Customer Reviews

Making & Mastering Wood Planes

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book ostensibly is about making both functional and beautiful wooden planes. However, in my humble opinion, I think it is one of the best books on woodworking fundamentals ever written - and I've pretty much read them all. That's because on the way to making a plane using this book, you get a thorough grounding in craft, in wood working fundamentals and in just plain how to do things right.

The book is clearly written and illustrated. Sometimes, I have difficulty in visualizing what an author explaining complicated processes is saying. Sometimes even with pictures, I struggle, (and I assume others do as well) with something missing from the explanation or perhaps with an explanation that raises more questions than it answers. In the case of "Making & Mastering Wood Planes" I felt that I was able to visualize what the author was putting into words quite easily. Mr. Finck has a very good way of explaining things in a sort of three dimesional way. He also has done an excellent job of anticipating the reader's questions. The only other book I've had this feeling about was Michael Dunbar's book on Windsor Chairmaking.

The amount of detail in this little book is really amazing. It's also amazing that the detail is consistently in support of the key concepts and processes that the author is explaining. Far from being a burden, the exhaustive detail provides the "why" and the rationale for what is being explained. It's actually quite motivating; you read, and as you read the pieces of the puzzle come together. So in this book you make a plane, but you make it by way of the Brooklyn Bridge. What I mean is that when the author instructs you to cut out the wood you need for a plane using a bandsaw, he first shows you how to tune the bandsaw up so that it is not the "weak link" in your arsenal. Nothing is left for granted or to chance - the book is complete, exhibiting the fine craftsmanship it so ably teaches.

If you are already a woodworker and want to make planes, this is a great book. If you are a beginner and want to learn woodworking, this is the best book I've ever seen. Get this book and "Making Joints" by Ian Kirby. I have both on the shelf dead center above my workbench because I refer to them often. I used to think the Kirby book was the standard by which all other WW books should be judged, but "Making Planes" has set a higher mark.

The best things about Mr. Finck's book are it's thoroughness and logical organization. Every time a new tool is introduced, information about using it and tuning it (ever see how to tune a combination square?) is given immediately, thoroughly and clearly, instead of at the end or a few pages later or whatever other cockeyed place was convenient for the editor.

Further, techniques are described for doing the work to a very high standard of precision and beauty, not just "close enough". We all need to urged on to higher acheivement, and it sure helps if the person urging is also showing you how to do it, clearly, symapathetically and in detail. Using a band saw? Shows how to check the tires for trueness. Grinder? how to dress the wheels. Sharpening stone? how to flatten. Make your own marking knife, adjusting mallet. How to plane -- how to stand, where to put your hands, everything but breath control (2d edition -- ?).

Yes, the title DOES suggest that it's about making wooden planes and I suppose it is. ('Krenov-style' planes only, but that's a great start.) In actual fact, this is a book with so much more than just the usual overload of information on a very narrow field. Every page has something of interest to anyone who works wood, or who uses tools for either livelihood or recreation. If you DO want to make wooden planes, then you couldn't do better than to get this book. I believe it's among the best titles available and is probably the best still in print anywhere. The techniques outlined would permit a reasonably careful reader to upgrade any plane, wooden or metal, that came into his or her possession.

Almost incidentally, the reader is taken on a short course in testing, upgrading, creating, fine-tuning and using all manner of tools for cabinet-making and general woodworking. The band-saw, metal block-planes and spokeshaves, the cabinet scraper and all manner of jigs and tool-rests are covered. There is even a small section on making a brass mallet for adjusting planes, if you are so inclined. There are even methods outlined for coping without a 'proper' work-bench.

No elaborate machine-shop or tool arsenal is necessary to utilise this book and no greater skill than that of reading is required to take a pile of great gems from this outstanding book. If you're very experienced, you might have heard most of the tips and advice before, but probably have never had them explained so thoroughly and convincingly, with high-quality photographs accompanying the text on the same page.

There is no preaching and there is nothing 'forbidden' in these pages, but there is a philosophy of good craftsmanship that really under-pins the work and manages to come through clearly. The author's love of fine tools and their interaction with the raw materials is infectious.

This book would suit the professional woodworker as well as the complete novice who has yet to decide whether to take up some form of woodcraft. You WILL gain something from reading this book; you may even lose out, if you ignore the clear and powerful techniques and messages that it offers. It's brilliant. I've never quite been able to say that about a woodworking book before.

This book, while taking you through the steps of making a wood plane, teaches the essence of woodworking with handtools and is a 'must own' book for beginners to experts.

It starts with instruction on how to use and tune both the hand and power tools that will be used in making the wood plane, as well as covering the essentials of wood as it relates to woodworking (i.e. run-out, etc.)

Then it presents an excellent chapter on sharpening, discussing how to sharpen plate irons, chisels and knives.

Next is a long chapter on actually making the plane, although interspersed as always are extremely useful digressions into gluing techniques, truing various tools, etc.

Next, a chapter or two on how to use a plane, both for edging, flattening and polishing. This chapter shows the level of perfection that the author wants from each of his students, as he discusses issues such as how much the thickness of a cut impacts that ability to match the grain when joining. To be honest, this attitude is pervasive throughout the entire book. The author is obviously a craftsman of the highest calibre and of traditional 'old-school' values.

The last chapter is on scraping, a technique I've never understood the advantage of until now: for those working in hardwoods, having made good use of their handplanes, scraping is the best, cleanest (lowest-dust) method of smoothing a board. Why risk sanding a gouge into a beautifully flattened work when the scraper will shave off the last of that rough surface, requiring only a quick pass with a 400 grit piece of sandpaper?

I borrowed this book from the public library to see whether I wanted to buy it. Needless to say, my purchased copy sits close-at-hand in my workshop shelves, already well-thumbed and dog-earred.

I bought this book based on the other reviews here, and I completely agree with them: this is a real gem. There is not much more I can add except to say that I think every woodworker should have this one.

That includes any beginners out there, I think this one has so many excellent guides covering just about every topic, you can hardly go wrong. Note that it doesn't cover joints / furniture design etc.. etc.. but it does cover most of the basic skills, and it gives you a worthwhile project (building a plane) to work through.

HIGHLY recommended.

Good for novice / advanced woodworkers also.

I hope this added review helps you decide to give it a go, because I wish I had this book way back when I was starting out.

I'll just copy in what I wrote David on his website:

David,

I just built two planes per your book, a 9 1/2" jack and a 13" smoother, and am AMAZED at the results.

I've been a recreational woodworker for about 4 years and have never been able to make handplaning a central part of my reportoire, until now.

I was in the garage last night, practicing with my new jack plane, on a triangular scrap from its construction. I planed two primarily end grain faces to flawless smoothness, and the side grain face to a glassy sheen. I showed them to my wife and friends here at work, who all were dumbfounded when I told them no sandpaper was involved.

I now am no longer mystified by the luster and depth of pieces produced by College of the Redwoods grads. I'm literally stunned by the polished beauty of these surfaces, the fact that I produced them myself, and their potential appearance once shellac'd.

I thank you effusively for your book, and would encourage anyone who is looking for woodworking's 'killer app' to study it. Study every word of this book as I did, and you won't be disappointed!

Regards,
Rob Kutner
San Francisco, CA

First, I'm an admirer of James Krenov's work, and I was expecting much more than just a foreward from him.

There's some great tips on tuning and using hand tools, plus jigs and fixtures for the bench. But the book is definitely not a requirement for building the Krenov-style hand planes. There's a myriad of free or inexpensive plans for building these planes, and, what's more, they're much faster and easier than using Finck's methods of work.

For example: Finck wants to make all of the cuts on the bandsaw, including freehanding the angled cuts on the plane body, then truing it up with a block plane, all of which leads him to include tutorials on tuning the bandsaw, tuning, fettling, and sharpening the block plane, sharpening chisels, even making carving knives. Some of it is interesting, but seems like filler just to turn hand-plane building into a book-length subject. Anyone who would be interested in building planes likely has these tools and the knowledge to tune and use them. If not, there's plenty of other books and instructions on the topics, there's even plane-building kits available with prepared stock.

I agree that the bandsaw is a safer tool than the tablesaw and much prefer it, but rip and mitre cuts in stock 3" thick or less are precisely the sort of cut a tablesaw excels at vs a bandsaw. If the tablesaw still scares you, a mitre saw or even mitre box will work for the mitre cuts.

Taken in sequence as a plan, the beginning amateur woodworker (who probably has only weekends to work) may take months to complete the project, if they don't give up in frustration. If you're a dedicated galoot, this is the path for you, though I expect you'll be as puzzled as I am as to why all of this emphasis on using the block plane to clean up a mitre. Why not just put it on a shooting board?

Then there's the jig for cutting the cap-screw slot using a hand-held router. Uh, what's wrong with doing this on the router table? This took me about 30 minutes to mark the workpiece, setup the router and fence, set a stop block, and make the cut in multiple passes. I would have spent a whole afternoon trying to understand and construct the jig Finck recommends. Routing a piece that small is much easier and safer on a table.

As I said, some great galoot-tips on tuning and using tools, but the subject of building a Krenov-style wooden plane does not require a book, and I want to produce a useable plane this year.

This is an outstanding volume that instructs on many of the fundamentals of fine woodworking. The focus of most of the book is making a wooden Jack plane -- a noble endeavor that unfortunately is not higher on my list of must do projects. Even with this focus, the lessons that can be gleamed from the book apply to many fundamental, though frequently ignored, skills.

I truly do no understand why this book is out of print.

While it clearly shows you how to make your own high quality planes, it actually provides a succinct introduction not only to their use, but to all the tools useful in their making. It's a beautifully focussed introduction to woodworking that is neither boring nor insulting to those already knowledgeable. As a bonus, the photo in the introduction of a child using a plane is worth the price of the book.

After reading this book from the library, I want to buy a copy. How can it be out of print?! It should be reprinted.

This is a Christmas present for my son who is learning the fine craft of working with wood. I'm hoping this book will be of interest to him.