Hand Tools
Learning to use hand tools is a right of passage for most serious woodworkers.
Hand tools involve you in the work and with the wood in ways power tools
can never do. Bench planes in particular are wonderfully satisfying tools
to use because they involve so many of the worker's senses: The weight of
the tool in your hands, thewhoosh of the plane over the wood, the sight
of the curl rising up, the smell of the fresh-cut wood. Poetry.
The Cutting Edge is proud to specialize in hand tools. We now carry the
complete line of bench, hand and specialty planes by Record
Tools and The Stanley Tool
Works of England. The Stanley planes are the quality Bailey design planes
for which the Stanley name has so long been associated, and which are no
longer produced by the U.S. Stanley works.
Many plane sizes and types are manufactured by a dwindling number of tool
works. Most notable of these are Record and Stanley of Sheffield and Lie-Neilson of Warren Maine. Clifton has recently
released a line of bench planes to complement their excellent selection
of shoulder planes. Finally, for the wooden body plane enthusiast we have
the Primus smoothing
and block planes.
The Cutting Edge is proud to offer one of the most complete selections
of hand planes in the U.S.. In addition to #01 through #07 Bailey-pattern
bench planes in full and half sizes, we also offer duplex and rebate planes,
combination planes, 20 degree and low angle block planes, and low angle
jack planes. Finally, we offer Japanese style bench planes in jointing and
smoothing sizes, as well as specialty Japanese chamfering and spoon-bottom
planes!
To View the fantasic selection of planes we carry, go to my on-line
catalog and go to the Hand
Tools page, or just click these links.
SHARPENING
No aspect of woodworking causes more anxiety than sharpening. We
all know that we need sharp tools to do good work, but how do we get the
best edge, and how sharp is sharp enough?
TIP: Your edge is sharp if you can raise a clean curl when cutting cross-grain
on the wood you intend to use. A tool sharp enough for mahogany may need
more work to cut oak.
There are a number of sharpening media on the market today. All of them
offer something to the woodworker in search of the ultimate edge. Some,
like water stones and ceramic stones are complete sharpening media requiring
no further stropping after using the finest grit. Others such as diamond
and oil stones leave a surface that requires further polishing.
The Cutting Edge has Japanese water stones from 800 to 8000 grits, DMT &
Eze-Lap diamond stones, Arkansas oil stones, ceramic stones and files, and
a variety of leather and man-made strops and aluminum oxide abrasives for
that ultimate edge.
Visit our on-line catalog and go to the sharpening page.
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