Those of you with access to three sides of your bench, do you cherish it?? I've always worked in v cramped spaces and now I'm setting up a 4x3 metre (which isn't much but right now I'm in 2x2!) shop in the woods with hand-tools-plus-bandsaw setup.

If the bandsaw and workbench share a side, I have no limit to the length of stock I process and easy solutions for infeed and outfeed support on the bandsaw, but it's a tight fit. Roubo-style workbench with legvise at the left, two metres long ... 60cm wide bandsaw ... leaves 140cm to split between either two or three gaps.

Will I use the indicated space enough to justify being cramped in the other two?? Or would it make more sense to stick it up against the right wall? (Right now my bench is hard up against left, back and right, so I can't really tell from experience how my workflow will change).

Thanks for any insights from experience!

Well… it finally happened. I can’t believe I feel for a “too good to be true deal” but here we are.

I found a “Stanley no1” on Facebook market place and figured I might as well try shooting my shot. Not expecting either a response or a possibility at obtaining such a rarity in my neck of the woods, my elation and excitement got the better of me when I got a response stating the item was still available. I couldn’t believe it!!! After a short exchange, despite numerous red flags, I went against my better judgment and sent the person the full asking price via PayPal. They insisted it had to be “friends and family” and I convinced myself they sounded trustworthy.

Suffice to say, it’s been few days of sudden radio silence. I don’t expect to get either the planer in the mail.. or my money back. I’m an idiot.

Don’t be an idiot guys, trust your gut.

This has been my “handtool” related ted talk.. :-/

Has anyone tried making a router plane blade out of a machine key? My local hardware store has them in stock and there's plenty of them.

I have a box of 50+ files and rasps I got from an estate sale. Are the some quick tests I can do to identify if they are still ready for use or not? I assume some that aren't fit for an metal work can still be good for woodworking? I need to pair down what I don't need and isn't useful anymore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6BAXmR2REg

Interesting to watch. I'd rather they showed the complete process for handsaws as opposed to a tenon saw.

Putting an order for some Tremont cut nails. Shipping is expensive so just going to bite the bullet and try to "nail" this order on the first try with a large order of the (hopefully) correct size.

I'm thinking a 2 1/4" (7d) nail is the right size, but am second guessing since it's a soft wood.

Should I go with 2 1/2 (8d) instead?

What if I want to clinch the nail on occasion? Could that be done with either size nail?

Thanks in advance for your'alls input!

Anyone ever see the caliper pop up for sale on its own? I doubt anyone would have a way to identify just the caliper but I’m not sure.

I recently have been looking into buying bigger saws like hand saws and panel saws, but I don't get the difference very much. I know that they're both for breaking down stock, and are very useful for when your carcass, tenon, or sash saws can't cut deep. The only difference I noticed is the size and the tpi/ppi. Thanks for any information. If there is one I should get please let me know, since I'll do what I need to do from there and finally be able to do my bigger projects I'm planning.

I'm sure there is an obvious answer staring me in the face, but I've struggled to understand why push plane and saw handles are made with the orientation of grain horizontal, in the direction of the pushing force, rather than vertical. I find this especially puzzling for wooden hand planes, where the horizontal grain seems especially susceptible to sheering forces, and I cannot come up with an explanation for how this might be the superior grain orientation.

For German style pull planes, the handle grain is vertical, perpendicular to the pulling motion, which makes much more sense to me. Knobs are also made with vertical grain, which again, makes sense. For saws, I suppose there is no grain direction that won't expose the handle to sheering forces, and grain running front to back allows narrow connections between the handle grip and where the handle attaches to the blade. For metal planes, it seems like the screw compressing the handle perpendicular to the grain should help somewhat. But for wooden planes, I really don't get it.

Every picture of a 200+ year old Jack plane has its handle grain parallel to the direction of motion, so I trust there is good reason for this and I feel like I'm missing something obvious-- why are handles made with this grain orientation?

Does anyone here know about this company? I caved and purchased an interesting rip saw off Ebay after a month of watching it. I can't find a ton of info on it. Seems like Vernon saws may have been made by Wheeler Madden Clemson in the mid 1800s, but the only info I can find is a 3 message thread stating Vernon and Co came from Monhagen Saw Works.

No medallion is present. Has cone nuts and clear etching stating Vernon and Co. No. 10.

I saw some videos where japanese chisels are slightly slanted to compensate for their very short blades. This way the handles are in line with the back of the chisel and deep cuts are no issue.

I have an old oire nomi with a non-laminated blade, i suspect it may be a cheap japanese-style chisel instead of a genuine japanese chisel, but I tore off the label ages ago so I can't tell anymore. This one isn't slanted so I am severely limited by the short blade. Was wondering if the slant angle is something I can add myself. I do not have a slanted japanese chisel for reference but I suspect simply changing the angle of the socket's taper might work.

The actual question: is the slant in Japanese chisels a part of the blade itself or a result of how the handle is installed?

Hi everyone, I'm interested in buying a Quangsheng number 5 and a half bench plane from Workshop Heaven and I want to know whether it's worth it or not. From what I can gather it is basically the same as a Woodriver plane (can't get those where I live).

I heard somewhere that it's also the same as Juuma/Luban/Dictum planes but I don't think that's the case since I can see from the photos that the lateral adjustment mechanism is different (Quangsheng has a newer adjuster with a bearing).

Anyways I would love to hear if any of you had any experience with any of their tools. Thanks in advance!

Had a spare 2" blade and chip breaker, decided to make a plane. No idea what I was doing, honestly did not expect it to work. To my surprise, it sings amazingly. I am still refining the shape, but I had to put it to the test on some hard maple... And I was absolutely shocked.

I like the feel of the wood on wood instead of iron on wood (and it's not even waxed yet). This is also my first wooden plane. I set the blade further back so it could be used as a push, or pull plane. It's not perfect but it's perfectly functional. I was expecting it to fail and not be able to perform, so I didn't do everything perfectly but now I know I can use some nicer wood and "should" be able turn out a beautiful plane.

And now I have an urge to make a couple other plans to fit some needs in my applications. Is this how it starts?

Figured I would share with the group, I don't have any buddies that are into woodworking, let alone hand tools.