Confessions of a newbie; I had a revelation. I have been having a very hard time planing White Oak with my bevel-up planes; the iron seems to glide over the wood without taking any shavings; it only works when super sharp (well, however sharp I can make it) and only with too much down pressure; and then I always end up with some tear. I have been using the iron with the 25° bevel that comes from the factory (for an effective pitch of 37°). Today I was particularly frustrated and remembered I had also bought a replacement iron with a 38° bevel (for an effective pitch of 50°); I sharpened it in a hurry so I could test it right away and that is where I started smiling. All of a sudden planing White Oak was easy; yes, I was taking thin shavings, but with very little effort and with no tear. And, yes, I should have figure this out much earlier; too late for my dovetail alignment board, but just in time for my case/long-grain miter shooting board. I am happy. #MiterShootingBoard #ShootingBoard #WorkbenchAppliance #WhiteOak #Planing #HandToolsOnly #Woodworking
I was dimensioning the feet of a miter shooting board and decided to gang them up to plane their edges together. I find it faster, easier to make them exactly the same size, and I do not have to try and balance a big hand plane on top of a small ledge. #MiterShootingBoard #ShootingBoard #WorkbenchAppliance #WhiteOak #HandToolsOnly #Woodworking
I made a friction board with a 1” plywood base, a Black Cherry ledger, and a couple of pieces of 120-grit sandpaper. I was pretty surprised at how grippy it was; I was able to smooth plane a 1” x 6” piece of Cherry that was barely 1/8” thick and the thing was rock solid, not even a hint of slippage. I have a feeling this is going to be a very useful board. #FrictionBoard #WorkbenchAppliance #HandToolsOnly #Woodworking
