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Sharp & to the Point The Hock Tools Newsletter#4/16
Advancing Handtools: 7 Schools that Teach Plane Making #4/2016
When we put ourselves into our tools, i.e. build a relationship with our tools, then what we put into our tools gets added to everything we make, every time
— Kevin Drake, Glen-Drake Tools
T ypically, woodworkers who make their own
handplane find building and using their self-
made planes an extremely satisfying experi-
ence. Not only because they build a tool for
themselves, but they discover that the wood
handplanes are more immediate and to-the-touch than
metal planes. Of course metal planes have their many
uses—no doubt. However, using wooden handplanes—
especially ones you molded to your own hands – are
unlike a generic manufactured metal plane in that they
help a woodworker become facile, not only at planing
and shaping wood but also with tuning the plane and
becoming fluid in its use -- both “at-one” with the tool
and the work at hand.
If you are interested in taking a class in making wooden handplanes, keep your
eyes on the Internet. Some schools or individual teaching woodworkers teach plane
making as part of a 2-day, one week or several month program. It ’s worth your
time to go online and look around for a school that suit your needs. Although not a
complete list—some courses are not yet listed, or were recently held—below is a
sampling of what’s out there at 7 different schools:
1. At Inside Passage School of Fine Cabinetmaking in Roberts Creek, Brit-
ish Columbia, Canada, Robert Van Norman begins his eleven-week courses
with plane making, moving from how to make your own smoother, jointer
and adjustment hammer to round bottom and coopering planes.
A slew of handplanes made
by students of Kevin Drake
at Marc Adams School of
Woodworking.
2. Summer classes at Fine Woodworking Program at College of the Red-
woods, Fort Bragg, California, offer tools and technique workshops that in-
clude building your own wooden handplanes. Beginning and established
woodworkers come from all over the map to take these classes taught by
the same faculty as for the well-known nine-month fine woodworking pro-
gram established by James Krenov at the college. Although summer stu-
dents do not go through
the nine-month inten-
sive, in a short week
they build and use
wooden handplanes just
as the long program stu-
dents learn to do during
their first weeks.
Right, 4 handmade planes, each fit to the makers hands. James Krenov ’s methods and woodworking ethos are a principle driving force at IPSFC. Ac-cording to headmaster Robert Van Norman, “James Krenov often re-ferred to hand planes as instruments, at its best a ‘Stradivarius’...Since making my first plane in the fall of 1987 at the James Krenov Fine Woodworking Program at College of the Redwoods, I have made a few planes each year since, and have had the pleasure of introducing the mak-ing and use of wooden planes to hun-dreds of students worldwide.”
Bengt Carlen, Photo Credit
Master woodworker and instructor Jim Budlong, right,
instructs in the finer points of making a wooden
handplane during a summer course at College of Red-
woods Fine Furniture Programs Tools & Techniques
workshop.
College of the Redwoods Fine Furni-
ture Program summer students learn
to cut and shape from dimensioned
blocks of wood, to fit a blade, make a
wedge, and fit a plane to their own
hands and to suit their own purposes
in their own woodshops. Yes, that
blade you see is a Hock blade, pretty
much the same as made for the first
time for James Krenov and his stu-
dents in the nine-month program in
1982.
3. William Ng is a long-time fine furniture maker and beloved instructor
who owns and operates the William Ng School of Fine Woodworking in Ana-
heim, California. The school recently concluded a course in wooden
handplanes, but plane making workshops come again in the line-up of
short workshops. William builds elegant handplanes and extols the virtues
of making your own, “Using a finely tuned wooden hand plane you make
yourself is probably one of woodworking’s ultimate experiences. It offers a
great sense of satisfaction and is a reflection of fine craftsmanship…at the
end of the class you will be amazed at how well these hand planes per-
form.”
4. Every couple of months (6/year!) at the Woodcraft Store in Plano, Texas,
Howard Hale offers a two-day intensive handplane making workshop.
At William Ng School of
Fine Woodworking you
learn the art of crafting a
handplane to suit your
hands, as well as an ad-
justing hammer, tech-
niques for using them, and
the various options these
planes offer a woodwork-
er.
With the instruction of Howard Hale at the Woodcraft Store in Plano, Texas, over the
course of two evenings, a block like this (left) becomes a plane like this (right). Howard
teaches with incredible zeal and is ardent when it comes to the wooden handplane. Like
many others, he compares the wooden handplane to a musical instrument, “The hand
plane is the "violin" of hand tools.” It is a humble tool that can be used in the shaping
and smoothing of almost every project you build.” Howard will provide hands-on instruc-
tion as each student builds a smoothing plane using hardwoods and Hock blade assem-
blies. This smoothing plane will cut beautifully and be a treasured lifetime tool. Students
will also make their own adjusting hammer. Next class June 29 & 30.
5. Kevin Drake travels to his
home state of Indiana to teach
woodworking classes at the
Marc Adams School of
Woodworking in the town of
Franklin, Indiana. He recently
taught a plane making work-
shop where each student went home with three different wooden
handplanes and adjustment hammer, all supported by instruction on tech-
nique and the confidence to build, adjust, and use planes built inde-
pendently. And—much like Ron Hock—Kevin seeks to empower woodwork-
ers to take the world into their own hands, encouraging the making of as
many of tools as one can. He has also said, “If you would like to make a
hand plane and are not quite sure how to go about it, then you could start
with one of Ron Hock’s plane kits and take it from there.” You have got
to love a colleague like that!
6. Expert plane maker
Scott Meek of Scott Meek Woodworks is based in Ashland, North Carolina,
and offers online courses in making handplanes. Scott taught himself to
make handplanes through David Finck’s excellent reference Mastering and
Making Wood Handplanes. Once he had his first plane built and in
his hands, Scott was hooked, “Although by no means perfect, I was elated
with the results. It was a joy to use. The fact that I was using a tool made
Master wooden plane maker
(or is it master sculptor?)
Scott Meek teaches an
online plane making course
through Scott Meek Wood-
works. These courses fill
fast but Scott schedules
new ones, so it’s wise to
stay tuned to Scott Meek
Woodworks.
Happy students at Marc Adams
School of Woodworking each
holding one of several planes
they were taught to build by
toolmaker Kevin Drake, middle
front row, of Glen-Drake Tools.
Thank You for Choosing Hock Tool Hock Tools The Sharpening Blog The Perfect Edge
by my own hands was exhilarating. Plus, the more I used it the more I no-
ticed the differences between using a wooden plane and a metal plane: the
tactile feedback in use, the evolving comfort as I slowly removed material
and shaped it to fit my own hands, the freedom to grip and use the plane
whichever way worked best and not be locked into one way to hold it.”
Scott now teaches others to build their own planes and get that same
sense of fulfillment that launched Scott into a whole career. Plus, the added
value with a Scott Meek workshop is that while Scott remains at his shop in
Ashville, you remain travel-free in the familiar surroundings of your own
shop, wherever it may be.
7. At the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine, Adrian
Ferrattuzzi teaches Planes and Grains, a week of total immersion in
handplanes, timbers, and what happens where they meet. Students learn
how to build both a metal-bodied and a wood bodied plane, as well as
learn the different planes’ best uses. Next workshop takes place Aug. 29-
Sept 2.
Note: You might like to take a look at Fine Woodworking’s Directory of
Woodworking Schools and Fine Wood Artists Directory of Woodworking
Schools. Not all schools teach plane making but there are lots to choose from!
Left, Adrian
Ferrazzutti
demonstrates
planing tech-
niques with a
wooden
handplane at
the Center
for Furniture
Craftsman-
ship. Right,
wooden
handplanes
you, too,
could make!
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