"Get a Grip!"

Hand Holds On Bench PlanesI wonder if we truly understand the hold we have on bench planes, the subtle grips, the slips and slides left and right and then the difference between skews and slides and a combination of both in a sliding skew. Because something has a handle doesn't mean we have to use it. I wouldn't look to a carpenter for sound advice, I've seen too many men's vans over the years depicting a viselike bulldogging grip with two fists whole finger-wrapped around the handles and tote to believe they know very much about planing wood. Perhaps it's because there's a cord attached to their version of a plane and to them, shavings come away in tiny chips spit from the so-called power tool in the millions. In the hand tool world, it's a clutch of long and wide ribbons that spill noiselessly to our feet. Two completely different worlds, thankfully.Most often it's a dull plane iron that forces a man to use a power grip to get the plane enter and then cut. I have yet to pick up any…