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#40. WIA: Bevel-up vs. Bevel-down Planes

December 23, 2008 By

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Running time: 1 hour, 14 min., 42 sec.

Christopher Schwarz moderated this session on the second day of Woodworking in America in Berea, KY. Robin Lee and Thomas Lie-Nielsen participated. Highlights of items covered during this session:

Summary (from notes I took during the session – but everything is on the video):

  1. Characteristics of both types of hand planes.
  2. Questions with Robin Lee and Thomas Lie-Nielsen.
  3. Questions from the audience.

Now for the good stuff:

Using a Veritas bevel-up plane as an example, Schwarz explained:

  1. There is no removable frog.
  2. These have been called “low angle” tools, which can be confusing because they can be made into high-angle tools.
  3. What changes when using a bevel-up plane? We gain, due to some of the following advantages, and lose some due to a few disadvantages:
  • The sharpening angle of attack influences the angle of the tool: Low angle, for end grain, for example; and high angle for “tricky” grain.
  • The adjustment mechanisms are vastly different; they result in easier, and more accurate, blade adjustment with the bevel-up tools. Blade projection is easier; but lateral adjustment can be more tricky on the bevel-up planes.
  • There is no separate chip breaker. Robin Lee discusses wood failure.
  • Some discussion followed on changing the angle of attack by changing the back bevel on the iron; Schwarz does not like this approach, as it doubles sharpening time.
  • A major advantage of bevel-down smoothers and jointers: Making adjustments “on-the-fly”, which gives great feedback to the user.
  • A disadvantage of the bevel-up tools: Cannot “point” with the index finger, or make adjustments.

Starting about 45 minutes into the session, the panel took questions from the audience. This was a great session with two major players on the tool manufacturing side, an amateur woodworker who doubles as a magazine editor, and an audience hungry for information.

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Filed Under: Berea, Blog, Conference, Hand tools, Video, Woodworking in America Tagged With: , , , , , ,

#38. WIA: Part 3 of 3 – Forgotten Workbenches and Workholding

December 14, 2008 By

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Total running time: 48 mins, 54 seconds

This episode is all about workholding:

  1. Face vises – Racking is the main reason The Schwarz does not like them.
  2. Leg vise: Elegant, cheap, GREAT!
  3. Shoulder vise: Best choice for dovetailing drawers – it is fast. It is great, but too complex.
  4. Crochet: Used with holdfasts, it is great, and cool.
  5. Sliding dog vise: Otherwise called the Wagon Vise. Recently installed one on of his benches.
  6. End (tail) vise on European-style benches: Fragile, and they sag!
  7. Dogs: Round or square? Likes square, bur coming around to round. It is hard to make square holes. The round dogs are best because there is a large after-market that caters to these.
  8. Battens: Offer an effective way to work: Low profile, and cool.
  9. Planing stops: Made from scraps; make them as thin and wide as possible; install on the face vise.
  10. Planing boards: Great if the workbench is not flat; Chris has made available a construction drawing on his blog.
  11. Deadman: Installed on his Roubo; has nothing but praise for it.
  12. Other benches: Concrete block bench; wheelwright’s bench, with leg vise and cabinets; the Modern Roubo”; the English hybrid, with angled leg vise but straight legs; Moxon’s bench; the “sink” bench (laughter!), which is a Shaker bench corrupted.

The Schwarz answered many questions, all terrific and relevant, until he ran out of time. The discussion could easily have run much longer, but everyone had to run to lunch, to the Marketplace, and to other terrific sessions.

I took a good look at the construction of the sliding deadman…

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Filed Under: Berea, Blog, Conference, Video, Woodworking in America Tagged With: , , , , ,

#37. WIA: Part 2 of 3 – Forgotten Workbenches and Workholding

December 11, 2008 By

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Total running time: 39 mins., 52 seconds

In this episode Christopher Schwarz, Editor of Popular Woodworking and Woodworking Magazine, presents, discusses, and points out pros and cons of several benches and their features:

  1. The European bench: He is not happy with this form, but also is not anti-European-form. His problem with this one: People take old principles and apply them to other benches. He likes to apply the kitchen door test (typical sizes we work on) and the kitchen carcase test (pushes him to narrower benches) to all benches, for suitability.
  2. Materials: For example, the Nicholson bench required only a small amount of material. He likes soft woods for his benches; SYP (Southern yellow pine) does not move much, is stiff ((no flexing), it dents (no detriment), and he can flatten a workbench in 45 minutes using a #8 jointer hand plane diagonally. Also, SYP does not sag; however, one of his benches has developed a low spot i.n the middle. He believes the critical area that requires total flatness on a bench top is the front 8 inches to 10 inches.
  3. Roman style bench: This is the one he finds in most pro shops. Pros: It is simple, and stout. Con: No planing stops, etc.
  4. The French undercarriage: Pros: Great clamping ability. Con: Requires a log of material, primarily due to its massive legs.
  5. The English bench: Pros: Requires very little wood. Con: Undercarriage clamping is tough.
  6. The Danish bench: Pro: Easy to knock down. Don: Can’t clamp easily on the front.
  7. The Shaker bench: Pros: Great looks, and storage for everything and everybody. Cons: Hard to clamp on.
  8. Tool trays: Cons: They are always full of “stuff”.
  9. The Hayward bench: The thin top flexes; but the front apron takes away some of the flex.
  10. Top thickness: At 3″ to 4″, the beam strength is enough to provide support on the legs. Holdfasts reach their holding limit around 4 inches.
  11. Bench height: For hand planing, it should hit the joint between the pinkie and the palm of the hand.
  12. Bench width: Finds that 22″ is great, but 18″ tends to be tippy.
  13. Bench finish: NO slick film. The formula he uses is 50/50 BLO (boiled linseed oil) / varnish, with solvent added to make it possible to wipe on the mixture. There is no need to finish the underside, unless the owner wants to finish it.

Next: The ending of the session on Forgotten Workbenches and Workholding.

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Related posts: Watch more videos from Woodworking in America on this blog.

Filed Under: Berea, Blog, Conference, Tools, Video, Woodworking in America, Workbench Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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