Hand Tool Boot Camp: Scrapers; Sharpening; Chisel & Hand plane Use

HTBCHand tools are essential to an efficient, enjoyable experience while building furniture and cabinetry, Yet many woodworkers struggle with these fundamental tools, and the skills required to use them effectively. As the first “Cordless” tools, hand tools allow you to trim pieces to exact length, fine tune joinery, deal with crazy twisting grain, remove milling and machining marks, and avoid countless hours of sanding.

During our two day hand tool boot camp, we’ll begin by providing you with a top quality card scraper which you’ll take home with you. You’ll learn how to dress and edge that card scraper, and move on to how to use it to cut down dramatically on your sanding time. Then we’ll look at variations of the card scraper, such as the cabinet scraper, and the scraper plane. Then we’ll move into sharpening, and explore several methods to attain a razor edge on your chisels and plane blades which you will literally be able to shave with. Then we’ll put those sharp edges into use as we learn proper technique for paring and accurate cutting with the chisel. Finally, we’ll learn how to take an average hand plane, tune it, adjust it, and use it for real world, practical applications. Without exception, every student I have instructed in hand planing has left being able to produce full width shavings they can read through!

While not mandatory, students are encouraged to bring their own bench planes and chisels, so they may take them home razor sharp, and well tuned.

This class is limited to only 6 students, so you’ll receive lots of instruction & personal attention !

Open Group Tuition: $328 Materials/Lab: $83 :: For One on One, or Private Group Tuition, Click Here
Course Length: 2 Days
Skill Level: All
Pre-requisites: None
Instructor: Gregory Paolini