Handplane Basics - A Better Way to Use Bench Planes

Thanks for the review, Michael. I have a great deal of respect for Chris’ abilities and knowledge of hand tools and their use. Having neglected to develope my hand skill techniques for me this looks like a DVD that would be a nice addition to anyones woodworking library who is interested in improving these time honored skills.

-- Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful- Joshua Marine

This DVD is very well done. Schrawz explains and demonstrates how to use the essential planes as you go thru the processes taking rough cut lumber to a finished board. I found it interesting and helpful as I started leaning more towards hand tools. I would also rate this DVD very high.

-- Marc

Mr. Schwarz seems to have quite a few DVD”s on this topic. I assume by its tile and your recommendation the answer to my question will be a resounding “yes!”, but let me ask anyway: is this DVD recommendable over the others FOR BEGINNERS? Thanks!

Yes – I would say it is for beginners or those with little hand plane experience.

-- Marc

Millo -

I’m not sure which DVDs for beginners you are referring to so I can’t honestly answer whether or not this is recommendable over any other DVD. Frankly this is the only Chris Schwarz DVD I own so I have nothing to compare it to.

-Michael

-- http://dbcww.wordpress.com

Hey Michael and everyone else,

Thanks for your reply! I’m sorry, I’ve been out-of-it when it comes to my old plans of getting into woodworking, getting back in gear after this weekend.

Anyway, last night I browsed around here and the web; the other DVD by Schwarz on the whole hand-plane topic was: “Building Furniture with Handplanes”. However, apparently “Coarse, Medium and Fine: Fundamental Woodworking Techniques” focuses on handplanes, as I came to gather from the reviews, even though on the DVD description it is suggested it’s a more general topic, tool-wise.

Does anyone have a recommendation on what to get first? To be honest I haven’t done any actual work/projects (will be two or three jigs for a circular saw this week), other than practice some joinery a few times with handtools (last “practice dovetail” actually worked, and have done 2 or 3 successful hand-cut dados, tried only one mortise&tenon which was pathetic, and on the 2nd try I destroyed on the of wood pieces so I gave up—all this just joints w/ scrap pieces, no projects…) but I own Stanley #5, #7 and low-angle block planes already. I have successfully sharpened/flattened my cheap Marples chisels, but have done absolutely NOTHING with the planes, except trying to flatten the sole of my CHEAP Stanley block plane; it was a nightmare and it still isn’t flat. I decided to stop trying until I got a nice vid on the general usage of planes that I could watch as I worked/set them up.

I also want to get that DVD on handsaw filing by Tom Law sold through Lee Valley and Lie-Nielsen sites (I’m sure other places, too). Since I still need to get a waterstone set, etc, and a bunch of other stuff, I’d like to keep DVD expenses to a minimum—so although I am sure all of Schwarz’s DVD’s on handplanes are a worthy investment, I wonder which one would be the most recommendable for me. At the moment I am leaning toward this one, although I guess it doesn’t cover block planes. I know Michael has not seen the others, but wondering if anyone else has any suggestions? Sorry to be so annoying!

Hi Michael, yesterday I was asking for advice about this same DVD, can you tell me what’s the length of it
Thanks

Thanks for the review.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

Hey Boris,

The packaging indicates it’s 70+ minutes.

Michael

-- http://dbcww.wordpress.com

Thanks, Michael, nice blog