i complained in the comments of someone using a card scraper maybe a week or two ago about how i couldn’t get this stupid thing to curl for shit. i’ve had this thing since march. NOTHING!

the culprit? those cheap shitty little diamond sharpening plates on amazon (you know the ones). i didn’t do a huge upgrade, literally just the s satc 400/1000 diamond stone. 23ish bucks, and magic. after some time reworking the edge and faces at 400 and then polishing over on the 1000, she was looking mirror like enough, but what do i know. i rolled the carbide rod against the faces 3 times. set it in the vise. a tick below 90, 3 times each way. and shiiiiiiit, what do you know? this thing actually works lmao.

i’m over the moon right now tbh lol. i just figured i was dumb af. so glad that’s not the case (for now anyways).

if you can’t get a curl, check your sharpening surface. thanks for tips here as well everyone and go make some dust! or shavings! or ribbons? idk, just go do something with your wood! (pause)

I picked up this back saw for $10 a year or so ago for habitat for humanity. It was fine but the handle wasn't great so I made a new one out of sugar maple. Also made the sex bolts at the machine shop at work.

I resharpened it like Paul Sellers described in a recent YouTube short: first three inches with the top of the file flat, next 4 inches tilted about third rotation, and the rest of the sat with the standard rip profile. She cuts like a dream!

I've done a few cross cuts with the from of the saw and have no complaints. I may sharpen the first three inches as a proper cross cut the next time she needs a sharpening.

I got this lovely pair of 40s (?) Disston D-8s. I lightly polished the plates with 0000 steel wool and wd-40 to get the immediate surface rust off and give it a barrier against further rust. The rip saw has Seen Some Stuff and one of the mounting holes is missing and a bit of the heel of the plate is snapped off with two obvious short cracks that propogated a small way into the plate. The second photo shows how much of the plate is missing when I line the two up by their mounting holes with the crosscut saw underneath.

The previous owner drilled a 6th hole in the plate because he clearly didn't trust the remaining holes to do the job without help but I don't know if he ever used the saw again or not.

Should I drill a relief hole to reduce stress on the crack or just toss a handle on her and YOLO it? Is it a lost cause?

Mid 90s model with box and papers. Asking $450 shipped CONUS. Great condition, no issues.

I'm thinking about trying Japanese chisels. I hear some people really like them and some don't - harder to sharpen but hold an edge longer, and tend to be more brittle so they chip on the edge instead of folding over.
Anyone know of any that are not complete crud, but won't break my bank account?

I started this last September based on videos from Graham Blackburn and Wood By Wright. It never worked too well, binding badly as it approached full depth, and after using it a couple times I just went to the tablesaw for grooves. Yesterday I was finishing a couple of small coffers from American Peasant and needed to groove the breadboard ends for the lids and decided to finally give this the attention to make it work.

I used a chisel to ease the inside edges, applied a good amount of paste wax to the plane surfaces and to a piece of grooved cherry, and spent a few minutes aggressively riding it back and forth. What a difference! The burnishing action along with the wax worked the wood into compliance and left a glassy surface to slide on. After that I gave it some final shaping and finishing work, then an all over coat of paste wax.

It's made from a piece of steamed euro beech that I keep on hand for plane making, with initial cutting and shaping done on my tablesaw. Cutting the recess for the iron and wedge were done with hand tools, as was the final shaping and smoothing. The iron is a 12 dollar DeWalt 1/4 inch chisel with the handle cut off, an affordable and expedient way to get a good plane iron for grooving or rabbet planes!

This thing really cuts like a dream now! I can pull this out of my tool chest and cut a perfect quarter by quarter by quarter groove in seconds. Far faster than I can set up the tablesaw. This is one instance where the hand tools absolutely outperform the electron-driven madness of power tools. If you don't have one, don't be afraid to try making one, it's a great tool to have and a fun project!

I hope this post inspires you to go make something, or at least to go out and caress your tools in appreciation of their beauty and quiet utility.

Hi, please help me identify the tool shown in the attached. I got two of them from my grandfather but I don’t know what they are. thanks.

I have pretty small hands (3.25” across the palm), so handles on tools are always oversized for me. Usually it’s not a big deal, I can still get a good enough grip.

I’ve recently learned that the horns on a saw are supposed to help control it and stabilize against the hand.… and I’m wondering if this might be why I find it so difficult to control the front/back tilt and pressure of the saw. On my smallest saw handle there’s still about 3/4” between my hand and the lower horn. But I’m also a beginner so it’s hard to tell which problems are the tools vs a skill issue.

How important is it for a saw handle to fit your hand? Is it worth making smaller ones for my saws?

Fantastic chest from Mid-Atlantis area. Masonic symbolism. $500 firm. Located in Massachusetts. Size is appx. 21" x 21" x 42". Must be picked up.

Wenge & Curly Maple

Hi all,

I'm selling an under-one-year-old WoodRiver #5-1/2 bench plane in pristine, lightly used condition. It has been fully tuned, flat-backed, and dialed in to pull continuous, whisper-thin shavings right out of the box (see photo).

Rob Cosman AdjuSTAR Installed: Upgraded with the $45 Rob Cosman brass depth adjustment wheel for ultra-smooth, fine-tuned depth control.

Original Parts Included: I'll include the original factory brass adjuster knob as well, so you can swap back if preferred.

Sole & Iron: Sole is clean and flat; high-carbon steel iron is sharp, flattened, and ready to take paper thin shavings on day one with zero prep time required.

Condition: Excellent condition. Clean, well-maintained.

Asking $235 with free shipping

Local pickup preferred (central NJ), but willing to ship for FREE within the US lower 48. Payment will be handled by PayPal G&S, or Venmo w/ Purchase Protection

UPDATE: Sale pending. Thanks, Redditors!

UPDATE 2: Sold

Hi, I’d like some help figuring out a good workbench for a small apartment setup. I know a lot of people will recommend to build my own, but I’d really rather just buy so I can get started on other projects.

So far, I’m considering:
1. Sjobergs multi function workbench
2. Ramia foldable workbench
3. Sjobergs Junior/Senior workbench

I’ll be working on relatively small projects, boxes, frames, nightstands, side tables etc. would I be going wrong selecting any of these? Are there any other recommendations out there?

Thanks!

I know there are bigger and more exciting finds. But this is my first Stanley no. 4 (have about 4 or 5 other brands of no.4’s very partial to my wards master)

Cleaned up very nicely, tote and knob are in fantastic shape and the sole has just the tiniest bit of pitting at the tail end, but I think it will be gone after flattening. But, I get it now, never really chased after an official Stanley. I heard the wards master was mostly a rebrand and I have a miller falls 4. But damn, everything is so clean and tight and is a breeze to work with. Also the back screw that keeps the frog straight and tight is something I havnt seen before and wish it was used more now.

Just wanted to share because I was excited. If you took time to read, thank you.

This was a pandemic build back in 2020.

I've moved the frog as far back as the screws mounting holes will let me go, but the end result is still a very narrow mouth. Is it possible to make it larger? Hand plane is a Stanley No 5 Bailey with the iron sharpened to 25°.

Black Limba carcass, Eastern White pine for drawer sides and bottom, walnut door pull, basswood & Wenge Kumiko panel. Brusso knife hinges

Hi folks, asking for some advise on how to make the most of some boards I resawed with a bandsaw. they were originally 7/8” thick, and resawn generally in half but the blade wandered some and wasn’t well tuned. After resawing it released a lot of internal tension and the boards all cupped a good bit. I’d still like to try to use these boards, shooting for 1/4-3/8” thickness for some drawer sides. I think my first idea is to rip them in half, flatten the halves individually, then glue back together. Do you all have any other tips to try to get these boards flat while preserving as much thickness as possible?

EDIT: across 8.5” of width the center of the cup is about 1/8”-3/16” lower than the edges.

Had a nice slab of cherry and used a bit of Wenge lying around as well

I recently acquired a Stanley no 67. I know I’m missing the round sole attachment, but what are these two holes for? I can’t find anything online about what their purpose is.

Thanks!

Just got this molding plane (for cheap luckily) but the iron looks slightly off from the sole/body pattern. The iron looks pretty freshly ground. Should I regrind it to more closely follow the body?

Been going through a lot of my late father's tools that he left me. And came across these two items and was hoping someone would be able to tell me a bit about their history and how to maybe clean them up. Appreciate it thanks in advance! It appears there is a 7R, and a five on the smaller one.