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Articles by Garrett Hack
Garrett Hack's favorite handplanes
Synopsis: It’s safe to say that Garrett Hack is pretty fond of hand planes. He has traveled to Europe and Japan and all over North America to teach about them, he has been collecting them for years, and he’s a master at using them. One thing he’s learned over the years is that you don’t need a lot of planes, just good ones. Here, he shares the stories of some of his favorites. I’ve been drawn to tools since I was 3.
Hand Tools - FineWoodworking
Choose a Chapter Search Guide An Introduction to Hand Tools All woodworkers have their own preferences for hand tools, and in this introductory chapter we'll find out what the pros consider their essential tools. You'll get a chance to look inside the toolboxes of furniture makers and cabinetmakers, joiners and wheelwrights to discover their all-time favorite tools. While there's no shortage of commercial hand tools on the market, some woodworkers prefer to make their own, and we'll show you how.
How to develop a furniture style
How-To Garrett Hack has a style all his own, and here he talks about where it began, how it developed, and where it might be going in the future. By Garrett Hack #294-JAN/FEB 2022 Issue Synopsis: What goes into a furniture maker developing their own personal style? Garrett Hack has a style all his own, and here he talks about where it began, how it developed, and where it might be going in the future.
Chairmaker's Planes - FineWoodworking
Tools & Materials On overview of the specialty planes that chairmakers have used for centuries. By Garrett Hack Oct 13, 2021 Small planes for shaping chair seats (here, resting on a pine seat for a Windsor chair) have doubly compassed soles to work into the hollow. Chairmakers hollow plank seats with larger versions of finger planes, with the same doubly compassed soles.
Cooper's planes - FineWoodworking
Tools & Materials Making a barrel takes a number of planes, each perfectly adapted to a cooper’s work shaping curved surfaces. By Garrett Hack Sep 06, 2021 Coopering is one of many trades that adapted tools to its special needs, in this case to shape and smooth the sides of curving barrels. The stoup planes at the back of the table smooth the inside; the scraper shave in the foreground, known as a “buzz,” shapes the outside.
Tips and Tricks for Handplaning
The planes you’ll use the most are bench planes: a #3 or #4 smoothing plane, a #5 jack, and a #7 or #8 jointer. How you use them depends a lot on what you make, but it’s sure to involve the basic techniques of cutting true edges or jointing surfaces for such work as edge-gluing boards, smoothing narrow surfaces, trimming parts to exact width and length, and fitting parts together. From there, it isn’t much of a leap to using joinery, molding, or other specialized planes.
Step-by-Step Guide to Tuning Handplanes
Choose any type of plane—bench plane, rabbet plane, smoothing plane, or molding plane—and, while they may have different shapes or lengths (and other obvious differences), they share some basic elements. They all have a sole (flat or shaped); a chisel-like iron (also straight or shaped); a wedge or lever cap holding the iron in position; a throat (sometimes called a mouth); and a handle or some way to grip the tool comfortably and to control the cutting direction.
Making Sense of Handplane Numbers
Stanley’s plane-numbering system has had collectors confused for decades. While it might appear orderly, some numbers seem to have been assigned as much by whim as by logic. How do you explain why a #5-1/2 is larger than a #5, but a #5-1/4 is considerably smaller than both? It all began with the first catalog of January 1870, which offered a line of cast-iron bench planes numbered 1 through 12 and wood-bottomed planes numbered 21 through 37.
The Physics of Handplaning
Fine Woodworking Project Guides Member-Only Sign in or become a member to access this story Sign in How the parts of a handplane work together to make perfect cuts. By Garrett Hack Aug 09, 2021 Planes are more than just a collection of parts fitted together. Clearly some planes work a whole lot better than others. Why is this?
The Types of Handplanes
Leaf through any tool catalog and you’re apt to see a couple dozen or more planes offered. Any good used-tool shop might have a hundred or more classic Stanleys and others for sale. I’ve seen collections of nearly a thousand planes. How are all these planes different from one another, and what are they used for? And what exactly distinguishes them as planes? Planes are complex tools. Think of them as sophisticated chisels, where the design of the tool controls the size and quality of the shaving.
Webinar: Inspiring Design with Garrett Hack
The difference between a really beautiful piece of furniture and one much less so is design. One of the best ways to sharpen your design skills is to look at lots of furniture—antique to modern and anything in between—to see how the maker solved some of the basic problems of design, dealt with proportion and scale, incorporated details, used different materials, and more. Imagine this session as a guided visit to a rich museum of furniture ideas.
Webinar: Inspiring Design with Garrett Hack
Sign up now! Join FWW contributing editor Garrett Hack for a live webinar on design By Garrett Hack Jan 13, 2021 The difference between a really beautiful piece of furniture and one much less so is design. One of the best ways to sharpen your design skills is to look at lots of furniture—antique to modern and anything in between—to see how the maker solved some of the basic problems of design, dealt with proportion and scale, incorporated details, used different materials, and more.
Chair Making Simplified
Member-Only Sign in or become a member to access this story Sign In Basic side chair won't compromise comfort, strength or style By Garrett Hack #166–Nov/Dec 2003 Issue Synopsis: Even the most basic chair must support a body comfortably and be strong. Dealing with angled joinery and curved parts exposes you to making patterns, full-scale drawings, mock-ups, and thinking in three dimensions. Also, chairs are great for improving hand skills such as fitting joints and smoothing curves.
Video: Furniture Design Step by Step with Mike Pekovich
Replay Join FWW creative director Michael Pekovich, for a webinar on his design process. By Michael Pekovich Jun 04, 2020 View FREE Webinar When you enter your email address below. Plus, get Fine Woodworking emails filled with advice, how-to, and special offers. or Log In Read our Privacy Policy Questions? Contact Customer Service Designing your own furniture can be an intimidating prospect, but it’s a rewarding and necessary step if you want to move beyond building from plans.
STL212: The call of the pattern-maker's vise
Chairmaker, David Douyard, joins Mike and Ben in studio, and they discuss using budget lumber, tools the covet, go-to chisels, and what one listener should do with his old pattern-maker's vise. Mar 27, 2020 This episode is brought to you by: and A stunning black-over-red milk paint finish By Elia Bizzarri #281-Mar/Apr 2020 Issue Elia Bizzarri shows how to layer black milk paint over red to create a rich, layered look on his Windsor chairs.
7 Questions with Garrett Hack
Video Contributing editor Garrett Hack answers life's most important questions, like 'what is your favorite tool?' By Garrett Hack Jan 10, 2020 Who is your favorite furniture maker? David and Abraham Roentgens, the German makers who were making some of the most incredible furniture ever made in Germany in about 1780-1800, and for royalty all over Europe, with secret drawers and secret mechanisms. It was highly marquetried and complex, complex stuff. What is your favorite piece of furniture?
STL201: Friends Don't Let Friends Go Metric
This episode is brought to you by Maverick Abrasives. Question 1: From James: I’ve been woodworking for several years, but I am just now beginning to incorporate hand tools in my work. I mainly use reclaimed antique long-leaf pine, running it through my jointer and planer, then I use a belt sander and random orbital sander to get to a finish surface. I’d like to eliminate some of the sanding and use a handplane.
Lumber and Materials: Our Favorite Articles
Our editors looked through our archives for their favorite articles and videos on lumber and materials. Featured below are the top seven articles and videos about choosing lumber, air- or kiln-drying it, leveling it with a shopmade router jig, and designing with grain. Five Overlooked Hardwoods Synopsis: In their desire to stick with familiar woods such as cherry, walnut, oak, and maple, many woodworkers miss out on exploring a gold mine of unusual trees.
Inlay and Veneering: Our Favorite Articles
A roundup of our top articles and videos on inlay and veneering, from woodworkers like Bob Van Dyke, Steve Latta, and Garrett Hack By Fine Woodworking Editors Jul 12, 2018 Our editors have sorted through our archives for their favorite articles and videos on inlay and veneering. Featured below are the top six how-to articles and video workshops showing you line-and-berry inlay, inlaid panels, string inlay, basics of wood veneering, and veneered boxes.
Cabinets: Our Favorite Articles
A roundup of our top articles from Matt Kenney, Clark Kellogg, Garrett Hack, Michael Peckovich, and others on wall cabinets, cabinets on a stand, and more By Fine Woodworking Editors Jul 06, 2018 Our editors have sorted through our archives for their favorite articles and videos on cabinets. Featured below are various project plans and video workshops showing you how to make curved wall cabinets and cabinets on a stand, like the popular Krenov cabinet on a stand.
10 Ways to Cut a Mortise and Tenon Joint
One of the most versatile joints, the mortise and tenon joint lends itself to being cut with hand tools, power tools, or several combinations of the two. There’s also seemingly no end of commercial and shopmade jigs that make it easier to cut mortises, tenons, or both. Variations like through, pinned, draw-bored or wedged tenons also bring rich stylistic diversity to this joint.
The Only Hand Tools Garrett Hack Really Needs
Tools & Materials From milling and layout to fitting joints and smoothing, this tidy kit does it all when on the road By Garrett Hack #265–Tools & Shops 2018 Issue I am fortunate to teach woodworking classes around the United States, in Canada, and in faraway places such as Japan and Germany. I learned early on that I need my own tools with me when I teach, ones that I know well and that are dependable, perfectly tuned, and sharp.
STL 144: MDF Benches and missing handplanes - FineWoodworking
Given that you have full-time jobs at the magazine, and you no doubt have family/life stuff to deal with as well, do you have any routines or rules that you live by with the aim of preventing mistakes when you get shop-time? I’m new to woodworking, and I love shaker furniture, but am starving for more influence. I know I can just look at furniture, but I feel I’d get more from a body of work by folks that really know their stuff. What are three makers that influence you?
Two Block Planes Are Better than One
Member-Only Sign in or become a member to access this story Sign in Furniture maker Garrett Hack uses an apron plane for coarse work and then switches to an adjustable-mouth block plane for fine-tuning. By Garrett Hack #255–July/Aug 2016 Issue Synopsis: Garrett Hack keeps his two favorite two block planes close at hand whenever he’s working.
How to Make Custom Moldings
Member-Only Sign in or become a member to access this story Sign in With just a few planes, you can create beautiful profiles not found in the router-bit rack. By Garrett Hack #243–Nov/Dec 2014 Issue Synopsis: Beautiful moldings add a lot to a piece of furniture, and you don’t have to be limited by the profiles of your router bits to make them.
How to Make Custom Moldings
Synopsis: Beautiful moldings add a lot to a piece of furniture, and you don’t have to be limited by the profiles of your router bits to make them. Garrett Hack advises that you try making them with hand tools, and gives step-by-step instructions on how to make a classic ellipse, a cove and bead molding, and an ogee and a half-round. Applied moldings have a long history in furniture making, and for good reason. A molding can be the aesthetic crown that tops a piece of furniture.
Jointers and Other Long Handplanes
When most woodworkers first dip their toes into the world of handplanes, they generally start out with a block plane and a smoother. Longer jointer planes like Stanley’s venerable No. 7 and No. 8 are often forgotten, or simply misunderstood by hand tool newcomers, and that’s a mistake. Longer planes allow a woodworker to accurately joint long edges, and can even be used for rough milling on stock that’s too large for conventional milling machinery.
Jointers and Other Long Handplanes
Fine Woodworking Project Guides How-To Furniture maker Garrett Hack offers tips on how to use jointers and other long handplanes. By Garrett Hack May 06, 2014 Anatole Burkin and Robin Burkin When most woodworkers first dip their toes into the world of handplanes, they generally start out with a block plane and a smoother. Longer jointer planes like Stanley’s venerable No. 7 and No. 8 are often forgotten, or simply misunderstood by hand tool newcomers, and that’s a mistake.
The Best Ways to Hold Down Your Work
How-To Learn a variety of ways to secure a workpiece for handplaning By Garrett Hack Mar 20, 2014 Anatole Burkin and Robin Burkin If you’ve ever tried to handplane a workpiece that wasn’t securely fastened to your bench, you know how difficult it can be to get a smooth shaving with the piece wobbling and moving around. That’s why it’s important to be able to hold down your work securely, no matter its shape or size.
How a Handplane Cuts
To get a handplane to cut effectively, a woodworker needs to understand the basic mechanics of how a plane cuts. In this short video, furniture maker Garrett Hack explains how a handplane generates a shaving as well as a number of other aspects of the tool including: bed angles, adjustable throat openings, bevel up vs. bevel down planes, and a whole lot more.
How a Handplane Cuts
To get a handplane to cut effectively, a woodworker needs to understand the basic mechanics of how a plane cuts. In this short video, furniture maker Garrett Hack explains how a handplane generates a shaving as well as a number of other aspects of the tool including: bed angles, adjustable throat openings, bevel up vs. bevel down planes, and a whole lot more. Get woodworking tips, expert advice and special offers in your inbox Sign Up ×
Block Plane Tips and Techniques
Block planes may be the smallest in the line of bench planes, but they’re probably one of the most useful. Their low-angle blades make them ideal for end grain, chamfering, beveling, smoothing, and any other task where you want a lot of control from a small tool that’s easy to handle. In this short video, furniture-maker Garrett Hack offers a series of tips and techniques that demonstrate how to use a block plane effectively.
Hone Your Spokeshave Technique
Spokeshaves come in a whole host of shapes and sizes, and are used by a variety of craftsmen—from coopers and cabinet-makers, to wheelwrights and pattern-makers. They excel at leaving a glass-smooth, handplaned finish on workpieces with curved edges. In this short video, furniture-maker Garrett Hack offers tips on how to use a traditional spokeshave, including techniques for starting a cut, proper body position, and more.
Sharpen Your Plane Irons Freehand
Honing guides offer precise repeatability when it comes to sharpening plane irons and chisels, but for professional furniture makers who might refine various blades multiple times a week, freehand honing is a more common method. This skill requires a great deal of muscle memory. If you’re not careful, you could end up inadvertently rounding over the crisp cutting edge you’ve worked so hard to produce.
How to Use a Shoulder Plane
Fine Woodworking Project Guides Member-Only Sign in or become a member to access this story Sign in Furniture maker Garrett Hack offers basic tips for a handplane dedicated to keeping joinery snug and square.
Fast Fixes for Joinery Mistakes
Member-Only Sign in or become a member to access this story Sign In 5 pros share their favorite saves By Michael Pekovich, Greg Brown, Garrett Hack, Will Neptune, Thomas McKenna #233–May/June 2013 Issue Synopsis: Straight from the pros, five quick and easy fixes for joinery mistakes. If you find yourself midway through a piece of furniture and find yourself with a gappy dovetail, a miscut tenon, or miters that don’t meet perfectly, you don’t necessarily have to start over.
Build an Elegant Side Table
In this video workshop, Hack takes you through the entire process of building an elegant side table with a hallmark drawer that actually spins on a single pivot point. With splayed legs that are surfaced by hand, and subtle details like ebony leg cuffs and cockbeading, it’s the perfect project for more advanced woodworkers. Produced by: Ed Pirnik and John Ross; Video by: John Ross; Editing by: Tom Olivares Purchase the project plan. Looking for more?
Chamfer End Grain Without Tearout
Member-Only Sign in or become a member to access this story Sign In By Garrett Hack #231–Jan/Feb 2013 Issue Q: What’s the best way to chamfer end grain with a block plane? My edges look torn out and uneven. Don Riley, Missoula, MT A: Aim for an even facet on the chamfer, which you can check by shining a raking light across it. To ensure consistency along all of the corners, tuck a finger or two under the sole of the plane to act as an angle guide.
What Makes My Bench Work
Thomas McKenna My first bench held up to more than 30 years of hard use, a testament to its construction. So when I designed a new bench (A Workbench 30 Years in the Making), I kept some features from the first, improving them as needed, and added a few completely new ideas. Big top, lots of benefits The benchtop is a bit larger than that on my old bench. I made it big enough to hold a large case piece in almost any clamping arrangement, with room for many tools.
How to Apply Stringing
How-To The secret is a tapered groove and a tapered strip of inlay. Watch how the two come together. By Garrett Hack #200–Sept/Oct 2008 Issue David Heim and Tom Olivares Stringing–an inlay made from a thin strip of wood, often white like holly–adds an elegant touch to period and modern furniture. In this video, FWW contributing editor Garrett Hack demonstrates his technique and shares his secret for making sure that the groove housing the stringing is straight and even.
Step-by-Step Guide to Making a Scratch Stock
A scratch stock is part scraper, part molding plane. It’s a small, flat blade filed and honed to cut a groove or a bead close to the edge of a workpiece. It’s often used to make the groove that holds a stringing inlay, or to cut a small bead on the edge of a drawer front, a table apron, or a leg. Contributing editor Garrett Hack, who often uses a scratch stock in his furniture-making, takes you through all the steps to make one. The process takes less than an hour and is essentially free.
Handplanes I Can't Live Without
Member-Only Sign in or become a member to access this story Sign in Do better work with these 8 vital hand tools. By Garrett Hack #195–Tools & Shops 2008 Issue Synopsis: Every shop needs handplanes, even those that rely heavily on power tools. There are just some jobs–such as smoothing a surface or fitting a joint perfectly–that you can’t do as well or as quickly with a power tool. With that in mind, Garrett Hack reveals his list of the eight essential handplanes.
Bench Hook Holds Sharpening Stones
Nothing in my shop is more useful or attracts more attention when I teach woodworking classes than the sharpening-stone holder that I use every time I sharpen a chisel or a plane iron. After being frustrated by stones shifting around as I honed cutting edges, one day I solved the problem by nailing together this variation of a bench hook. It holds sharpening stones firmly in one place, and it also keeps my bench cleaner.
Bench Chisels Can Do Mortises
Tools & Materials Learn to cut perfect mortises with a combination of hand and power tools in part five of our 10-question series on choosing and using chisels By Garrett Hack #191–May/June 2007 Issue Matt Berger and Michael Dobsevage Garrett Hack Thetford Center, Vermont Author, teacher, and furniture maker Garrett Hack answers 10 questions from readers about choosing, sharpening, and using chisels.
The Essential Chisel Set
Garrett Hack Thetford Center, Vermont Author, teacher, and furniture maker Garrett Hack answers 10 questions from readers about choosing, sharpening, and using chisels. Read More 1 If you were forced to limit yourself to eight chisels to do all of your woodworking from now on, what would be in the set? NOW PLAYING 2 In your wonderful book Classic Hand Tools, you say that of the vintage chisels you’ve used, you favor Swan. What exactly do you think sets the Swans apart?
The right edge for your tabletop
Synopsis: Garrett Hack spends a lot of time designing edges that add to the look of his tabletops. Not only must the edge of a table be tough enough to endure the bumps and bruises of everyday use, but it also must be attractive and pleasant to the touch. Many factors come into play, such as the size of the overhang, the thickness of the top, and the type of wood.
Chop a Hinge Mortise
Member-Only Sign in or become a member to access this story Sign In In this video, Garrett Hack demonstrates the care and patience required when cutting a hinge mortise completely by hand. By Garrett Hack Oct 25, 2005 Start your 14-day FREE trial to watch this video Plus, access more than 500 video workshop episodes when you become a member Start Your Free Trial Gary Junken The Beatles were wrong. All you need is patience; patience is all you need.
Splay-Legged Table
Fine Woodworking Project Guides Member-Only Sign in or become a member to access this story Sign in Add tapered and splayed legs to your skills as a designer and craftsperson with this elegant side table. By Garrett Hack #168–Jan/Feb 2004 Issue Synopsis: A small table is a perfect project to demystify tapered and splayed legs and add them to your skills as a designer and craftsperson. Garrett Hack takes you through building a pattern and ascertaining your splay angles.
Splay-Legged Table
Member-Only Sign in or become a member to access this story Sign In Straightforward design with a refined flair By Garrett Hack #168–Jan/Feb 2004 Issue Synopsis: A small table is a perfect project to demystify tapered and splayed legs and add them to your skills as a designer and craftsperson. Garrett Hack takes you through building a pattern and ascertaining your splay angles. He uses a dado set to cut the mortises and shows how a tablesaw makes fast work of angled tenon shoulders.
Corner Cupboard - FineWoodworking
Member-Only Sign in or become a member to access this story Sign In This space-saving piece enhances any room By Garrett Hack #175–Jan/Feb 2005 Issue Synopsis: This project was inspired by a small hanging corner cabinet with a single curved door, shaped cornice, and molded base, that author Garrett Hack admired at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. Hack took that inspiration and made it his own design: a country-style piece with delicate details. The shelves are cut with a curved front.
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