THE BASICS –AND NOT SO BASICS –OF USING HANDPLANES WITH BOB VAN DYKE

In this primarily demonstration class, Bob will open your eyes to unlocking the maximum potential from this essential woodworking tool.
Handplanes are an essential tool for furniture making but used incorrectly they can be extremely frustrating! What makes a good handplane and which handplane is right for a particular job? How are they “tuned up”? And most importantly- how are they sharpened? Bob will demonstrate his easy and extremely fast technique (under 2 minutes) to re-sharpen a dull iron or chisel and you will have time to practice sharpening your handplane iron.
After covering the basics Bob will quickly get into advanced techniques many users may be unfamiliar with. The handplane is one of the most precise tools available to adjust and fine tune joinery, flatten stock perfectly, adjust squareness, create or remove a taper and create precisely accurate edge joints that will yield dead flat panels. Smoothing a surface- both with the grain or- across the grain (no tearout!), controlling tearout by varying sharpening bevel angles and creating a spring joint and then gluing up a panel- using one clamp are techniques that are sure to open your eyes and change the way you work with wood!
This is NOT a beginning handplane class or a plane rehab class — some experience with handplanes is required.
Please bring a #4 plane to the class with a new 2″ iron. Most of the class will focus on the #4 and why it is just about the only plane you need.