Planes for Joinery, from ‘Benchwork’

The following is excerpted from Michael Pekovich’s book “Benchwork,” which we expect in our warehouse any day now. And because the words alone don’t fully do justice to introducing book, I’ve included a screen shot of each page from wich the text below is excerpted, so you can see the gorgeous design (also by Mike). While some of these planes are designed to create joinery from scratch, their biggest value often lies in fine-tuning the fit of machine-cut joints. At least this is where they earn their keep in my shop. My formal furniture making education in college led me to a machine-centric view of the craft. I had just enough hand tools – backsaw, chisels and a mallet – to cut a dovetail. A block plane and card scraper filled out my collection. My first experience with a dull bench plane was so distressing that it was many years before I revisited them. While I built a fair amount of furniture in that time, when I finally began to introduce more hand tools into my routine, my…