The Woodwright's Shop, 1996

The Woodwright's Guide: Working Wood with Wedge & Edge, 2008

Watson, Aldren A.

Hand Tools: Their Ways And Workings, 1982

Wearing, Robert

The Essential Woodworker, 2010

Whelan, John M.

The Wooden Plane: Its History, Form, And Function, 1993

Videos

Kingshott, Jim

Bench Planes, 1996

Special Planes, 1996

Mortise & Tenon, 1996

Dovetails, 1996

Schwarz, Christopher

Coarse Medium & Fine, 2005

Building Furniture With Hand Planes, 2007

Handplane Basics: A Better Way To Use Bench Planes, 2009

Sellers, Paul (available as a set with his book above)

Working Wood: Woodworking Essentials 1 and 2, 2011

Working Wood: Master Sharpening, 2011

Working Wood: Master European Workbenches, 2011

Working Wood: Master Housing Dadoes, 2011

Working Wood: Master Mortise & Tenons, 2011

Working Wood: Master Dovetails, 2011

Underhill, Roy

The Woodwright's Shop, Seasons 1-31 (and counting, starting in 1980)

Online Forums

These are an excellent way to join with like-minded people to learn and discuss hand tools, their use, and how to deal with problems. In fact, as my skills developed, it was seeing the questions posted on these from beginners struggling through the same learning curve I had climbed that motivated me to put together a video course and book.

Some forums are extremely active. Participation is global, with people coming from all different cultural backgrounds.

I found these to be a great asset in my learning. Just be prepared for a wide range of information, often conflicting! You'll have to learn to sort through it. That's where I came up with the concept for my "Fistfights And Fundamentals" segments.

These are moderated forums to ensure that everyone stays on their good behavior, but discussions can get heated and feelings can get hurt. Read their policies and spend some time lurking (Internet-speak for reading without responding) before you join in. Don't take things personally, and don't make things personal. Be polite. Remember that different people have different experience, training, and opinions.

There are others besides these, in English and many other languages, as well as Facebook groups such as Unplugged Woodworkers.

www.SawmillCreek.com (US) - Neanderthal Haven forum.

www.WoodNet.com (US) - Woodworking Hand Tools forum.

www.LumberJocks.com (US) - Hand Tools forum.

www.UKWorkshop.co.uk (UK) - Hand Tools forum.

www.WoodworkUK.co.uk (UK) - Hand Tools forum.

www.WoodworkForums.com (Australia) - Hand Tools - Unpowered forum.

Thank You To The MBTA!

Finally, I'd like to thank the MBTA. Other than the shop work and photography, I did nearly all the work for this book and the original video series while riding the Commuter Rail. Yes, I wrote a book on the train! I did all the video editing, photo selection, and writing on my Mac laptop an hour each way to and from work in Boston.

Thank you to all the folks who took care of my commute and gave me a safe, warm place where I could focus on woodworking!

Workshop Reorganization, part 4

(Go back to part 3)

The main work area: Roubo workbench, with all tools just a few steps to the right. So far I've found this layout very convenient. Schwarz sawbench tucked under the bench overhang.

Wow, when I said workshop reorganization was a popular topic, I didn't realize just how popular! I posted a couple pictures of the tool wall to several forums, and within 5 days had visits from 49 states (Hawaii didn't visit until today) and 46 countries.

There were 1653 visits total, with 2167 views of the workshop reorganization pages. People also stayed to look at other pages: there were 6193 total page views during this period; I crossed the 10,000 mark in 5 more days. So, yeah, it's a popular topic!

I've spent the time since then getting the rest of my shop in order. Now the photos can pull back to show it all (notice how tightly-framed the other photos were!). It was cluttered and disorganized. Now it's clean and tidy, a comfortable place to work, with everything accessible.

I also took the last Big Step. I moved my Shopsmith out of the shop, since I haven't used it for the past two years. There are a still a few power tools accessible: the small Shopsmith bandsaw on a power stand, a mini-lathe, a benchtop planer, and a couple of drills. But except for the lathe, these are now backup tools, for those times when I just have too much lumber to work by hand.

All the other power tools and accessories are in the other part of the basement or buried in the workshop cabinets. I no longer care about accessibility for them, I just want them out of the way, making room for hand tools.

As I was consolidating and rearranging things, that was my guiding principle: if it's not contributing to my hand tool work, move it into the background. Or just get rid of it.

As a result, I actually have a bit of open shelf space. Granted, I boxed a few things up and piled them high to clear space, but that allowed to have all my planes of all different types out and accessible.

My lumber supply was a big problem. I have a lumber rack, but it was overloaded. The scraps were spilling all over. So I gathered up 3 burn barrels worth that we'll use in the outdoor fireplace this summer. I hate to waste scraps, so this will at least get some thermal value out of them. There are still plenty of usable scraps for project bits, but now they're under control.

I stood some of the lumber up against the basement stairwell, resting the ends of the longer pieces against the joists overhead. I've had some of this stuff for over 25 years. Some of it I bought last year from a guy who was selling his home; he was as bad as I was, he'd had it for 30 years! Between the two storage areas, the lumber's now reasonably accessible, and I can pick pieces out without it all coming down on my head. I need to focus on some projects to use this stuff up.

It was a big job, but I just took it an hour or two at a time. That was valuable shop time, but the results are well worth it. My shop is only 16'x24', but clean and organized, that's quite roomy for hand tool work. As with any basement shop, it still retains a bit of the dungeon feel, with bare concrete and exposed joists, wiring, ducts, and pipes overhead, but it's a much more pleasant dungeon. And not tripping all over crap scattered about? Priceless!

View entering the workshop. Additional sawbench and sawhorses to the right. At some point I'll replace those plastic drawer units with some wooden cabinets.

My old workbench, made of 2x4's, plywood, and MDF. Now it makes a good glue and assembly bench. The lumber rack is on the far wall.

Cabinets and rolling clamp rack. The rolling cart is next to the assembly bench. I removed the chisel racks from it and cut off all the Shaker pegs. It's no longer storage, instead it's back to it's original role as a temporary place to hold tools and workpieces as I work, keeping the bench surface as clear as possible.

View from behind the assembly bench.

These shelves hold all my extra wooden and transitional placnes, as well as books and magazines. Miracle of miracles, there's still a bit of unused space!

The workshop helpers: old and new Schwarz sawbenches on the ends, Krenov and Underhill sawhorses in the middle, and Langsner shave horse in the back.

The lumber rack and scrap storage. That's over a year's worth of kitty litter buckets (see, I hate to throw usable stuff out: reuse and recycle!). I should alphabetize that lumber...

The overflow lumber storage at the basement stairway.

A number of comments in the forums jokingly suggested that my shop was too neat to be allowed, but I can say unequivocally that no work space of mine has ever been this nice. I have the tools, I have the shop, now I have no more excuses, time to get busy making stuff! Well, all I need is time.

Here's a quick little video tour of the shop. It doesn't really show any more than the photos, but it might give you a better idea of how it all lays out. The proof that this is indeed just a small shop is in the fact that I couldn't get back far enough from any vantage point to take much in; the camera lens just isn't wide enough.

Portable Toolboxes

The next project to prepare for the class I'm teaching is to build some simple toolboxes. It wouldn't be cool to show up for class with all my prized antique tools rolling around in plastic bins. No style. I was happy with the way the horse care tote turned out, so I'll use that basic design and add a lid. Nothing fancy, just very utilitarian.

Rather than a single gut-busting chest with multiple tills (as Tom Fidgen calls it, the widow-maker!), I'll build three single-level boxes from dimensioned poplar. I had seen one of the vendors at Brimfield use something like that, and it looked very practical. The modular setup allows me to add more boxes as necessary (I can already see that I probably need 4 or 5 total for the class, given multiple sets of metal, wooden, and transitional planes, plus molding planes). Amusingly, Tom seems to agree, I notice on his blog he recently built some almost identical to what I'm doing!

This all may seem like a lot of work and expense to prepare for one class, but these are all the projects I need to go portable. Then I can do craft fairs and such, and hopefully there will be more classes. I'd also like to take some classes myself from Don Weber, Mike Dunbar, Drew Langsner, and Roy Underhill, in which case I'll have these to transport my tools. So I'll be able to enjoy the benefits of all this effort for years.

One other point about portable setups. On a nice day, you can take everything outside and work under the spreading maple tree in the back yard. There is no more glorious workshop.

How big does it need to be? Long enough for this 4 1/2 ppi ripsaw, my longest.

As usual, it starts with rough crosscutting to break the stock down. You know, that's not very good support for the cutoff...

...so I came up with this slight adaptation to Krenov's trestle sawhorse, a simple cross piece. Just slide the trestle under the board like this, and it's fully supported when the cut completes. It's just a simple lap joint, 3/4" notch in the main tresle to avoid compromising it's strength, the rest in the crosspiece. It's not glued in, and the joint is loose enough for quick removal. Simpler than making another trestle to use as a second support.

Cutting to final length.

Shooting the end for precision square length.

Scribing for the dovetail baseline.

Setting a bevel gauge to 6:1 dovetail slope, permanently marked on my bench hook.

Marking a short end piece for pins first.

Sawing the pins.

Rough-cutting out the waste. I've decided I prefer this method to chiseling everything out.

Chiseling out the remainder to the baseline. This is very easy since it's just a thin amount.

Marking the tails from the pins. The problem here is that this is a 33" board, resting on the precision-shot end. It stands up fine by itself, but it's too easy to bump aside, fouling up the marking. Next time I'll do tails first.

Chiseling the tail waste down to the base line.

Grooving a side piece for the bottom with a screw-arm plow plane. This is a stopped groove. The end pieces are fully grooved.

Finishing up the stopped ends of the groove with a chisel.

Next is the bottom of the box, glued up from two narrow boards. The edge needed to be rabbeted all around to fit in the grooves.

The glued-up bottom piece just barely fits on my shooting board. I normally use a large bench plane for this for its mass, but it's too long here. I found that a block plane cups right into the palm of the hand here for a good cut.

It fits in the hand to direct the planing force perfectly.

I wanted to use my antique moving fillister plane to do the rabbeting, but the rusty old iron needed sharpening. David Weaver over on Sawmill Creek had shown a method of using a simple backing stick jig for polishing the backs of plane irons. I remembered seeing a simpler version of this in Toshio Odate's book Japanese Woodworking Tools, so I tried it, and it worked great.

Rough grinding the back of the iron with 80-grit on a double-sided MDF sandpaper block. Heavy pressure on the sandpaper.

The result after 120 grit.

After medium and fine India stones, hard Arkansas. Lighter pressure on the stones to avoid damaging them.

Finishing up on 8000 grit waterstone.

5 minutes of work to a near-mirror polished back. Then I took the bevel through paper, oilstones, and green rouge on a solid cherry strop, 5 more minutes to get to shaving hair off my right arm (my left arm is already bald from working on chisels a few days ago).

That ugly bit of rust in the middle is the cross-grain nicker removed from it's dovetail.

After the same cleanup as the iron. It's good to have clean nickers.

Using the moving fillister plane to make a fillister (cross-grain rabbet) on the bottom piece.

Oops, I didn't have the nicker in cutting position, so I was building up an advancing shoulder with each pass. Using the shoulder plane to clean it up. With the nicker down and some beeswax on all the bearing surfaces, it went much better.

Rabbeting the length of the bottom, with the grain. These ribbons are pure joy to make!

A clean corner.

Using the groove in one of the end pieces as a mullet to check the remaining thickness for fit.

Test fitting the bottom in the grooves.

Moment of truth: full test assembly. It goes together well, and wonder of wonder, all rests flat! That's not guaranteed, you know. The movement clearances around the edges are perhaps too generous, so I could have reduced the width of the rabbets.

All glued up and no place to go. The spray bottle and paper towels are for wiping off glue drips.

Next will be making the top. I want to make a simple raised panel in a grooved, dovetailed 2"-deep lid.

Happy 20th to my son! For his birthday present, I'm not showing him how to do all this (after his Eagle Scout project, he vowed never to pick up a tool again)!

(Continue to part 2)

Recommended Books