Hooked on Hand Tools:
Randy Maxey gets hooked on classic old hand tools, this time it is a Stanley 4-1/2 bench plane.
Randy Maxey gets hooked on classic old hand tools, this time it is a Stanley 4-1/2 bench plane
I grew up watching my dad as a handyman. He taught me the basics of woodworking. I remember as a pre-teen, going into my dad’s shop after school, picking up a hand plane, and trying to use it. It was nothing but frustration. My dad favored power tools and that’s how I started woodworking. The only time I saw him use a plane was to trim the edge of an entry door with his block plane.
Many years later, I developed an interest in hand planes and wondered what all the fuss was about. Then one Christmas, dad shows up at our house and hands me a paper bag. I opened it, and saw a Stanley 4-1/2 bench plane and a No. 78 rabbet plane. “What am I supposed to do with these?” I said. He said he found them in his shop and wanted me to have them.
I decided to immerse myself into reading all about tuning up a hand plane. So I took that old 4-1/2, tore it all apart, cleaned it, put it back together, and made my first attempt at sharpening a plane iron. When it all came together, I tried it out on the edge of a scrap of wood. When I saw that first, whispy-thin shaving, it was an “Aha!” moment. It was then I understood how hand planes are an important part of a woodworker’s tool kit. I’ve been hooked on hand tools ever since.
