This week's Jig of the Week comes from our friend David.  A great little helper, this jig will aide you in making consistantly thicknessed thin ripping cuts with your tablesaw.  Not only will you be able to more accurately and consistantly make the same cuts, but you'll be able to do it safer.  And for the price of a few scraps from your scrap pile, who can beat that?  For the paper rulers mentioned in the show and the PDF go to http://www.vendian.org/mncharity/dir3/paper_rulers/ . 

Also don't forget about the new show featuring myself and Marc Spagnuolo called "Wood Talk Online".  To get questions to us for the new show drop us a line at woodtalkonline@gmail.com

And also last but not least don't forget to submit your idea for Jig of the Week at mattsbasementworkshop@gmail.com  or if you're interested in getting your name in for free schwag too.

The full PDF of the Thin Stock Ripping Jig sent to us by our friend David.

Here it is.  The first video in the hand plane series.  I know it's been awhile but I'm finally getting around to recording.  More are on the way!!!

Don't forget to prepare for the new joint feature with Marc Spagnuolo coming soon!  WOOD TALK ONLINE two guys talking shop.  Afterall two perspectives on a subject are sometimes better one.  If you have any questions or suggestions for Marc and Matt send them to woodtalkonline@gmail.com .

The much longer and much heavier cousins of the bench planes.  Single minded in their jobs they excell at creating a flat and square stock.  Whether truing an edge or flattening a face, the jointer planes are the must go to plane to get the job done.

BIG NEWS!!!! COMING SOON TO A PODCAST NEAR YOU!!!!

MARC SPAGNUOLO & MATT VANDERLIST ARE JOINING FORCES TO CREATE A NEW PODCAST. 

"WOOD TALK ONLINE" two guys talking shop.  This is your opportunity to ask us both a question and get two perspectives on it.  Send your emails for "WOOD TALK ONLINE" to woodtalkonline@gmail.com  This is a show that will appear on both Matt's Basement Workshop and also on The Wood Whisperer, so if you're already subscribed it'll be coming to you directly with no fuss.  So get those emails in soon so you can be one of the first questions to be answered.

A few thoughts about the Jack Plane.....

We've talked about the block plane before, but since we're talking hand planes even more it's time to revisit.  Even if you're an all power tool woodworker, I'm sure the block plane still has some use in your shop.

There's  more to hand planes then just the metal bodied versions we're most familiar with.  Hand planes can be easily classified into three families based on their use.

1)  Bench Planes - the work horses of the hand plane world.  As the name implies these are the ones most used on the bench by craftspeople.

2)  Joinery Planes - specialized planes for specialized joinery such as rabbets, dados, tenons, etc.

3)  Shaping/Moulding Planes - specialized planes for mouldings or decorative trims and edges.

Some suggestions for plane hunting.  A small over the shoulder pack with a reliably flat 12" steel rule, a machinests square, magnifying glass/jewler's loop and a pocket stanley price guide.
Use the 12" rule to check flatness of the sole or another tip for checking soles in an antique store is to carefully place the plane on top of a glass display case.  The plane should not rock. 
The Machinest's square is used to check to see if the sides are square to the sole.  Useful if you plan to use the plane for shooting.
Use the magnifying glass to read manufacture marks or to inspect something in detail.
The pocket price guide can be found at Lee Valley.

Thanks Wayne for the great tips.  Do you have a tip, comment, question or suggestion either email me at mattsbasementworkshop@gmail.com or you can Skype me at Matt's Basement Workshop Podcast or call 231 683-4082.

The cambered blade is essential to the use of the smoothing plane.  Unlike the square to side blades of the jointer or general use plane.  The smoothing plane needs to avoid any trace of the cutting action by the blade.  Cambering is fairly simple during the sharpening process.  It's literally a matter of finger pressure.

A new way to contact me is via Skype.  Skype me at Matt's Basement Workshop Podcast or call me at 231 683-4082.

The picture in the ID3 tag shows a cambered blade and a straight blade can you tell the difference?

Unlike most hand plane blades where a square cutting edge is the ideal shape.  A smoothing plane preferably has a crowned or cambered edge to it.  Why?
Questions, comments or suggestions?  Email me at mattsbasementworkshop@gmail.com or you can call at 231 683 4082

Once we've determined if the blade that came with our "new" hand plane is worth the effort to sharpen we need to move on to the actual sharpening itself.  The first step is to lap the back of the blade.  Just like with lapping the plane sole, lapping the blade is the most tedious and time consuming job you'll encounter.  But luckily if all goes well you'll have to do this only once.  Next comes sharpening the primary bevel and then the microbevel.

A new way for you to ask a question, leave a comment or suggestion is by calling my Skype Number.  If you have Skype reach me at Mattsbasementworkshop, if you don't have Skype call me at (231) 683-4082.

Scraps, scraps and more scraps are always laying around my shop.  I can never seem to let them go, I'm always convinced that they'll come in handy for something.  This quick and easy "L" bracket jig is just what those scraps are meant for.  Click here for the pdf file including pictures   "L" Bracket Jig .

Part of the clean up of the plane includes paying attention to the condition of the blade.  Little nicks and chips are one thing, but deep ones are a whole other problem.

Skype me at mattsbasementworkshop

A hand plane question rolled in the other day from a listener.  Not a question about setting up a blade or plane but rather a question about using one.  Can you successfully use a shorter No.5 for the same job that a longer No.7 is meant for?

 

Back to the hand plane.  If the blade assembly; the blade, the cap iron and the lever cap aren't set up correctly or simply in decent working order the cutting action may not work as it's meant to.  A good contact between the cap iron and the blade are crucial for the ejection of shavings, otherwise they can be wedged and thus begin to clog the throat.  A great resource for finding out all about hand planes is the book called "the hand plane book" by Garret Hack. 

After a long weekend on an overdo project, I started thinking about all the things I was doing wrong.  It seems like at the end of every project I reflect on what went right and all the things that went wrong and try to decide if there was anything I could have changed.  Getting organized is more than cutlists and drawings.

Don't forget to drop by the Woodwhisperer to get your name in for a chance to get free schwag from Powermatic.

This week's jig of the week is a tenon jig I built a long time ago.  It's a real time saver, but it could use a few extras.  I've once again included a file for you to download if you're interested in seeing the jig being built.  Tenon Jig .

Do you have a jig?  Send it to mattsbasementworkshop@gmail.com

Time for perhaps the one part of prepping a hand plane that I hate.  But luckily, this is an one time event...unless you accidentily plane over an exposed screw tip, let's not go there though, OK?  A thoroughly flattened sole is the first step to ensuring that your efforts will be on their way to total success with the hand plane.  Ideally the entire sole would be dead flat but that could be more work then is really necessary.  The most important areas of the sole to be in the same plane with each other are the toe, heel, side edges and all around the mouth of the throat.

So we had our hand plane anatomy lesson yesterday and it's time to put it to use.  Even if the plane you've purchased is well used and has seen better days, a little cleaning of the most crucial parts can help make even an old dog feel like...like...like a not so old dog.

I mentioned we were going to learn about cleaning up our used hand plane.  But how can we clean it up unless we have an idea of which parts are which, so that we know which ones need cleaning?  Not to mention that it helps to understand where each part goes when it's time to reassemble the pieces.

Sharing a few thoughts with you on one of my favorite tools...the hand plane.

The first submission for our Jig of the week.  Marc sent us a detailed description of the jig, including hardware and pictures of it, so if you're interested just click on this link and a PDF file will open.  Taper Jig 

Do you have a great jig idea?  Why not submit it for next week?

When assembling projects, it's easy to overlook a crucial detail while running around to make sure pieces are put together in the correct order and location.  But one detail that can make a huge headache if it's not paid attention to, is an out of square case or door.

A few thoughts on frame and panel doors.  More to come later....