I’m enjoying your podcast but please don’t make us listen to the music you’re listening to while you’re working. It detracts from your narration, it detracts from the work. Turn it off or wear a headset. You aren’t even showing your head in the scenes (Ep 80, for instance), so put some plugs in, for pete’s sake!
Otherwise, I’m loving the podcast. Getting your experience for free is a wonderful thing. I just don’t want your taste in music, too.
Most woodworkers, especially hand tool nuts are artists. By that I mean we have creative energy and a love for what we do that the avarage person doesn’t have or understand. To them it’s “just a job”. Krenov, Maloof, and Nahashimi had it and understood it. The “it” is the gift of creativity with passion. Music inspires me like no other single thing. In my shop I have an awesome sound system complete with a subwoofer (bass!). Whether it is Nora Jones softly or the Eagles cranked up it takes me to a place few other things can ! Rock on artists and woodworkers !!!
Shannon…I’ve finally caught up with all 100+ of your posts to I-Tunes. I’ve recently discovered your site along with several others and am impressed with the material you are able to cover and make available on line. I have noticed something on not only your site but also Matt’s and others, that you set your planes down on the bench blade down. I was taught that you lay the plane on its side not only to prevent damaging your edge, but also to avoid gouging your bench top. Being an avid hand tool learner, I wondered if you had heard of this work practice and/or if you had any comments. Thanks, Ralph PS. I liked the Floyd you had on the other day…
Ralph, in my opinion this is one of those old woodworking dogmas that is more myth than reality. The blade is meant to cut wood, so why would setting it down on the bench hurt the blade? If you gouge your bench top you must be setting the plane down in motion and, who cares, its a workbench top right. I have heard the opposite with metal planes that setting then on their side can mess with the lateral adjustment of the blade and they should always be set blade down. With the plane on it’s side the blade is exposed to softers things like fingers as you reach across to dig a tool out from a pile of shavings. I know many people who quote this as a golden rule and I personal don’t put any stock in it. To each his own I suppose.
He is very much of the lay the plane on its side .
He has a very valid point for the carpenter who works on sites that are not his.
He said if you get into the habit of laying the tool on it,s side you will always be ‘safe’ .
By this he meant if you were working somewhere and the floor was concrete or something and you laid your plane down on the floor if you were in the habit of always putting it side down you would not damage your blade on the concrete.
He said he always did this just so he never damaged his tool accidentally.
He agrees with you Shannon that the blade is more than strong enough if it is laid gently on a wooden bench and it should never damage your bench as you actually need to force the blade intomormalong the bench tom’rough it up’.
Hello Shannon
I spent some time on your site this evening for the first time and enjoyed your podcast about the LN and Wood River comparison.
A couple of thots about what I’d like to see:
1. In your podcast give a date you are recording so us listeners have some reference as to WHEN it was done. Specific to the Wood River review, a date would help determine which generation of WR plane you’re reviewing.
2. For us “techo-geeks” how about posting a page telling us about;
-what camera you’re using to record your podcasts.
-what microphone you like
-any software you like for producing your podcast
-what hand tools have you found that are unique and you can’t do without
- etc. you get the idea.
Thanks Shannon for a great site. I’ll definitely be back to visit again.
All the best from Victoria, BC, Canada where the trees grow tall.
Welcome to the party Saddlestrum! Thanks for the ponters, I had turned off the dates as an experiment a while back in marketing and needed some reminding to turn them back on. You should see post dates next to everything now. I don’t think I have ever posted anything about my podcasting set up but I know I have talked about it on Wood Talk Online. I probably has never posted about it as it is really nothing special. I started just using my Kodak 5 Mp digital camera set in video mode. No external audio, just years of vocal training. I did my audio editing in Audacity and video editing in AVS video editor.
About a year in, I invested in the show and bought a Canon Vixia HFS100 HD camera and augmented it with the stock Canon shotgun mic. Around the same time, I bought a new Mac desktop and began using iMovie and Garageband for all my editing needs. Lately I have begun learning to use Final Cut Pro for video editing and thanks to the generosity of a listener I now have a wireless lapel mic to better capture the audio without so much echo. There are also quite a few clips taken in the field and these were all done with my iPhone 3GS. And that is really all there is to it.
As far as what hand tool I can’t do without, I haven’t found one yet that I can live without. The truth is the unique tools are usually not the ones that you reach for all the time. If I were to answer this question today then I cannot do without my 8 ppi Disstion D23 crosscut hand saw. It gets more use than any other tool in the shop. It is my version of a table saw.
Hi, i am new to hand tools and am just begining my tool collection. Do you have any recomondations for what wood types to use on different tasks? Thanks
Steve, most hand tool friendly woods are US domestics but Cherry, Walnut, and Poplar are my favorites. I wouldn’t say one was better than the other for specific tasks. Really you are looking for a species that has a hardness under 1500 (under 1000 is even better) with a medium density and a predictable grain pattern. Some softwoods work well too, but you need even sharper tools to handle this soft stuff.
Where would I find a 8ppi Disstion D23 crosscut saw? Does LN sell a comparable cross cut saw. How many inches would you recommnend? 24″/ 26″? I an in need of a quality crosscut saw.. I own a few smaller saws for crosscutting small project pieces. I’m looking for a quality crosscut saw for cutting 6″-8″ wide boards to rough dimensions.
I discovered your webpage quite by accident a few weeks ago while doing a google search for Windriver planes..What a find! It’s amazing how much information is out there online. Love your podcast on the LN/WR showdown. I guess I’m more of a hybrid woodworker. (amateur) but I am now just learning how to use planes, chisels, saws ect. I love it.. It’s quiet and I don’t have to worry about choking on dust particles. Nothing like the feel and sound of a sharp handplane sweeping across a piece of hardwood. The shaving a plane creates are a thing of beauty! Sweet! However, I am not ready to give up my power jointer and planer just yet.
Thanks for dropping by the site and leaving a comment. Finding hand saws these days can be tough as they have gotten more popular and sites like eBay have been overrun with junk and overpricing. The D23 is an excellent saw but the key to a vintage Disston is finding one that was made prior to WWII as the steel changed after the war and significantly dropped off in quality. Lie Nielsen only makes panel saws now (22″ and under) but they are going to making full size hand saws soon. Thomas told me when I was up in ME last time and interviewed him for Popular Woodworking. No ETA on that though.
Mark Harrell and Bad Axe Toolworks will be making hand saws too and he will probably hit the market before Lie Nielsen. His saws will be more expensive but worth every penny. He is the best saw maker on the market now. On the flip side, he will sell restored vintage saws that are outstanding. I have a few.
You can still find vintage saw at garage sales and on ebay but you will need to put some work into them. Learning to sharpen your own saws is a good idea but it is tough to tell someone that when they haven’t had much time to saw by hand so far. Matt Cianci at The Saw Blog is offering sharpening services as it Bob Rozaieski at The Logan Cabinet Shopped. Just google either of those guys and you will find what you need.
As far as length, this depends on you. Measure the distance from your armpit to your wrist and that is the approximate saw length that is perfect for you. For most of us 26″ is about right. For a saw to break down 4/4 hardwood stock, an 8 ppi crosscut is your best bet. Should you work with thicker stock then 6-7 ppi would be better but I would only go that route after you have an 8ppi saw.
Hi:
Somewhere you did a Blog about Holdfasts. ( I think it was in 2009) You talked about one from Granercy Tools. I agree that it is good at holding wood. You also talked about a Holdfast you ordered form someone in Alaska. This one you said you even liked better than the other.
Someone in Colonial Williamsburg Va. makes Haldfasts. I don’t know his name, but Chris Schwarzs wrote a Blog about buying another Holdfast while he was in Williamsburg at the Woodworking Weekend that is held in January. The reason I wrote you about this was to give you another location to do more research. From what Chris wrote, he liked it very much. I think the cost was $50.
Have you been able to totally convert your Shop to Hand tools?
Have a very nice Thanksgiving
Monte
Monte, the post your are talking about is called A Battle of Holdfasts. I got to play with some holdfasts in the Joiners shop in Williamsburg last time I was down there and those are very nice too. The holdfast Chris mentioned was from Ed Lebetkin who runs the shop above Roy Underhill’s school.
Mike there is no rhyme or reason to when I’m live. It has been rare lately because I don’t have a laptop anymore so the only time my webcam can plug into anything is when I pull my iMac down into the shop which is usually only when I’m doing Hand Tool School live sessions. However those are open to the public now so drop by the Hand Tool School site for dates and times.
That’s not as easy to answer as you might think. Using the rule of thirds you can get a 1/4″ mortise and two 1/4″ shoulders from a 3/4″ board. If however you size your 4/4 material down only to 7/8″ then a 3/8″ chisel would be a better option. 3/8 will also work in 3/4″ thick stock since you only reduce the shoulders to 3/16 and the thicker tenon is a bit stronger. The problem comes in when you drop below 3/4 on the board thickness. If you don’t think this will happen very much (and I rarely mortise something that thin) then 3/8 might be the best overall size. I have a 1/4 and 3/8 and it is all I have ever needed.
I’m enjoying your podcast but please don’t make us listen to the music you’re listening to while you’re working. It detracts from your narration, it detracts from the work. Turn it off or wear a headset. You aren’t even showing your head in the scenes (Ep 80, for instance), so put some plugs in, for pete’s sake!
Otherwise, I’m loving the podcast. Getting your experience for free is a wonderful thing. I just don’t want your taste in music, too.
You know I have a very wide and diverse taste, maybe I just haven’t played the right tune yet.
You play what you want to big boy.
We are getting it for free so “suck it up princess”.
Most woodworkers, especially hand tool nuts are artists. By that I mean we have creative energy and a love for what we do that the avarage person doesn’t have or understand. To them it’s “just a job”. Krenov, Maloof, and Nahashimi had it and understood it. The “it” is the gift of creativity with passion. Music inspires me like no other single thing. In my shop I have an awesome sound system complete with a subwoofer (bass!). Whether it is Nora Jones softly or the Eagles cranked up it takes me to a place few other things can ! Rock on artists and woodworkers !!!
Shannon…I’ve finally caught up with all 100+ of your posts to I-Tunes. I’ve recently discovered your site along with several others and am impressed with the material you are able to cover and make available on line. I have noticed something on not only your site but also Matt’s and others, that you set your planes down on the bench blade down. I was taught that you lay the plane on its side not only to prevent damaging your edge, but also to avoid gouging your bench top. Being an avid hand tool learner, I wondered if you had heard of this work practice and/or if you had any comments. Thanks, Ralph PS. I liked the Floyd you had on the other day…
Ralph, in my opinion this is one of those old woodworking dogmas that is more myth than reality. The blade is meant to cut wood, so why would setting it down on the bench hurt the blade? If you gouge your bench top you must be setting the plane down in motion and, who cares, its a workbench top right. I have heard the opposite with metal planes that setting then on their side can mess with the lateral adjustment of the blade and they should always be set blade down. With the plane on it’s side the blade is exposed to softers things like fingers as you reach across to dig a tool out from a pile of shavings. I know many people who quote this as a golden rule and I personal don’t put any stock in it. To each his own I suppose.
One of my friends is an old ex-carpenter.
He is very much of the lay the plane on its side .
He has a very valid point for the carpenter who works on sites that are not his.
He said if you get into the habit of laying the tool on it,s side you will always be ‘safe’ .
By this he meant if you were working somewhere and the floor was concrete or something and you laid your plane down on the floor if you were in the habit of always putting it side down you would not damage your blade on the concrete.
He said he always did this just so he never damaged his tool accidentally.
He agrees with you Shannon that the blade is more than strong enough if it is laid gently on a wooden bench and it should never damage your bench as you actually need to force the blade intomormalong the bench tom’rough it up’.
Cheers,
Dave.
Hello Shannon
I spent some time on your site this evening for the first time and enjoyed your podcast about the LN and Wood River comparison.
A couple of thots about what I’d like to see:
1. In your podcast give a date you are recording so us listeners have some reference as to WHEN it was done. Specific to the Wood River review, a date would help determine which generation of WR plane you’re reviewing.
2. For us “techo-geeks” how about posting a page telling us about;
-what camera you’re using to record your podcasts.
-what microphone you like
-any software you like for producing your podcast
-what hand tools have you found that are unique and you can’t do without
- etc. you get the idea.
Thanks Shannon for a great site. I’ll definitely be back to visit again.
All the best from Victoria, BC, Canada where the trees grow tall.
Welcome to the party Saddlestrum! Thanks for the ponters, I had turned off the dates as an experiment a while back in marketing and needed some reminding to turn them back on. You should see post dates next to everything now. I don’t think I have ever posted anything about my podcasting set up but I know I have talked about it on Wood Talk Online. I probably has never posted about it as it is really nothing special. I started just using my Kodak 5 Mp digital camera set in video mode. No external audio, just years of vocal training. I did my audio editing in Audacity and video editing in AVS video editor.
About a year in, I invested in the show and bought a Canon Vixia HFS100 HD camera and augmented it with the stock Canon shotgun mic. Around the same time, I bought a new Mac desktop and began using iMovie and Garageband for all my editing needs. Lately I have begun learning to use Final Cut Pro for video editing and thanks to the generosity of a listener I now have a wireless lapel mic to better capture the audio without so much echo. There are also quite a few clips taken in the field and these were all done with my iPhone 3GS. And that is really all there is to it.
As far as what hand tool I can’t do without, I haven’t found one yet that I can live without. The truth is the unique tools are usually not the ones that you reach for all the time. If I were to answer this question today then I cannot do without my 8 ppi Disstion D23 crosscut hand saw. It gets more use than any other tool in the shop. It is my version of a table saw.
Hi, i am new to hand tools and am just begining my tool collection. Do you have any recomondations for what wood types to use on different tasks? Thanks
Steve, most hand tool friendly woods are US domestics but Cherry, Walnut, and Poplar are my favorites. I wouldn’t say one was better than the other for specific tasks. Really you are looking for a species that has a hardness under 1500 (under 1000 is even better) with a medium density and a predictable grain pattern. Some softwoods work well too, but you need even sharper tools to handle this soft stuff.
HI Shannon,
Where would I find a 8ppi Disstion D23 crosscut saw? Does LN sell a comparable cross cut saw. How many inches would you recommnend? 24″/ 26″? I an in need of a quality crosscut saw.. I own a few smaller saws for crosscutting small project pieces. I’m looking for a quality crosscut saw for cutting 6″-8″ wide boards to rough dimensions.
I discovered your webpage quite by accident a few weeks ago while doing a google search for Windriver planes..What a find!
It’s amazing how much information is out there online. Love your podcast on the LN/WR showdown. I guess I’m more of a hybrid woodworker. (amateur) but I am now just learning how to use planes, chisels, saws ect. I love it.. It’s quiet and I don’t have to worry about choking on dust particles. Nothing like the feel and sound of a sharp handplane sweeping across a piece of hardwood. The shaving a plane creates are a thing of beauty! Sweet! However, I am not ready to give up my power jointer and planer just yet.
wanda
Wanda,
Thanks for dropping by the site and leaving a comment. Finding hand saws these days can be tough as they have gotten more popular and sites like eBay have been overrun with junk and overpricing. The D23 is an excellent saw but the key to a vintage Disston is finding one that was made prior to WWII as the steel changed after the war and significantly dropped off in quality. Lie Nielsen only makes panel saws now (22″ and under) but they are going to making full size hand saws soon. Thomas told me when I was up in ME last time and interviewed him for Popular Woodworking. No ETA on that though.
Mark Harrell and Bad Axe Toolworks will be making hand saws too and he will probably hit the market before Lie Nielsen. His saws will be more expensive but worth every penny. He is the best saw maker on the market now. On the flip side, he will sell restored vintage saws that are outstanding. I have a few.
You can still find vintage saw at garage sales and on ebay but you will need to put some work into them. Learning to sharpen your own saws is a good idea but it is tough to tell someone that when they haven’t had much time to saw by hand so far. Matt Cianci at The Saw Blog is offering sharpening services as it Bob Rozaieski at The Logan Cabinet Shopped. Just google either of those guys and you will find what you need.
As far as length, this depends on you. Measure the distance from your armpit to your wrist and that is the approximate saw length that is perfect for you. For most of us 26″ is about right. For a saw to break down 4/4 hardwood stock, an 8 ppi crosscut is your best bet. Should you work with thicker stock then 6-7 ppi would be better but I would only go that route after you have an 8ppi saw.
I hope that helps,
Hi:
Somewhere you did a Blog about Holdfasts. ( I think it was in 2009) You talked about one from Granercy Tools. I agree that it is good at holding wood. You also talked about a Holdfast you ordered form someone in Alaska. This one you said you even liked better than the other.
Someone in Colonial Williamsburg Va. makes Haldfasts. I don’t know his name, but Chris Schwarzs wrote a Blog about buying another Holdfast while he was in Williamsburg at the Woodworking Weekend that is held in January. The reason I wrote you about this was to give you another location to do more research. From what Chris wrote, he liked it very much. I think the cost was $50.
Have you been able to totally convert your Shop to Hand tools?
Have a very nice Thanksgiving
Monte
Monte, the post your are talking about is called A Battle of Holdfasts. I got to play with some holdfasts in the Joiners shop in Williamsburg last time I was down there and those are very nice too. The holdfast Chris mentioned was from Ed Lebetkin who runs the shop above Roy Underhill’s school.
When are generally online and live? Checked numerous times and I have never caught you live…
Mike there is no rhyme or reason to when I’m live. It has been rare lately because I don’t have a laptop anymore so the only time my webcam can plug into anything is when I pull my iMac down into the shop which is usually only when I’m doing Hand Tool School live sessions. However those are open to the public now so drop by the Hand Tool School site for dates and times.
Looking to buy my first Mortise Chisel?
What is the best size Mortise Chisel to use for 4/4 stock?
That’s not as easy to answer as you might think. Using the rule of thirds you can get a 1/4″ mortise and two 1/4″ shoulders from a 3/4″ board. If however you size your 4/4 material down only to 7/8″ then a 3/8″ chisel would be a better option. 3/8 will also work in 3/4″ thick stock since you only reduce the shoulders to 3/16 and the thicker tenon is a bit stronger. The problem comes in when you drop below 3/4 on the board thickness. If you don’t think this will happen very much (and I rarely mortise something that thin) then 3/8 might be the best overall size. I have a 1/4 and 3/8 and it is all I have ever needed.