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.

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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!