BOOK REVIEW:
Hand Planes in the Modern Shop
, by Kerry Pierce
by J. Norman Reid
Delaplane, VA
Before I begin, let me confess that I'm in love with handplanes. That is, no doubt, one
of the reasons why Kerry Pierce's book,
Hand Planes in the Modern Shop
, is so
attractive to me. I'll read about anything I find that's relevant to this topic. And I'm
certainly glad I read this book.
The book's title somewhat understates the breadth of its contents. It certainly does
cover the uses of handplanes of all sorts in the woodshop, be it a hybrid shop or one
totally free of powered machinery. But the book offers far more than that. It's a feast of
information about handplanes that ranges from types of planes and their uses to buying,
restoring, collecting and troubleshooting.
In a comfortable, personable style, Pierce describes his own move away from machine
tools to a predominantly dust-free hand tool shop, necessitated by a life-threatening
illness. He relates a narrative of his own journey to obtain, restore and learn to use
handplanes of all sorts, never shying away from revealing his failures as well as his
successes. He compares tools of different brands and types and, refreshingly, does not
hesitate to make specific criticisms and recommendations.
Though Pierce praises the quality of newly manufactured planes by such makers as
Lie-Nielsen
and Veritas, he gives much attention to the search for older tools—metal-bodied
Stanley's
and wooden-bodied planes—and restoring them to effective use. An
interesting part of his presentation are analyses of then-contemporary eBay prices for
selected planes. Though now dated by a few years, they nonetheless will give some
guidance to buyers as to what to look out for in the used marketplace.
Pierce opens his narrative with a brief introduction to his personal journey into the realm
of handplanes. This is followed by a chapter on the history of planemaking from the
Roman Empire to wooden planes of the 18th and 19th centuries, English infill planes and
American metal-bodied planes.
The real meat of the book begins in chapter 2, the lengthiest chapter in the book, which
discusses bench planes—those planes that do most of the flattening and smoothing of a
board's faces and edges. He briefly compares the sizes of bench planes, then defines the characteristics of "good" bench planes, as well as those he considers to be
"superior" and "exquisite." He compares antique and modern brands, particularly
American planes, steel planes, wood-bodied planes, infill planes, transitional planes and
bevel-up planes. He discusses buying antique planes, as well as restoring wooden,
metal and infill planes based on his own experience. He then gives a guide to grinding
and honing bevels, setting up planes and using them. The chapter concludes with a
discussion of the values of used bench planes.
Joinery planes are the subject of chapter 3. These include miter planes and shooting
boards, grooving planes such as rabbet planes, plow planes, moving filletster and dado
planes, shoulder planes and router planes. Pierce addresses the question of prices
when buying used planes, setting them up and putting them to use. He offers, as a
special illustration, how he restored an antique plow plane and sharpened its iron.
Molding planes are the focus of chapter 4. Pierce describes the varieties of molding
planes—shaping planes like hollows and rounds, simple shapers like side bead planes,
and those offering more complicated shapes. He discusses what and when to buy
molding planes, which are still widely available on the used and antique tool market, as
well as from a few contemporary makers. An important section demonstrates restoring
a molding plane and shaping the plane iron. Pierce then addresses using molding
planes, both those that are held vertically in use and those—especially those with
complex designs—that must be oriented to their "spring lines." A special section
discusses cornice planes, perhaps the most difficult of the molding planes to use. The
chapter concludes with an assessment of molding plane values.
Shorter chapters follow on block planes, scrapers—both card scrapers and scraper
planes—and router planes. Each chapter focuses on finding good users, tuning them
and putting them to work.
Chapter 8 is a fascinating illustrated presentation of building two shop-made planes.
The first, and longer, section illustrates the construction of a Gerd Fritsche infill jointer
plane and shows all the steps—and problems—Pierce encountered in building the kit.
Fritsche offers several options for his kits and Pierce chose to cut and shape his own
infill from American walnut. Even if you never plan to build such a kit, it's an interesting
exploration into the whats and what-nots of plane building.
The second plane is a wooden miter plane that Pierce made from a block of maple.
This shorter presentation shows the basic steps for constructing the plane, though
probably not in enough detail to replicate the process, unlike his description of the
Fritsche infill plane build.
Chapter 9 profiles two modern planemakers. First is Jim Leamy, a retired Air Force
veteran who spends his time crafting special planes of exquisite quality. An example of his work, a reproduction of the ebony and ivory Sandusky presentation plow plane, is
described.
Second is Thomas Lie-Nielsen, owner of
Lie-Nielsen Toolworks
in Warren, Maine,
who has built a thriving small business in manufacturing high quality hand tools. The
profile explains the reasons behind Lie-Nielsen's success, which he partly attributes to
the luck of timing before the days of the internet.
Because much of Pierce's own tool collection, as well as his presentation in this book,
involves restoration of old planes, he devotes a brief but useful chapter to guidelines for
when and how to restore old planes. Those with unique historical and price value, he
says, should be put on display and not restored at all. Those with price value but
lacking uniqueness or historical value may be lightly restored and used, while those in
plentiful, cheap supply can be readily modified as needed to put to use. Pierce reviews
the suggestions of several collectors regarding acceptable restoration techniques for
wooden planes.
A brief chapter on plane collecting focuses on the broad tool collection—which includes
over 800 planes—of Max Strebelton of Lancaster, Ohio. The collection especially
focuses on planes made locally in Fairfield County, Ohio, where Strebelton resides.
A wonderful chapter provides an illustrated display of hand planes of many types and
brands and offers a good—though necessarily incomplete—overview of what is
available, both new and used, to the handplane user.
A final chapter offers some troubleshooting tips for bench planes and other types of
planes for users who are not getting the desired results.
Well-illustrated throughout with excellent photographs and detailed drawings, this book
is a feast for the eyes as well as a wealth of hard-earned experience from an
accomplished handplane user and restorer. Though some of the price and tool
availability information is now dated, the underlying experience shared in this volume is
timeless. It is one of my favorite handplane books and one that I'll come back to again
and again. Handplane users, restorers and collectors will all find something of value
here.
CLICK HERE to order your copy of
Hand Planes in the Modern Shop
The author is a woodworker, writer, and woodworking instructor living in the Blue Ridge Mountains with his wife, a woodshop full of power and hand tools and four cats who think they are cabinetmaker's assistants. He is the author of the forthcoming book
Choosing and Using Handplanes
.
He can be reached by email at
nreid@fcc.net
.
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