Larry Marshall

I use rub joints all the time in my work. I do work with hide glue, however. PVAs are plenty strong but hide glues are simply stickier when wet, allowing a rub joint to hold itself together better. Like you, I used to take boards off the saw and try to build a panel. Once I figured out that a couple swipes with a #7 between saw and glue up created a much better fit, I found that lots of pressure was no longer necessary. Cheers -- Larry

The best advice is to do a google search on 'hand plane restoration' and you'll get a long list of places where guys have done it. Much depends on what you're after as tuning up a plane is a separate issue from restoring its finish, checking and dealing with damage, etc. Another search for 'sharpening hand planes' might also yield info you'll want. Cheers --- Larry

I agree that no fancy joinery is required to glue narrow boards together to produce a wide one. As stated, what is required is that the edges being joined by very straight/flat. I disagree that table saws provide sufficiently straight edges. Most power tool guys opt for a jointer to prep boards for 'joining.' I've never seen the need for one myself and thus I use a #7 jointer plane, planing both boards simultaneously. It's quick, and once you've gotten some practice using handplanes, easy. Some will use biscuits, dowels, or Festool dominos to help with alignment when joining. This isn't necessary but it does making alignment easier. But once you have glue on the edges, it's a matter of putting clamps above and blow the boards and holding them together while they dry. Often I see guys applying lots of pressure while doing this and I think this is more a reflection of how the edges were prepped than anything else. In my view, if you have to apply a lot of pressure, you're building tension into the board may separate the joint at some future date. Cheers --- Larry

Before accepting any list of 'must have' planes, ask yourself what you want to do with handplanes. Are you buying handplanes to replace the functionality of a jointer and/or thickness planer? Or are you a power tool guy who wants to refine parts coming off the power tools? If you're going to be jointing and surfacing wood, you need a jack plane (#5) and/or a jointer/try plane (#7). Regardless of what you're doing I can't imagine anyone creating furniture pieces without a low-angle block plane. But if you're jointing and surfacing by machine, and happy with the results, consider some of the specialty planes. I use my low-angle block plane constantly but I also use jack and jointer planes on nearly every project because I don't own or want to own a power jointer.

As others have suggested, it's hard to know from the photo how long this piece is. My guess is that it's not very long. Hanging such a thing needs to achieve two goals. First is that you don't want it to fall off the wall. The second is that you don't want it to rotate if someone hangs a coat on the end of it. For those reasons, I'd suggest you use a French cleat to hold it on the wall. If it'd been me I would have built one into the piece itself. French cleats have many virtues but the big deal is that they are easy to do and, because they are a relatively long hanger (it can be as long as your piece), you attach the cleat piece that mounts on the wall using several toggle bolts, eliminating the dependence upon studs being the right place. Also, their nature allows you to remove the piece easily. For this piece I'd use 1/4" stock and size it to hide behind the top of your piece. I'd cut a couple other 1/4" pieces that I'd glue to the bottom corners just to keep the piece parallel to the wall. Cheers --- Larry

I might be off base but you define "expensive" so I'll proceed. I've written blog posts on a couple solutions that I found workable. This one cost me about six bucks: http://www.woodnbits.com/blog/2009/02/hide-glue-use-in-miniatures-part-2/ The downside with this kettle is that the best I could do was get it to heat to about 160, then it would slowly cool to 140, heat...cycle, cycle. This didn't prove to be a problem but I found it annoying. So I went to this unit which cost me less than $20: http://www.woodnbits.com/blog/2010/02/keeping-the-hide-glue-warm-at-woodn-bits/ This is a great solution that's designed more for keeping hot wax for women to torture themselves. Works great for hide glue, however. I'll throw in one more thing. If you're going to start using hide glue, get some liquid hide glue too. I really like the hot stuff as when it cools it holds stuff in place immediately (sort of the super glue in the hide glue world) but if you're doing a more complex glue up, liquid hide glue works great as you have a longer open time. Cheers --- Larry

Presuming your jack plane is a bit better than a butter knife, you should have no problems. But don't assume that you will lose no wood. The trick is to use wood where the grain is subtle and parallel to the long cuts. Whether you use a jointer or hand plane (my favorite) to smooth the cut edges, you'll lose some wood from both sides of the cut. But if you get those edges smooth/straight they'll fit together so well that you won't see the seams if you pay attention to grain. Cheers --- Larry "aka Woodnbits" http://www.woodnbits.com/blog

I think the answer to your question really boils down to what plans you're talking about and how you use them. Personally, I find using other people's plans more trouble than its worth and never do it. There are always personal changes I want to make which starts a cascade of deviations from the plan until the plan is just making your brain hurt. By contrast, I love drawing up my own ideas in SketchUp, pushing and pulling, stretching and compressing. I like working out how the joinery will come together. I like being able to see how things will (won't?) fit. But then, I'll use some of the basic dimensions but actually build the piece using relative parts dimensioning so I rarely will actually print my own plan. So, do I like plans? Sure, but within a very specific context. Cheers --- Larry

Only one old guy's opinion but I don't think this will have the desired effect. The wood warped, most likely, as its moisture content equilibrated with shop conditions (presuming it wasn't warped when purchased). Thus, you can soak it til it won't float but the warp will return when it dries out. Cheers --- Larry "aka Woodnbits" http://www.woodnbits.com/blog

The plane I use in my shop more than any other is an old Stanley 60 1/2. Half its japanning is gone but it works like a champ. I once bought a new Stanley to replace it. It was so bad I gave it away with a warning of its poor quality and went back to my old plane. I'd second the recommendation for the Veritas apron plane. I find the higher-priced Veritas block planes to simply be too large but I suppose that comes from my experience with the 60 1/2. If I ever buy another adjustable mouth block plane it'll be the LN but it's pricey. Cheers --- Larry "Woodnbits" http://www.woodnbits.com/blog

The best advice I can think of for anyone wanting handtool shop advice is to head to Logan Cabinet Shoppe and watch Rob's videos, paying particular attention to his shop organization and tool use. http://logancabinetshoppe.weebly.com/ Most of us who use handtools come from a machine background and have lots of power tools cluttering up our shops. Rob doesn't :-) Cheers --- Larry "aka Woodnbits" http://www.woodnbits.com/blog

If you have thoughts of somehow straightening the board by twisting/clamping it, put those ideas out of your mind. It won't happen. You didn't say how the board is warped. If it's cupped, you can often rip it in half, flatten the two sides, and glue up the results. If it's warped end-to-end, using it in a project where you need shorter boards might be a solution. If it's twisted, how much thickness you'd lose by flattening it depends upon how you do the flattening. Machines will remove a lot of stock but you can sometimes save quite a bit by strategically using handplanes to flatten it. I suspect these aren't the answers you're after but they're the ones I know. Cheers --- Larry

I have to second Shannon's advice. You might be interested in a couple blog posts I've done recently on resawing. I'm using a standard rip saw to do it: http://www.woodnbits.com/blog/2010/06/shelf-making-without-a-neander-buddy/ http://www.woodnbits.com/blog/2010/07/recapping-resawing/ Cheers -- Larry "aka Woodnbits"

Yippee...another forum...I think. Let's see...according to the Wood Whisperer I'm supposed to register. Did that. Then I'm supposed to: - Upload some pictures to the gallery. - Check out the growing SketchUp Library - Post in the forums - Start a blog What kind of pictures? Does Nicole read this forum (grin)? A growing SketchUp library. Cool! Want a copy of my bathroom? Didn't think so. Ah...finally something that I can do...post in the forums. I'm doing that. And I can start a blog. Already got one of those and sometimes wonder why :-) Thanks, Marc, for setting this up. Cheers --- Larry "aka Woodnbits"