As woodworkers nearly all of us use planes, I use several daily when in the workshop, with my 2 favourites being a small apron plane which you can get here, and an old Stanley n°4 (above).

Within my collection, i do have a couple of kannas, and a couple of moulding planes.

I’ve always liked the look of the old moulding planes, and it’s good to see people are still producing them, and plane makers still exist.

One such man is Stavros Gakos, who's work i have followed for some time. He builds multiple styles of planes, to which (sadly) i have not had the pleasure to use/own.

I can appreciate the time and skill that goes into making a plane, as i myself, have dabbled in the past, with (shall we say) questionable results, and a rather large slice of humble pie!

It's one thing to make a plane look pretty, but a total different kettle of fish to make it both pretty, and to take a good shaving. This much is evident, from setting up a Japanese kanna (wooden plane).

Among his builds, I do have my eyes on a dovetailing plane(s), which i have wanted for a while, to enable myself to cut the male portion of a sliding dovetail quickly. Maybe I'll own one in the future, who knows?

If you're looking for a new wooden plane, and are interested in Stavros making you one, head over to Instagram (click the Picture above), and give him a DM!

Lets hope all the independent toolmakers, keep doing what they do best.

Wood porn

adrianmartinus

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This weeks visual candy is the beautiful furniture of adrianmartinus, an award winning trio from Canada.

Most of the furniture is a meddle of hardwoods, with recycled skateboards (yes, you read that right, skateboards!), And it flows effortlessly.

The rainbow like colours of the skateboard’s, and the brown of the walnut, perfectly complement each other (pictured above). That combined with modern joinery practice, yields a beautiful, yet strong piece of furniture.

There is no wonder in my mind why these guys have won awards, absolutely stunning pieces of work.

I highly recommend going over to their instagram, and checking out their array of furniture (click the reel above) for inspiration.

Ryoba saw tip

When starting off a cut closest to yourself, (maybe for a shoulder on a joint). It is easier, and you will have more control, if you use the portion of the saw closest to the handle.

The closer you are to the handle, the more rigid the blade is, thus giving you more control.

This is completely different to using the mid, to end portions of the saw. At this position, saw alignment/realignment is possible, and even cutting a full circle is possible, due to flex, and ease of manipulation of the blade.

See me cut a circle out of spalted beech (click the reel below).

d.w_woodworks

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Woodwork ponder

Who, where, and when was the first person to cut a dovetail(s)?

The earliest recorded dovetail is around the time of the Egyptians, but i suspect they go back much further in time.

How did that individual come to think, I'll cut a dovetail? 

How long did the idea take to evolve?

Did they even call it a dovetail?  

All but lost to the sands of time.

Somethings we will never know, and can only speculate upon!

Check out the podcast

You can listen on Spotify here, and Apple Podcasts  here.

Or watch on YouTube here

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Thats it for this one guys, see you next week!

Regards 

David