Chris Schwarz's Handplane Essentials Book
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My apologies (a day after getting hot headed and maybe overly particular about this) if the kind of light "it doesn't have to be great" topical material is what some folks prefer.
I just don't, but if you do, I don't expect your opinions to be mine, just because I voice mine a lot.
I have particularly strong opinions about us being really good at something before we give advice, and keeping the "found it in a french barn" fluff to a minimum. I've been asked several times (for pay) to teach courses on plane making, to make planes for people for pay (and I've only done that a couple of times on condition that the proceeds go to charity), and to write articles (for pay) for magazines.
In my opinion, nothing that i know rises above being something that should be given away for free, and if I started posting everything that I make or think (instead of just mostly plane topical material) it wouldn't really serve anyone but me. There's a huge market for that kind of thing, though and I don't believe we all have to be polite to each other and bite our lips all the time to stay friends or be helpful to each other (willfully helpful, not helpful expecting something in return or doing it to try to get people to like us or think highly of us).
I just don't, but if you do, I don't expect your opinions to be mine, just because I voice mine a lot.
I have particularly strong opinions about us being really good at something before we give advice, and keeping the "found it in a french barn" fluff to a minimum. I've been asked several times (for pay) to teach courses on plane making, to make planes for people for pay (and I've only done that a couple of times on condition that the proceeds go to charity), and to write articles (for pay) for magazines.
In my opinion, nothing that i know rises above being something that should be given away for free, and if I started posting everything that I make or think (instead of just mostly plane topical material) it wouldn't really serve anyone but me. There's a huge market for that kind of thing, though and I don't believe we all have to be polite to each other and bite our lips all the time to stay friends or be helpful to each other (willfully helpful, not helpful expecting something in return or doing it to try to get people to like us or think highly of us).
Somebody mentioned him in an earlier post, I don't know how closely Garrett Hack sets his cap iron, couldn't care less at this point, but I do love his work dearly:
http://www.garretthack.com
http://www.garretthack.com
God, those drawer knobs are ugly. 
He tends to show poor attention to little details....
CStanford":33gw46ou said:
He makes nice furniture, but not a lot of it. Just enough to draw for classes and write books (but I guess there aren't a lot of folks making a living on furniture - at least not nice furniture, so you do what you have to do). I believe one of his boasts is that he's never had to replace his thickness planer blades. They must be PM V11.
I don't think Chris S could make the items he makes. I probably couldn't, either.
There are some fantastic makers and carvers on the various forums (Mark Yundt comes to mind), but I guess they're too busy making things to write books and teach classes.
For Charlie's edification. From Garrett's book:
"To put a little more spring into the cap iron, tap it right at the point of curvature while it is held in a vise. Only a slight amount of tension between the iron and the cap is needed. Adjust the cap iron just back from the cutting edge for a smoothing plane and fine shavings"
Not bad.
From Chris's blog four years after this:
"Chipbreakers do more harm than good in a handplane. Whenever I’m having trouble with a plane (especially if the plane is choking or refuses to cut), the first place I look is the chipbreaker. Whenever I fettle a new or vintage handplane and the pipper won’t behave, the first thing I’ll do is swap out its chipbreaker with another plane that has a working chipbreaker. In almost all cases, this solves my problem.
"So what is the purpose of the chipbreaker? My cynical view of the gizmo is that it became widely used so toolmakers could use a cheap, thin steel cutter and reinforce it with an inexpensive iron or soft-steel plate."
"In my view, the chipbreaker’s only real purpose in a modern plane is to mate with the tool’s blade-adjustment mechanism and to aid in chip ejection. Oh, and it exists to frustrate you."
"If you read Professor Kato’s study carefully, you’ll note that he had better luck with a chipbreaker that had a radical forward-leaning angle – 80°! This 80° breaker worked better even when positioned back a little on the cutting iron. I have yet to try this setup on a plane because the numbers don’t add up. Professor Kato is working with a bevel-down plane bedded at 40°. Do the math: Putting an 80° chipbreaker on an iron bedded at 45° with a tight mouthseems madness."
(all of that is incorrect. Even the last part. Bill Tindall got the paper from K&K that they wrote for hand tools (not super surfacers) and they don't recommend anything other than setting a cap iron by eye and checking the results).
And since he couldn't figure out out:
"This mechanism allows you to easily set your tool to take the finest cut possible, which really will reduce tear-out."
(whee, you can spend all day - might as well just sand instead)
Didn't think this thread was generally about cap irons, but since you brought it up - it's on par with Chris's general level of accuracy. I hope that not too many people watched those videos and set their caps at 80 (potentially ruining them).
"To put a little more spring into the cap iron, tap it right at the point of curvature while it is held in a vise. Only a slight amount of tension between the iron and the cap is needed. Adjust the cap iron just back from the cutting edge for a smoothing plane and fine shavings"
Not bad.
From Chris's blog four years after this:
"Chipbreakers do more harm than good in a handplane. Whenever I’m having trouble with a plane (especially if the plane is choking or refuses to cut), the first place I look is the chipbreaker. Whenever I fettle a new or vintage handplane and the pipper won’t behave, the first thing I’ll do is swap out its chipbreaker with another plane that has a working chipbreaker. In almost all cases, this solves my problem.
"So what is the purpose of the chipbreaker? My cynical view of the gizmo is that it became widely used so toolmakers could use a cheap, thin steel cutter and reinforce it with an inexpensive iron or soft-steel plate."
"In my view, the chipbreaker’s only real purpose in a modern plane is to mate with the tool’s blade-adjustment mechanism and to aid in chip ejection. Oh, and it exists to frustrate you."
"If you read Professor Kato’s study carefully, you’ll note that he had better luck with a chipbreaker that had a radical forward-leaning angle – 80°! This 80° breaker worked better even when positioned back a little on the cutting iron. I have yet to try this setup on a plane because the numbers don’t add up. Professor Kato is working with a bevel-down plane bedded at 40°. Do the math: Putting an 80° chipbreaker on an iron bedded at 45° with a tight mouthseems madness."
(all of that is incorrect. Even the last part. Bill Tindall got the paper from K&K that they wrote for hand tools (not super surfacers) and they don't recommend anything other than setting a cap iron by eye and checking the results).
And since he couldn't figure out out:
"This mechanism allows you to easily set your tool to take the finest cut possible, which really will reduce tear-out."
(whee, you can spend all day - might as well just sand instead)
Didn't think this thread was generally about cap irons, but since you brought it up - it's on par with Chris's general level of accuracy. I hope that not too many people watched those videos and set their caps at 80 (potentially ruining them).
Fascinating. I think I'd better take a blood pressure pill. The excitement is overwhelming.
custard
Established Member
CStanford":2ezmqw2r said:
I've met him a couple of times. I admire his work and his dedication, but in many ways he's the opposite of cuddly Chris Schwarz. He's taciturn, bristly and doesn't suffer fools gladly. He encourages people to stretch themselves way beyond their comfort zones, and doesn't conceal his contempt for anyone taking the easy way out. He also rails against the dumbing down of the craft, both the amateur and professional craft, by the magazines and the internet.
Spend a few years with Garrett Hack and you'd be a serious maker, spend a few years with Chris Schwarz and I guess you'd have lots of fun memories but you wouldn't have progressed far nor made much that's worthwhile.
Looks like Charlie stepped in that one.
Can't much disagree with Hack's sentiment. It corners me (and other amateurs) into making only one thing if I'm going to do it well, but I'd rather make one thing well and be an expert (maybe in 20 years, I'll be an expert planemaker) at it than make a whole bunch of things poorly. If someone else wants to just make a whole bunch of stuff, that's fine, too, but they should probably refer to someone who has gone way deep on a given topic rather than taking the "my way is good enough, so it's good enough for other people" attitude.
Can't much disagree with Hack's sentiment. It corners me (and other amateurs) into making only one thing if I'm going to do it well, but I'd rather make one thing well and be an expert (maybe in 20 years, I'll be an expert planemaker) at it than make a whole bunch of things poorly. If someone else wants to just make a whole bunch of stuff, that's fine, too, but they should probably refer to someone who has gone way deep on a given topic rather than taking the "my way is good enough, so it's good enough for other people" attitude.
CStanford":1ng4ol68 said:
Perhaps you could give us your expert opinion on roof trusses or 1040EZs, Charlie, because you always seem to refer to someone else's work and then throw shade on the conversation when it doesn't go your way.
I'd be happy to. What would you like to know? I've actually never prepared the EZ, but from what I understand about them I imagine you're able to file on one.
I'm too late, Charlie. I already filed, and almost paid turbotax for the pleasure, but they let me file for free this year.
I do have to finish a lending library for the neighborhood, and I have an honest question. Where can I get a small amount of rolled asphalt roofing? Or anything that would be black and work as rolled out. I'm supposed to copy a library that the neighborhood bought, but it's commercially made and i'm actually struggling to find a suitable substitute to cover the roof without spending a glom of the neighborhood's money.
I do have to finish a lending library for the neighborhood, and I have an honest question. Where can I get a small amount of rolled asphalt roofing? Or anything that would be black and work as rolled out. I'm supposed to copy a library that the neighborhood bought, but it's commercially made and i'm actually struggling to find a suitable substitute to cover the roof without spending a glom of the neighborhood's money.
Just googled 1040EZs
Wow. Just have a meet and slug it out.
As a beginner I have a bit of a soft spot for Schwarz because it was his book that I read while lying on my (herniated) back a few years ago round my sister in laws house in Somerset while the family actually enjoyed their holiday that got me to actually follow up on a lifelong interest in trees, joinery, carving, live hedging, green woodworking.... all sorts of stuff really.
F*** me I thought. I'm going to make a bench like that.
I can distinctly remember the moment.
I've learnt a huge amount since then. Mostly how little time I have to spend doing what I'd like to do.
That's fairly much where my attachment to Chris Schwarz ends though. Even fairly early I picked up Wearing from recommendations on here and realised there was a whole different league. No reflection on other comments, my brother in law has all those beautifully printed books by the Lost Art Press.
Lovely shizzle. You could pick those books up and believe you were an 18th Century Gentleman of Land and Good Fortune they are so well bound. Creamy pages, well bound, typeset by Elves from the High Council Of Elven Librarians.
My Wearing book was reprinted in '87. It's just a battered old book I bought second or third hand off the internet. When I want to check something it's my first point of call.
I have Garret Hacks book.
It's just a book too. Bit more modern. Photos are nice.
I'd say it was the perfect balance of coffee table pictures and real content.
That's no damning indictment. It's a compliment. My Dad could pick it up, scan through it while waiting for a Dentists appointment. He'd be happy. Someone interested in making planes could use it as a reference book. Someone getting interested in planes, sharpening etc could use it as a guide. It's full of content AND nice pictures. I know which book I'd choose. No contest.
Cheers now
Chris
Wow. Just have a meet and slug it out.
As a beginner I have a bit of a soft spot for Schwarz because it was his book that I read while lying on my (herniated) back a few years ago round my sister in laws house in Somerset while the family actually enjoyed their holiday that got me to actually follow up on a lifelong interest in trees, joinery, carving, live hedging, green woodworking.... all sorts of stuff really.
F*** me I thought. I'm going to make a bench like that.
I can distinctly remember the moment.
I've learnt a huge amount since then. Mostly how little time I have to spend doing what I'd like to do.
That's fairly much where my attachment to Chris Schwarz ends though. Even fairly early I picked up Wearing from recommendations on here and realised there was a whole different league. No reflection on other comments, my brother in law has all those beautifully printed books by the Lost Art Press.
Lovely shizzle. You could pick those books up and believe you were an 18th Century Gentleman of Land and Good Fortune they are so well bound. Creamy pages, well bound, typeset by Elves from the High Council Of Elven Librarians.
My Wearing book was reprinted in '87. It's just a battered old book I bought second or third hand off the internet. When I want to check something it's my first point of call.
I have Garret Hacks book.
It's just a book too. Bit more modern. Photos are nice.
I'd say it was the perfect balance of coffee table pictures and real content.
That's no damning indictment. It's a compliment. My Dad could pick it up, scan through it while waiting for a Dentists appointment. He'd be happy. Someone interested in making planes could use it as a reference book. Someone getting interested in planes, sharpening etc could use it as a guide. It's full of content AND nice pictures. I know which book I'd choose. No contest.
Cheers now
Chris
That question is open to more than Charlie (suitable rolled material for a small roof 2x3 feet roughly and a single slant - not a triangular roof with an apex), but I'm going to Charlie on this one because I know he's got a lot more exposure to building materials on a day to day basis than I do.
https://littlefreelibrary.myshopify.com ... -two-story
This is the thing they purchased (actually won) and the one I'm building is slightly taller and wider. Not having a clue about external building practices, I can only say that they put some sort of rolled material on the top and some light angle steel around the edges to tack it down.
https://littlefreelibrary.myshopify.com ... -two-story
This is the thing they purchased (actually won) and the one I'm building is slightly taller and wider. Not having a clue about external building practices, I can only say that they put some sort of rolled material on the top and some light angle steel around the edges to tack it down.
Bm101":1g6b7ieh said:
A good assessment. I, too, have some of Chris's books. You're in a conundrum with his material, because it's not really that great and when is it really worth shipping a $10 book to someone else, especially if you think they should be reading something with better roots? I may have thrown that one away, though (the workbench book). When I ultimately built a bench, I built it fast and with aspects that cater to building planes (because that's what I do), but with enough size to work wood entirely by hand elsewhere. I can say that buying the book was a waste, when I was a beginner, I pondered "which one" I would build and procrastinated. It had no influence on what I made, a need forced my hand and cost (well, that was self imposed) and time limited what I was going to do. No Roubo through tenons, no fancy tail vises, just a big brick of a bench.
Garrett's book is also excellent eye candy, but I can't actually remember anything from it other than that I still have it somewhere. I had heard elsewhere (other than custard) that he can be interpreted as arrogant or come across quite sure of himself (but this was from someone a couple of notches above him - not George for those who will assume that's who I'm talking about - and not "one of us").
I could've made a presentation bench, but came to the same realization as you. I want to do something well. I don't just want to do something, I want to do it well. In my case, I have a minor fascination with planes and their function, so I would like to build wooden and infill planes well, and nearly or almost nearly entirely by hand (some parts of the infill require a lathe if they're going to have a lever).
I'd love to try 18th century clocks, but time allows only for one thing at this point. If I switch, I will resent it. Getting volunteered for neighborhood projects and building a few pieces of case for the house (as well as kitchen cabinets) has been plenty to resent already. It is not fulfulling.
There is nothing above average about me as a builder, in any context. I suspect that a lot of the rest of us who are mediocre would enjoy this hobby a lot more if we did as custard said hack advocates - push yourself a little bit and do things that might make you a bit uncomfortable, and with my add on if you're limited in time - pick one thing and do it well. Get immersed in it, really understand it. That extends to holding yourself accountable for design so that you don't carefully make something you resent (been there and done that).
D_W":2vkor05t said:
I have no idea. I just frame roofs "roof cutter" (on occasion), I'm not a roofing contractor -- the guys who apply shingles and all that, two very separate and distinct trades around here. I'd do a search for a roofing contractor in your area to see if they'd like to donate the material, if not also the labor to put it on for you.
Well, in that case, i choose roll on rubberized bed liner. Not going to make a science project out of it. "volunteer" work and 2 hours of someone selling some kind of rubberized UV tolerant roofing last night for less than $50, and no dice.
Don't know why I volunteer to do this kind of stuff, I have a million planes that I'd like to build and kitchen counters to fabricate (and a wife who reminds me of the latter every day).
Don't know why I volunteer to do this kind of stuff, I have a million planes that I'd like to build and kitchen counters to fabricate (and a wife who reminds me of the latter every day).
Tony Zaffuto
Established Member
Jeez, I've stayed away from this forum for too long! Forums in the states are now "dumbed down, politically correct" (besides, filled with Schwarz fan-boys) and I miss the down & dirty, truth be told postings.
As far as a publisher, I like a lot of the stuff Lost Arts Press puts out: I have all of the Hayward books, the Wearing book and a few others, including Anarchist Tool Chest (was this to be a parody book, as since Schwarz has moved into his Roy Underhill imitating store front, he also built an "out of sight" power tool room. OK, well, I use power tools along with my hand tools, but then again Schwarz can't admit that, otherwise he wouldn't be getting $3,500 a pop for the work chests he builds. Seems to me, there were a group of employees that came out of Popular Woodworking (some left on their own, others discharged) that have grouped together, to make an industry out of plying their wares to the fan boys. More power to them, but just because they call themselves instructors, doesn't mean they know anything.
For the record, now that DW has ventured into plane building, he can send all his natural stones my way. In fact, I was in his neighborhood this past weekend and I should have knocked on his door to get them! Also, I enjoy my hobby, even if I never progress past what some may consider ham-fisted constructioneering! Make fun of me and I'll take my $4.00 Harbor Freight "lump hammer" to your head!
As far as a publisher, I like a lot of the stuff Lost Arts Press puts out: I have all of the Hayward books, the Wearing book and a few others, including Anarchist Tool Chest (was this to be a parody book, as since Schwarz has moved into his Roy Underhill imitating store front, he also built an "out of sight" power tool room. OK, well, I use power tools along with my hand tools, but then again Schwarz can't admit that, otherwise he wouldn't be getting $3,500 a pop for the work chests he builds. Seems to me, there were a group of employees that came out of Popular Woodworking (some left on their own, others discharged) that have grouped together, to make an industry out of plying their wares to the fan boys. More power to them, but just because they call themselves instructors, doesn't mean they know anything.
For the record, now that DW has ventured into plane building, he can send all his natural stones my way. In fact, I was in his neighborhood this past weekend and I should have knocked on his door to get them! Also, I enjoy my hobby, even if I never progress past what some may consider ham-fisted constructioneering! Make fun of me and I'll take my $4.00 Harbor Freight "lump hammer" to your head!
