The most difficult tool to become proficient with?

[Andy Kev.]

I've just had to cut some rebates and so used my Veritas skewed rebate plane.

It gets my nomination as the most difficult tool to become proficient with. This is no reflection on the plane itself as it is a precisely and well engineered bit of kit. The reason I find it a challenge is that there seem to be more factors constantly in play than is the case with most tools . You've to make sure that it's toed in properly, then there are the two tasks for the hands (never a problem with the plough plane for some reason).

I got the desired results with it but had to go slowly, steadily and with care. What I found to be the key factor was to mark the depth of cut on the wood at the ends of the cut. This is nothing to do with achieving the desired depth (you adjust the gadget on the plane for that) but rather to check that the rebate is level. I find that I tend to cut down on the inside of the cut, so regular comparison with the marked line showed where I'd been inadvertently been tilting the plane inwards and that I had to readjust. I got there in the end with a couple of bang on rebates, each of 3/8" depth but I had to correct the tilt four times on one of them.

So all in all, I reckon it's an excellent tool but it will not suffer less than exact use.

 

[bugbear]

Round bottomed metal spokeshave e.g. Stanley 151R.

BugBear

 

[JohnPW]

I think it's the saw, if you can saw straight, square and exactly to the line, that covers about half of any woodwork.

Second would be chisels and gouges.

The more simple the tool, the harder they are to use. In comparison planes almost work by themselves, that's not to say they don't need skill to use.

 

[Rorschach]

I have trouble with hand planes, and power planes for that matter. I can saw well, I can use chisels pretty well too but always have trouble with planes.

 

[cowfoot]

The skew rebate is a tricky one, I sometimes have to level up with a shoulder plane afterwards.
I've also found it's the most basic tools that take a long time to master properly. Based on what I've seen as a decorator, very few people can operate a paint brush, for example!

 

[NazNomad]

My oval skew, it scares the **** out of me every time I ''try'' to use it.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Typewryttur.

 

[dzj]

Skew chisel on the lathe. I can manage the basics, but when you
see the professional turners work, you realize how deficient your skills are.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I've just had to cut some rebates and so used my Veritas skewed rebate plane.

It gets my nomination as the most difficult tool to become proficient with.

Andy, I tend to agree with you. It is a joy to use when set up well. However, the blade and nicker must be aligned first, otherwise there will be spelching when planing across the grain, plus the inside wall of the rebate will begin to slope.

I always work to knifed lines, and aim to cut just inside the line. The last stroke is with a shoulder plane to ensure a clean and square cut to the line.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Andy Kev.]

I've just had to cut some rebates and so used my Veritas skewed rebate plane.

It gets my nomination as the most difficult tool to become proficient with.

Andy, I tend to agree with you. It is a joy to use when set up well. However, the blade and nicker must be aligned first, otherwise there will be spelching when planing across the grain, plus the inside wall of the rebate will begin to slope.

I always work to knifed lines, and aim to cut just inside the line. The last stroke is with a shoulder plane to ensure a clean and square cut to the line.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek,

I had previously cut some rebates with the grain and so had not used the nicker. My inward tilt happened here also, so that's definitely a tendency I have and has nothing to do with the tool. Then I moved on to the 3/8" deep cross grain cuts and forgot to engage the nicker. Luckily I had knifed the lines in quite markedly (something I tend to do on any task whenever a line is needed) and I didn't even notice that I hadn't engaged the nicker. Maybe I was just lucky with the wood which was American Poplar. It seems to me that the absolute key thing is the minuscule, even, lateral projection of the blade and I finally got that right by resorting to the old gentle hammer tap routine.

For anybody who might have difficulties with this plane, I found the tips from The Renaissance Woodworker on youtube to be very helpful.

 

[LancsRick]

Lathe skew chisel without a doubt for me!

 

[Droogs]

Of the planes, I found that the shoulder/rebate planes were the hardest to master sufficiently as I would always end up with a slight slope an the wall that got wider as it went down. I then learned that I was using the things wrongly. My logic told me that the side of the plane should rub against the wall and it would then give me a nice rebate. But I saw somewhere that the planes were not designed to be used like that at all. The fact that the blade and nicker protrude slightly to the side means that when using the plane there should be a gap between the body of the plane and the wall of the rebate and it is only the side of the blade and nicker that "rub" along the wall. After a lot of slow practice I gradually got the hang of it and now can use the thing at a reasonable speed and accuracy.

Of my saws it was the Bow saw and using it to cut veneers accurately to a thickness that was even all the way down.

Of my shaping tools it was the wood spokeshave and learning to set the blade with a slight difference to the blade height at either side and then getting smooth shavings.

The hardest handtool of all to learn to use well was my rubber for french polishing. Geting the pressure, speed and dampness right to avoid streaks was a nightmare.

But in all honesty the tool that over all others I've found the hardest to learn to use properly, efficiently and effectively has been my stereoscopic eyes.

 

[RogerP]

Lathe skew chisel without a doubt for me!

Agreed!

 

[bugbear]

Most people's reported difficulty with rebate planes in this thread seems to be lack of knowledge (and not hand skill), in that they didn't know how the tool should be set up.

BugBear

 

[DoctorWibble]

It would be a stretch to claim I've yet become proficient with any tool but my inept fumblings have so far been most conclusively defeated by a large badger plane. I did get it working nicely at one brief point but couldn't maintain or repeat the setting. I'll have another go after some practice on simpler woodies.

 

[NazNomad]

Most people's reported difficulty with rebate planes in this thread seems to be lack of knowledge (and not hand skill), in that they didn't know how the tool should be set up.

... and the rest of us are like, ''what the Hell is a rebate plane?'' :-D

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Most people's reported difficulty with rebate planes in this thread seems to be lack of knowledge (and not hand skill), in that they didn't know how the tool should be set up.

... and the rest of us are like, ''what the Hell is a rebate plane?'' :-D

It's the opposite of a surcharge plane.

***Dives under bench and covers head in anticipation of a flying offcut***

Rather more seriously - I can't get on with carving chisels. It's not so much the tools, it's just that anything I've ever tried to carve ends up looking absolutely nothing like the original intention, more like badly finished firewood.

Mind you, I can't draw freehand, either. Maybe I just have to accept that my artistic gene is dormant.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

I've yet to achieve satisfactory results with my Record 020 Compass Plane - luckily my spokeshaves can make up for nearly all my shortcomings with the 020 (chatter etc.).

 

[D_W]

I've yet to achieve satisfactory results with my Record 020 Compass Plane - luckily my spokeshaves can make up for nearly all my shortcomings with the 020 (chatter etc.).

Using the cap iron set properly in one of those compass planes makes all of the difference in the world. You can plane with them all the way through a curve without damage, even though it's unpleasant to plane uphill with one.

I never liked compass planes or understood how people could use the old beech ones with good effect until I learned to set the cap iron. They're trivial to use with the cap iron set, and doing so also takes some of the heat off of the relatively soft irons that are in a lot of the later ones. A plane can cut until it's fairly dull if the cap iron can keep it in the cut and keep the shaving from separating.

 

[bugbear]

I've yet to achieve satisfactory results with my Record 020 Compass Plane - luckily my spokeshaves can make up for nearly all my shortcomings with the 020 (chatter etc.).

Using the cap iron set properly...

I've think I've spotted a recurring theme in your posts...

BugBear