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!

Shaker Step Stool Class At The Halfway Mark

Anita jointing an edge with a #6. Note the satisfying pile of shavings covering her workbench!

The class has been going well. Everybody's been making great progress. Yesterday was the 5th session, where several students completed their first assembly steps, the edge-glued joints for the sides. The remaining students are close behind.

This joint of course requires carefully planed edges, so the weeks following the first class have included how to handle planes in their different functions of roughing, flattening, and smoothing, the FEWTEL sequence for dimensioning parts (Face, Edge, Width, Thickness, End, Length), and practice on sacrificial stock.

I also covered sharpening of chisels, plane irons, and handsaws. Becky had brought in her father's old Handyman jack plane, so I showed them how to camber the iron on the shop's power grinder, then hone the curved edge by hand.


Becky roughing a face with a #5. More shavings!


Matt flattening a face with a #6.


Paul roughing a face with a #5.


Cheryl taking down a freshly ripped edge with a wooden scrub plane.

These last two weeks have been focused on the project, producing the dimensioned parts. With the stepped sides glued up to width, next we'll start on the joinery. The step is dovetailed to the sides, while the top is attached with mortise and tenon. As before, we'll do some practice on sacrificial pieces before committing to the project parts.


Cheryl cutting a piece to final length with a backsaw on the bench hook...


...then shooting the end square and precise with a #6 on the shooting board.


Paul flattening one of his short side pieces.


Becky ripping a long side piece to rough width.


Anita shooting an end.


Matt shooting.

The benches in the shop are really setup for power tools, not hand tools, so other than a front vise they don't offer many work-holding options, no dog holes or planing stops. A very effective method Paul Sellers had shown me is to hold an aluminum bar clamp stuffed with wood in the face vise, and clamp the workpiece in that lengthwise, another form of poor-man's tail vise. The students did most of their planing this way.


The bar clamp is stuffed with wood so it doesn't get crushed in the vise. This holds effectively for rough planing across the grain or finer planing with the grain; most of the workpiece is supported by the workbench.

However, because the wooden jaw liners in their vises are a foot long, this method doesn't work for shorter pieces. So I made a simple planing board, basically a large bench hook (18"x18") with a 3/8" thick stop strip on the left edge in addition to the one on the back edge. That allows planing small parts in either orientation, to the back or to the side stop. The front edge hook is glued and screwed from the bottom.


With the front hook clamped in the vise, a piece in the planing board. The spacer between the workpiece and the rear stop moves the work up closer to the front. Or you could just make a shallower planing board.


The piece oriented for planing front to back. Or sideways across the grain. Or diagonally into the corner.

This can also be used on a normal table top without a vise, so can turn any surface into an improvised workbench, clamped down at the rear right corner to keep it in place.

Building A Paul Sellers Workbench

How many workbenches do I need? I have my large Schwarz/Roubo workbench in the basement, my Roy Underhill portable workbench that I take to offsite classes and demos (and I have a second partially built to accommodate more people), and now I need four for the Close Grain School of Woodworking. Seven is the lucky number.

I like the workbench in Paul Sellers' book and DVD series Working Wood, so when I started the school, that was the design I chose. The combination of book and DVD provide an excellent guide to building it. He also addresses the issue of how to build a bench when you don't have a bench to work on. You can read my review of this series here.

This bench has a number of nice attributes. Built from construction-grade 2x4's and 2x6's, it's inexpensive (about $65 in materials, excluding the vise), so is affordable in multiples. It's a nice size, beefy without being too heavy. I can fit two of them in my van, possibly even all four, since I shortened them by a foot. It's also very sturdy, a combination of the laminated 2-by stock and the interlocking joinery. At that, it's simple to build.

It's also a time-tested design. Paul says it's been used in Britain for centuries, and he uses it in both his UK and US schools. The structure consists of two mortise and tenon leg frames, with aprons housed on them. This mechanical interlock provides excellent rigidity. The thick laminated top is secured to the apron, with a simple tool well behind it. With the addition of a traditional cast iron quick-release vise that itself weighs 40 lbs., it provides a solid work surface for students.

The design can also be adapted easily. As I mentioned, I shortened mine to 4', making it easy to build with 8' stock. That's the size of my portable workbench top, and I've found that to be adequate. Paul builds his at 38" high, which I found a bit too tall (but of course it depends on the individual). I made mine 36" and 34". The depth can be increased by additional laminations, and the size of the aprons can be changed. I also  omitted the quarter-round molding in the tool well. Other than that, I followed the design exactly. I did notice after building two that I had oriented the leg laminations rotated 90 degrees from his, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Here I've documented building bench #2. I kept a good record of the time required. Excluding waiting for glue-ups, it was 28 hours of labor spread over 2 weeks. As with my Roubo, I did everything with hand tools, except that I used a benchtop planer to plane down the 2x4 edges to eliminate the rounded corners. Building these is good for practicing Paul's joinery techniques.

For the vise, I used the Anant version of the Record 52 1/2 ED quick-release vise, sold by Highland Hardware. Watching Paul work in the DVDs convinced me to spend the extra money for quick-release. He just goes zip-zip-zip moving workpieces in and out of it very efficiently. I have non-quick-release vises on my first workbench (oh, yeah, I forgot to count that one, 2x4's, plywood, and MDF, but it no longer counts), and they're slow and annoying to work with.

After planing, I worked on the top. I staged the glue-ups for the top and legs so that whenever I had anything in the clamps, I had other parts to work on. One thing I didn't do, that I did on the first one, was to run all the 2x4 faces through the planer. This resulted in poorer laminations than the first one. That was a pretty dumb mistake. Functionally, all the laminations are sturdy, but aesthetically they're not as good.


The top glued up.


I ran the planer on bench #1.


Flattening the top, starting with a #5 diagonally across it for heavy stock removal.


Final flattening with a #7, sighting across winding sticks to check for wind.

With the top flattened on both sides, I worked on the leg assemblies. First I planed them up clean and square.


Trimming a leg to length. The way to get a clean, square cut is to cut about 1/4" deep, then roll the piece, repeating for all four sides. Each little bit of kerf already established helps guide the next. Keep repeating until all the way through. Note the auxiliary bench hook on the right to support the far end of the piece.


The four legs trimmed and marked so I wouldn't get things mixed up as I fitted each joint.


Mortising a leg, using Paul Sellers' mortising technique.


Cutting the haunch in the top mortise. The haunch provides the twist-resistance of a full-width joint, even though the tenon will be only partial-width, due to the location at the top end of the leg. The actual tenon needs to be cut to fit this haunch.


Cutting the shoulder in the tenon on a rail.


Cutting the cheek of the tenon.


The tenons on the lower rails protrude 1/2" in the Art and Crafts fashion. Paul shows several possible end treatments. I chose to round them with a plane, then round off the corners with chisel and rasp.


Assembling the leg frame. The spacer blocks accommodate the protruding lower tenons.


The frame glued up.


Trimming the upper tenon end flush with a block plane.

The leg frames are attached to the top and well-board with bearer boards. I haven't used this method before. The bearers are predrilled with two sets of holes, then screwed to the top rail of the leg frames through the first set of holes. They'll be screwed to the top from the underside through the second set of holes.


For the screws that will secure the top, predrilling the holes  at an angle.


Countersinking the holes on both sides.


Drilling the pilot holes in the top rail of the frame.


Glue-and-screw the bearer to the top rail.

With the leg assemblies complete, the next step is to cut the housings in the aprons, which I had already hand-jointed and edge-glued from 2x6's.

(Continue to part 2)

"Dad, I want to build a box."

"And I want to use dovetails." Brings a tear to my eye! What more proud moment for a father?

My daughter Shelby, a senior in high school, wanted to build a box to collect submissions for the school literary magazine. She had wanted to build the school box from The Joiner and Cabinetmaker over a year ago, but I kept putting her off, busy with other projects. In this way our children's lives flash by under our noses. Cue the Harry Chapin.

At least last year I was able to help out with her boat-building project at school. My son, in contrast, after finishing his Boy Scout Eagle project building picnic tables for the town park, swore he would never pick up a tool again. I think having to supervise a half-dozen other teenaged Scouts put him over the edge.

This time I was determined to get it done. In the workshop, I pulled out some pine 1x8 and we discussed how to cut around the knots and defects. She picked one bit of interesting knotty grain that she said looked like a galaxy for the front.

The design is a cross between the school box and a mailbox, the grain running across to dovetailed sides, with a sloped top. We needed to glue up wider panels to be tall enough to hold 8 1/2x11 paper dropped in through a slot in the top.

This was the first time Shelby had really used any of these tools, so for each operation I showed her how and then let her do it. Some of the handles were a little big for her hand, but she did very well handling them.


Crosscutting the pieces from the board.


Cleaning up the edge with a Lie-Nielsen #4. That's easier to handle than a full-size jointer.


Glue-up to make wider panels.

We watched TV for a couple hours while the glue dried (our favorite father-daughter shows are Criminal Minds, The Walking Dead, and Justified, good wholesome bloody fare; she says Timothy Oliphant is hot). Then she scraped the glue lines and dimensioned the panels.


Shooting the front panel end grain with a Lie-Nielsen #7.


Planing the end grain of the two side pieces ganged together with a Veritas small bevel-up smoother.


Cutting the sloping top of the side after knifing a line and chiseling a trough to guide the saw.


Ripping the front panel to match the height of the side.


Jointing the ripped edge with a Stanley #6.

Next I had Shelby do some dovetailing practice. First is sawing practice on a piece of scrap. She's never handled a joinery saw before, so this teaches her how to control it.

I'll be showing her Paul Sellers' method for dovetailing. But first I took some of his advice and modified my dovetail saw, filing the first inch of teeth back to remove the rake, turning them into little equilateral triangles. This means they form a trailing edge to the end grain, so the cut starts much more easily.


Making a set of repeated cuts to develop the required control.

Then I started a pair of tails in some narrow scrap for her to complete and transfer to the pin board. I didn't bother measuring anything, I just wanted her to see the different steps involved.


Sawing out the waste between the tails.


Chopping down to the baseline...


...and chiseling out the final bit of waste.

She made the pin board and we put the joint together, examining how it fit. Now it was time for the real thing. I showed her how to lay them out, keeping it down to three tails to keep the number of mating surfaces down, since each one is a place where things can go wrong.

Like anyone doing their first dovetail joint on a real piece, she worked slowly and carefully. This takes an enormous amount of concentration. The guys you see online banging these out in a couple minutes? They've done a few before to get to that point.


The pressure's on! Sawing the tails.


Sawing out the waste.


Chopping down...


...and chiseling out. She did this from both sides, meeting in the middle.


After chiseling troughs all around, making a Robert Wearing/Chris Schwarz first-class cut to remove the end pin waste.


Final paring using Phil Lowe's chisel corner method to clean out the end pin space with fine precision and control.


The resulting tail board, which will be the front of the box.

I told Shelby she had some nice looking tails there. She said that was inappropriate.

Next, we'll finish off the tails on the other side of the front, then do the pins on the sides. This is quality time beyond compare.