Woodworker's Guide to Handplanes: How to Choose, Set Up, and Master the Most Useful Planes for Today Workshop (Fox Chapel Publishing)

I almost didn't buy this book because another reviewer gave it a one star rating, that would have been a huge mistake.This is an excellent resource for hand plane users. It provides in depth information and fantastic illustrations. It covers a number of different styles of planes, and touches on making your own plane. It covers both western and Japanese style planes, I only use western style planes but the information is great. It explains how planes work, has suggestions for troubleshooting problems, sharpening and more. It covers topics like shaping planes and joinery planes that are skipped or only mentioned in other books.No book can be everything to everyone, but this deserves a place on your shelf. If you're completely new to hand planes you will probably want a few other books to balance things. Jim Tolpin's "New Traditional Woodworker" is a good choice, as it Christopher Schwarz' "Hand Plane Essentials".

Detailed guide to handplanes including wood, Stanley Bailey style, and Japannese planes. Makes a great deal of reference to Japannese planes which is distracting if reader is not likely to purchase or train to use Japannese planes. Author makes a great deal of reference to unusual or unavailable plane characteristics which are desirable (bedding angle).Author went into much detail on how the plane really works, which I really enjoy, but may be much to detailed for beginner or those without a strong interest in detail.Excellent Illustrations and pictures.Good, though basic, examples of tools to make to supplement the plane at the bench.

This book is a valuable aid to anyone who is in a business of setting or managing a museum (or section in a museum) devoted to planes. He will find a good historic survey, including advances in steel production, where steel comes from; nuances in plane design across geographic regions and cultures, and much more.Personally I do not belong to this category; I am DIY hobbyist and I purchased a book about planes in order to learn how to use a plane. If this is also your purpose, you might wonder if the 317 pages of this book could not be squeezed to few dozens, that will more easily convey the information in this book which is by no means adequate (at least not for a beginner, as I am).Today, for example, I started to use my plane and became concerned about lateral adjustment of the blade. I have taken the book and looked for it in the index, it doesn't appear. Searching through all I found are several comments about the importance of accurate lateral adjustment, plus in page 152 a description on how to adjust "visually, using best judgment". I don't need a book for that.There is one exception which is chapter 3. This chapter titled plane anatomy illustrates clearly what really happens in proximity of the cut (the plane mouth). Read that and you will understand how the different angles and clearances affect the cut. If there is any reason to have this book, it is chapter 3.Other than chapter 3 the book is written in lengthy and boring manner; uses a descriptive language instead of technical; there are too many repetitions of the same idea, too many pictures, and not enough diagrams to explain things.

This book goes into great depth and detail explaining how to set up and use all the varying planes available in the marketplace. I have antique planes , recycled american vintage planes, english planes, german ece primus planes, chinese high angle planes . Japanese polishing planes, high end american planes, homemade scraper planes etc., I found the book very helpful with setup and use of kanna or japanese planes.There seems to be a learning curve that takes a while. Thanks scott, am still reading and learning new ways to use these planes.

This book blows me away. There is so much information on woodworking and on both selecting and using hand planes. The section on tuning planes is worth the price of the book.Author has a very down to earth, not over impressed with the highly promoted or overpriced and over-hyped. He offers some surprising opinions that differ from current popular wisdom, but that fit with my own experience. This book will have a place with me for life.

Well informed and easy to understand. Any craftsman who has this book will never be with a needed plane. They're that easy to build with this book If you work wood you should have this book!

Excellent boook. A few typos and a little more information in the sharpening chapter would be nice but overall an excellent, comprehensive, well written book.

Hubby loves reading through this. Very thorough with lots of information

Scott Wynn fasst in diesen Buch alle wichtigen Informationen rund um Hobel zusammen. Die anderen Bücher von ihm sind nur Auszüge aus diesem hier und nur interessant, wenn man die anderen partout nicht benötigt (z.B. bei Interesse nur für japanische Hobel).Das Buch ist auch auf deutsch erhältlich, aber mit dem Schulenglisch kann man hier alles verstehen, zumal auch die Abbildungen gut gelungen sind und spart noch ein paar Euro.