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    Fine Woodworking Project Guides

    Handplanes

    Guide Home
    Chapter
    • All About Handplanes
    • Planes for Surfacing and Smoothing
    • Planes for Joinery and Shaping
    • Block Planes
    • Scrapers and Scratch Stocks
    Video

    Restoring Vintage Handplanes with Rollie Johnson: Introduction

    Rejuvenating an old Stanley Bailey plane is a great way to get started handplaning without breaking a slim woodworking budget.

    Author Headshot By Roland Johnson Jan 27, 2021

    Fine Woodworking

    Smoothing a board with a handplane is one of the most pleasurable processes in a woodworking shop, and there is no faster way to create a glass-smooth, dead-flat surface for finishing.

    A common misconception among new woodworkers is that you need an expensive plane to get the job done. But you don’t need to spend a fortune to catch the hand-tool wave.

    Rejuvenating an old Stanley Bailey plane is a great way to get started handplaning without breaking a slim woodworking budget. Tearing down a plane to its bare chassis and building it back to blueprint specs not only creates a great performing plane, but also gives you an insight into how these wonderful bench mates work. Rollie Johnson has rebuilt dozens of Bailey planes and given more than 100 seminars on the subject. In this video workshop he demonstrates his step-by-step approach to turning a clunker into a classic. Best of all, you don’t need special tools to get the job done.

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    Videos in the Series

    • Restoring Vintage Handplanes with Rollie Johnson: Introduction

      January 27, 2021

      Rejuvenating an old Stanley Bailey plane is a great way to get started handplaning without breaking a slim woodworking budget.

    • Restoring Handplanes: All About Stanley Planes

      January 27, 2021

      Rollie Johnson talks about the history of Stanley bench planes and explains what to look for when buying one.

    • Restoring Handplanes: The Parts of a Bench Plane

      February 3, 2021

      Learn about the anatomy of a bench plane and what each part does.

    • Restoring Handplanes: Cleaning and Repairing

      February 10, 2021

      Rollie Johnson demonstrates how to clean up an old handplane using something you might already have in your refrigerator: cola.

    • Restoring Handplanes: Tuning up Parts

      February 17, 2021

      Rollie Johnson gets his hands dirty in this episode, flattening the mating surfaces of the frog, and the sole of a vintage handplane.

    • Restoring Handplanes: Sharpening and Setup

      February 25, 2021

      Rollie Johnson shows his simple but effective method for sharpening a bench plane and then dials it in to get perfect shavings.

    • restoring a block plane

      Restoring Handplanes: Block Plane

      March 3, 2021

      Rollie Johnson shows how to fix up and restore a vintage block plane, converting a clunker into a classic hand tool.

    • Tuning and Using the Stanley 82 Scraper

      March 10, 2021

      Rollie Johnson shows off one of his favorite hidden-gem hand tools: the Stanley 82 scraper.

    X
    X
    Previous: How to Rebuild a Used Stanley Plane Next: Restoring Handplanes: Cleaning and Repairing

    Guide

    Handplanes

    Chapter

    All About Handplanes

    Comments

    1. TKerestes | Jan 30, 2021 11:41am | #1

      How many episodes?
      When all the episodes be available?
      Thanks

    2. User avater
      IdleWoodWorkshop | Jan 30, 2021 12:16pm | #2

      Love these videos!

    3. srsilva | Jan 30, 2021 01:47pm | #3

      I only see the introduction and the history videos. Where are the restoration episodes?

    4. Rensberger | Jan 30, 2021 05:54pm | #4

      Will we get emails when new episodes are available? Hope so.

      1. User avater FWW Editor
        BenStrano | Feb 01, 2021 09:45am | #5

        Yes. There should be one a week, and there will be links to them in the eLetters.

    5. steveshepard | Feb 01, 2021 12:44pm | #6

      I'm guessing that FW is metering the release of the series to drive engagement. Just want to register some feedback that this is annoying to folks who are subscribers now and will still be subscribers in the 10 or so weeks it takes to release the episodes.

    6. mudcat | Mar 17, 2021 11:12am | #7

      Thanks. This is the best tutorial on restoring and tuning up vintage hand planes I've ever seen. One suggestion: I apply Howard's Feed and Wax to the rosewood knobs and totes before I begin conserving the metal parts. Just wipe it off when everything else is done, and they look like new.

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    Handplanes

    Handplanes

    All you need to know about choosing and using these versatile, must-have hand tools.

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    All About Handplanes
    • Handplane Basics
    • Setting Up a Plane
    • Maintenance and Restoration
    Planes for Surfacing and Smoothing
    • Smoothing and Jack Planes
    • Techniques
    • Sharpening
    Planes for Joinery and Shaping
    • Planes for Joinery
    • Rabbet Planes
    • Shoulder Planes
    • Molding Planes
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    • Spokeshaves
    • Other Specialty Planes
    Block Planes
    • All About Block Planes
    • Techniques
    Scrapers and Scratch Stocks
    • Card Scrapers
    • Scraper Planes and Cabinet Scrapers
    • Scratch Stocks

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