Tiller #2: Shaping
The point I am about to make is obvious to most experienced woodworkers, but it was not to me for years, and my work suffered. I think the first time I saw this in print was a blog entry by Chris Schwarz, so its not my original idea. This idea is especially applicable to curves, but valid for all woodworking. When working wood, one should be mindful to move from coarser, less accurate tools and progress to very fine tools. With that in mind, I approached the shaping of the tiller in this sequence. First, I marked out the taper and curves on the sides by making a template. Then I cut the tapers and curves on my roughest tool, the bandsaw. The taper and curves were then fine finished with h...