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Hand Tools Their Ways Workings by Aldren Watson, or
The Essential Woodworker by Robert Wearing are probably the two best books I know to start learning hand tool woodworking, including use of handplanes. A sleeper is
Making and Mastering Wood Planes by David Finck. This last book shows you how to build a simple and effective type of hand plane, starting at the absolute beginning with all the tools you need to make them. It is a focussed and detailed introduction to making and using these planes, that does not touch on other types of planes that some prefer.
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1Spirit said:
I could use a recommendation for a book hand planes for a beginner. All my experience has been with power tools and I am SADLY lacking in hand tool use.
There are others, but these will teach you the essentials for using hand planes to mill, joint and finish wood.
http://www.amazon.com/Handplane-Essentia...1440332983https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/vide...iques?node=4226https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/hand...-streaming
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+ 1 and Paul Sellers new book.
Steve
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blackhat said:
Garrett Hack's " The Handplane Book" is excellent.
+1
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Location: Texas - Gods Country
I love "Working wood 1 and 2" by paul sellers. I'm a huge fan of his, and subscribe to Masterclasses as well... but it has taught me so much.
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Many years ago, based on the information that I gleaned from a place affectionately known as "The .rec," I bought a very expensive Lie-Nielsen #4 smoothing plane. Folks said it "worked right out of the box." It doesn't....
I put it to wood and it skittered, sputtered, gouged a nice piece of maple. I twisted knobs, nudged levers - same result. Terrible.
Now mind you, in hind-sight, it could have probably used a little honing. But I didn't own any sharpening gear - not even the beginnings of "Scary Sharp."(That's how lost I was!!!)
I cussed my bad luck. Cussed hand tools. And cussed "The .rec." I put the very nice, very new LN in its box and didn't touch it for years.
For whatever reason (I don't remember), I rented the David Charlesworth handplane videos 1 & 2. They absolutely changed my world.... They opened up an aspect of woodworking that I thought was forever closed to me.
Now I love Paul Sellers; I've been a paying member of his site since it opened during my deployment to Afghanistan in 2012. But when it comes to learning handplanes for the absolute neophyte, I have to say David Charlesworth.
He's slow. He's methodical. He's painfully detailed. But that type of instruction is what you need (IMHO).
Good luck
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Paul sellers new book also supposingly goes into great detail as well, waiting on my new book and DVD's to come that my Kids bought for me while I was in the Hospital.
Steve
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Eochaid4 said:
[blockquote]blackhat said:
Garrett Hack's " The Handplane Book" is excellent.
+1
[/blockquote]
+2. I learned most of what I needed to know about about planes from 1) Practice and 2) The Handplane Book.
"If I had eight hours to cut down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my axe."
My Woodworking Blog:
A Riving Home
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What I liked about PS first book were the projects, and the sharpening section. I actually built every project from the book, start to finish. It was a fun journey.
The sharpening section is a great reference when i'm out in the shop, and dont have access to youtube.
While i'm at it, his little jig to sharpen spokeshave blades is a lifesaver for me, I was struggling with that.
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Where do you live? I'd be willing to bet someone here would be willing to give you some one on one instruction for a few beers. I know I have been know to get payment in beer more than a few times
