Seatbelts for the planes - Situation normal.

  My current project was to make new shop furniture to hold my sharpening station, and some lumber and the like.  Seemed straight-forward enough.
  I started to get to thinking that adjusting the mortise gauge to match the mortise chisel I was using was just getting to be too much of a burden, and it occurred to me that if I made a whole mob of mortise gauges purpose-set for my mortise chisels then I wouldn't have that problem again!  Huzzah!   
  So I started cutting up oak and maple scraps to make the gauges.
  That's when I started to really feel the 'rust' in my skill-set, so I decided I would really focus on doing the pieces up properly 'four-square'.  No problem.
  That's when I realized that I do not, in point of fact, have a panel gauge which is a requirement for doing things Properly Four Square when they're more than about 4" wide.
  Now the current project is a panel gauge.
  I have cut the pieces, and cleaned them up 'four-square'.  I finished that yesterday.  Today is the day planned to start shaping the stock of the panel gauge.
  This brings me to my plane till.
  I made this plane till about 5 years ago, and my planes have sat on it without complaint for all that time, and never has even one plane even hinted at a desire to leap off of the till.
  'Til yesterday.
  I used to have my bench against the wall.  It wasn't possible for me to bump against the planes on the till because the bench was in the way.   Now the bench is in the middle of the room and I pass close by the till all the time.
  I knocked my Veritas bevel-up smoother off of the till yesterday, at which point it plummeted down to the (and it makes my marrow quake to admit this) ceramic tile floor below.  It was neither a proud nor a pleasing moment.  I spoke sternly to myself and told me to give the till a wider berth so that it wouldn't happen again.  Apparently I am no better at listening than my wife claims, because I did it again this morning.  To the very same plane.

  My current project changed again, and it became 'harnesses' to keep the planes from plummeting in case I bump them again.
  I have always avoided this method of securing planes in the past, because it requires extra thought and generally an extra limb to extricate the plane from the till.  Today, however, it was a necessity to protect the planes regardless of the damage to my delicate sensibilities.
  A half hour spent spelunking for my old camping gear produced some para-cord, which doesn't look right, but which works fine.
  The job is done, the planes are safe, and I can get back to working on the panel gauge.  I'll come up with a proper way to restrain the planes when I have more time to think.

M.Mike

 
  

Something to remember when planing flexible stock

When planing flexible stock (like a 1x1) the face you're planing will be greatly affected by the face of the material that's on the bench.  If the bottom face has a hollow in it, you're going to have a bulge in the side you're planing.  After planing off the same bulge four times in a row I finally clued in.  Either shim up the bottom so that you can't cause it to flex when you press on it, or, if it's short enough, pinch it in the vise so that it's supported all the way along.
A big board isn't flexible enough to have a problem with this, but it was certainly a problem for me this morning, and it had me baffled for a good half an hour.

M.Mike

A Note on Ripping

 Ripping boards to width should not be a task that makes terribly great demands on the skill of the sawyer.
 Famous last words, eh?
 Ripping requires more brawn than brain, in general, but a point was driven home for me last evening that I'd like to pass on.
 I've seen several videos where people mention how much they prefer to rip smaller pieces of stock vertically in the vise rather than horizontally on the horses.  I can understand this from an ergonomic perspective.  Totally.  There is, however, a potential problem.  The potential problem is caused by the angle of attack.  Look at the image below:

Here we see my rip saw buried in a piece of cribbing (the hardwood 4x4s of uncertain parentage that are used on big flat-bed trucks to keep ugly pieces of material being shipped from tearing up the deck of the truck).  The saw is horizontal.  I can merrily saw away in this position, but the saw will go in whatever direction the saw is going.  With the saw perpendicular to the work, controlling the saw - changing its direction - is very, very difficult.  To change the direction of the saw I would need to tip the handle down until the saw meets the work at about a 45 degree angle.  This means that to get the angle you need to control the saw when sawing in the vise you need to have the work sticking out far enough that it's liable to chatter.  Either that or you'll be on your knees doing the sawing.   I got lucky on this particular cut and it was dead-nuts from the beginning, so I just kept the saw horizontal and it followed the line like I was paying it money to do so.   That was the first of two rips.  I cut that 4x4 down to make a 4x3 and a 1x4, then I cut a 1x1 out of the 1x4, and on that cut I screwed up the line twice (both ends).  I had to take the board out of the vise and cut it on the sawhorses where I could angle the saw down to a 45 degree angle relative to the work, at which point controlling the saw was easy.  I got it back to the line, sawed a few more inches to establish the direction, then I put the board back in the vise and it was smooth sailing from there.
 Something to remember - with a well-tuned saw that cuts straight, using it perpendicular to the workpiece is 'cruise control' - it just stays on the line it's on.  Angling it down allows you to change the direction.

M.Mike

Different Ways to Scrape Flat Surfaces

There are different ways to scrape a flat surface. Above we see the three most common methods for furniture. Leftmost is a card scraper, which is simply a rectangle of sheet metal which, properly sharpened, will do a lovely job. Behind is a scraping plane, and to the right is a cabinet scraper.
Each method has its pros and cons. The most maneuverable and by far the cheapest is the card scraper. Since the card scraper is held in the hands you can hold it at whatever angle you like. You can push or pull it as you like. You can work on a tiny area of tear-out without affecting the area nearby, and you can work pretty far into a corner when you need to. These are all good things. The drawback to a card scraper is that it is by far the most physically demanding to use. Your thumbs get hot, and your hands get tired. It's miserable to do a large piece with a card scraper. Additionally, since it has no 'sole' it can't be relied on at all to level a piece or even keep an already-level piece level. It can dig into softer areas. You get a smooth finish, but not necessarily a flat one.
The cabinet scraper is more expensive. It's far less physically demanding to use, and it has a sole so it keeps the surface reasonably level. The main drawback is that you can't 'finesse' it much. The scraper blade is held at an angle set by the cast-in angle of the body. You can adjust the hook of the scraper blade to make the unit cut more or less aggressively, and you can add more or less pressure on the screw to adjust the aggressiveness, but you're still locked in to that angle.
The scraper plane has the longest sole, so it keep the surface the flattest. This also means that it is not very useful for working small areas of reversing grain. The scraper plane is the most expensive, but while it shares the ease of use of the cabinet scraper it also has a level of adjustability that the cabinet scraper can't even dream of - you can adjust the angle. This means that you can take a wide, thin shaving, or a narrow, thin shaving without re-tuning the blade. You can fine-tune the presentation of the blade to the wood and you are done - all that's left is to push it. No stress, no anguished thumbs. It's lovely.

Note that a scraper should take shavings as seen below. If all you are getting is dust then you need to sharpen your scraper... but that's a posting for another day.

What IS a hand tool?

What is a hand tool, really? What distinguishes a hand tool from a non-hand-tool? We would all agree that a simple chisel or gouge is a hand tool. No worries, there. After that, it starts to get a bit... foggy.
I've been feeling guilty about my electric lathe. It somewhat offends my hand tool ideals. Maybe I should have a foot-powered pole-lathe. That would be a hand tool, right? Or would it? A lathe is a machine. It turns the workpiece so that you can use gouges and chisels (hand tools) to act upon it. So a foot-powered pole-lathe is a body-powered machine, as opposed to an electric machine, but it's still a machine and not a hand tool. In that respect any lathe 'should' offend my hand tool ideals.
I'm safe with the rest of my tools though, right? Hand saws, chisels, mallets, drawknife, spokeshaves... spokeshaves? Yes, spokeshaves are alright, as are hand planes, because although they do the holding of the cutting tool for you, they don't move the cutting tool or workpiece on their own. They're not a machine in that respect. What about an egg-beater drill? Well, an egg-beater drill is a machine. It's a hand-powered machine, but in the purest sense of the word an egg-beater drill is no more a hand-tool than a cordless drill is. I, however, feel that an egg-beater drill is much closer to my hand tool ideals than the cordless drill, so obviously I must not follow the purest sense of the term 'hand tool'.
Is it just about the electricity? Is that all it is? If I had a table-saw, planer, band-saw, and all manner of wood-working machinery in a line-shaft-driven shop with a few shetland ponies driving it, would that be a 'hand tool shop'? Obviously not, and yet there would be no electricity.
It's must be the mechanization. The fact that the force of work comes from an agency other than the body of the worker (or at least a human helper). So a great-wheel lathe doesn't greatly offend my ideals, even though the turner isn't powering it (the helper is) but a pole-lathe would be closer to my ideals, because the turner powers the lathe directly. Even closer to my ideals would be a drawknife and shaving horse - bypassing the lathe entirely. What if somebody hooked up a recumbent bicycle to a small lathe such that they can sit and pedal and turn pens or whatever? That would be cool, but is it less of a 'hand tool' than a pole lathe? Is it just the antiquity of the idea that lends respectability to a tool? So are my cutting-edge (har!) Veritas planes less of a hand tool than an old woodie?
These are tricky questions to answer, but the process might be worthwhile.

New Medallion saws

These are my two new Medallion hand saws that followed me home recently. The bottom one is a five-point rip saw, breasted, with progressive rake. Lovely saw. The blade is ground for minimal set. The tote, shown below, is of a figured apple wood, and has plenty of real estate for a good two-handed grip for heavy ripping.

The other saw is an eight-point cross-cut saw with a caramelized birds-eye maple tote. Just lovely. This saw is also ground. It cuts like a laser, but like a fine dovetail saw you only get one chance to get your line right on the cut. It's not easy to correct the cut once it has been started. Of course, this is only a problem when cutting joinery where you're cutting with the line of the saw teeth perpendicular to the face of the board. If you're cross-cutting normally where you have the teeth at a 45 degree angle to the face of the board it's no problem to keep it in line. In the photo below, note the nib on the rip saw below the cross-cut tote. Both saws have nibs. :)
Beautiful saws with beautiful totes (check out those lamb's tongues on the totes!) that are hand-made by a guy who still cares about quality. Just lovely.

Hand-cut cross-grain rabbets

Now to cut the rabbets. The rabbet locations were all set out directly from the story-pole. The marks were placed on both sides and the marks joined with a straightedge rather than relying on a square to be square.


I planed the edge of a piece of scrap to act as a fence for my back-saw. I used a piece of material the same thickness as the cheek on the saw to space the fence out from the line. I could have also put the cheek on the other side of the saw so that the saw blade could run directly against the fence, but then you have issues with the teeth rubbing against the fence due to the kerf width. I also could have used a consistent thickness of material for the fence, and then made the cheek narrower so that it would ride on the top of the fence instead of on the surface of the material as a depth-stop. The benefit to running the blade directly against the fence is that you don't have to space the fence back to locate the cut. Regardless, this way works. I cut the first slot, then spaced over for the second slot, making sure to cut on the waste side both times.

I then used a chisel and mallet to remove most of the waste from the slot. After that I finished it with a router plane. I used the spear-point cutter for cross-grain work, even though it wasn't really that important since the rabbet was narrow and the sides were pre-cut.
At this point the rabbets are cut, but I still haven't cut this long piece of material into individual sides/top/bottom. This is because it's easier to hold a longer piece to the bench without having issues with clamps getting in the way of the router plane.
Next I will cut the sides, top and bottom from this material, and then cut the dovetails to join the sides, top and bottom together.

Puttering - good for the soul

This weekend was a puttering weekend. I installed a garage door opener so that I won't have to drag my weary carcass out of the car to open the garage door when I get home from work in the winter, I cleaned up the garage a bit, and worked on the new saw till. It's now structurally complete except I still have to make the drawer. I still need to put the finish on it, and I wanted to put a few plugs here and there. Unfortunately, the plug cutter I got from Lee Valley doesn't seem to be particularly good at being powered by a brace. I'll need to put a custom driver on it to fit the drive socket on the brace, or modify the stem of the plug cutter to be tri-lobular so the three jaws of the brace can hang onto it properly. I also did some mechanical work at the folks' farm to fix an old yard hydrant. It's ancient, worn out, and should be replaced, but replacing it would require knocking out part of the barn foundation, so basically I'm trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear because the price of silk just skyrocketed.

I have added a few new planes to the stable. I might have mentioned them before, but now I'm showing them off. :) At the back is a matched set of Veritas bevel rabbet planes, one right hand and one left hand, and at the front left is a Veritas rabbet trimming plane, and at the front right is a Veritas bull-nose plane, which would have made those stopped rabbets on the saw till a lot easier to deal with had I had it at that time. Next time I'll be ready!

Tools of the Trade sale

I just got back from the Tools of the Trade sale (TOTT) in Pickering, Ontario. I think I did alright.

This was The TOTT of the Auger for me. I wanted a set of auger bits.

Right away I stumbled upon the two sets in ratty, smelly old fabric pouches, plus the brace shown, all for $20. I didn't try to haggle at that price. There are three bits with spurs missing, but there are enough duplicates that I've got at least one of everything.
The brace turned out to be a sweet user, and is now my second-best brace.

However, as is often the case I didn't stop there. I found a boxed set of 13 Irwin bits that cover more ground than the sets I already had in hand, so I bought them. That set included another expansion bit. All in excellent condition. Then I started wondering if I'd rather have Russel Jennings pattern augers, so when I saw a boxed set of 13 of them I bought them as well. All in excellent condition, though the smallest one is actually an Irwin, not a Jennings. All told I spent less for these 46 auger bits than I would have for one set of 7 new Russel Jennings pattern augers from "Traditional Woodworker". Nice. I can use some of the beaters to make augers for end-grain applications where you don't want spurs.

Finally I looked at my list to remind me of what else I had planned to get, and soon found a lovely Mathieson adjustable panel-raising plane, which I have wanted quite badly, and a downright devious match plane, which I have wanted even more. I'd never seen such a thing as this match plane, though they are apparently not as unusual as it seemed to me. The fence rotates on an eccentric mount to allow the same cutter to be used for both the groove and half the tongue, with another cutter mounted for the other half of the tongue. Bizarre, but effective. It was about twice the cost of a regular Stanley match plane, but it was too cool to resist. I've already tried it, and even with the nasty dull cutters in it it works a treat. Lastly I've got a big old Sorby in-cannel gouge, which I might convert to out-cannel... not sure yet... and a very nice saw set. Oh, one thing that I missed adding to the picture was a tiny little pair of fey-pattern dividers that I got for $5. Very nice, indeed.

A Tale of Two Saw Tills - The Beginning

My old saw till works just fine. It didn't end up as quite the saw till that I had originally planned... I had intended it to hold 6 panel or back saws, but I had forgotten about all of the small saws, so in the end I used it for 2 panel saws and 2 back saws, with the small saws mounted on the back. When my two new Medallion saws arrived the old panel saws were relegated to a nail in the dark closet which has become the Purgatory of Unloved Tools. By the time I have my two new Medallion panel saws I must have a reasonably worthy saw till. The old one is simple but effective. The large back holds the small saws in a very visible manner, where they are reasonably easily removed and replaced. The back-saws are even easier to remove and replace. The bottom of the till is a sort of 'bin' that holds dovetail gauges, saw files, and other saw-related things. However, as the bin fills up I worry that I might accidentally (and the thought makes my marrow quake to think upon) scratch the tote of one of my Medallion saws when grabbing a saw file from the bin. This is unacceptable!

The new saw till will be larger, yes, but it will have a drawer into which to shove the various bits and pieces that now fill the bin. The bin will still have some use, but it will have a vertical divider to keep pointy, scratchy things away from the saw totes. At the right in the picture of the current state of the new till we see that the front wall of the bin has a large cutout. This will allow easier access to the contents of the bin, which will be primarily the saw wax and other things that are used very often. The bin will be smaller than it was before, but more accessible, and not prone to harming the saw totes. The drawer, which will be below the front wall of the bin, will hold the majority of the stuff.
The only things that I have done thus far to try to make this till a bit more visually appealing is to add a shallow rabbet and chamfer to the edges of the back, and chamfer the edges of the sides, etc. The rabbet was wonderfully easy to do with the new skew rabbet planes from the good folks at Veritas... at least until I got to the 'stopped' part. These are stopped rabbets, and it was a pain in the butt to clean up the stopped ends. I tried a few different methods to sort it out, but in the end I just pared them with a chisel.
Some of you might have noticed that the back and sides of the till are all vertical grain, but the front is horizontal grain. This may well come back to haunt me. Particularly with the drawer.
So far so good. OOoops.. 6am already... time to get ready for work.

In praise of paring

My natural inclination is to hit things with a hammer. It's in my blood. I got into metalworking by way of blacksmithing, so it might be excusable.
This post is not about hitting things with hammers. This post is about using a paring chisel, and it's a process that can be peaceful or poisonous depending on how well you sharpen your chisel.
Firstly, let's meet my favourite paring chisel.
Normally, a paring chisel has a very long blade to allow more control, and to help to get into places that are far from an edge. My favourite paring chisel is no different, but because it is so wide, and the handle is so long, it looks perfectly in proportion.
Shown are two chisels. The paring chisel, below, doesn't look particularly unusual until you realize that the chisel above is a 1" Hirsch firmer chisel. That would normally be considered a pretty beefy bench chisel. The 1-1/2" Sorby paring chisel dwarfs the Hirsch considerably. The blade on the paring chisel is quite thin, and the bevel is long, with an angle of around 20 degrees.
The chisel is so big, with so much surface for registration against the work, that it is easy to take the cut that you want. It's lovely.
It is paramount that you keep a paring chisel very sharp. Very, very sharp. I'm going to get into sharpening in another posting very soon.

Here is a shot of paring to a straight line. I intentionally stopped short on the hacking cuts because I wanted to leave the 'shavings' (chunks, really) in place so you could see them. Paring need not be delicate. Normally I wouldn't pare right to a line, I'd leave a bit for finishing with a plane or spokeshave. You can't take too thick a section of wood at once or it will split out. If you begin hacking at the far end then what you're paring off is flexible enough that it won't interfere and works just dandy. This was all done just by pushing the chisel. No mallet.

Another shot, this time of paring to a curved line. Same process.








Something that a paring chisel is particularly good at is cleaning up end-grain. If you just push the chisel then you get the same kind of cut that a plane would take, which isn't always optimal. The cut to the right was taken with a straight push, and the shaving is sitting there. The cut is pretty good, but it's a bit 'cheesy' as the old books say. It has the slight voids and general visual texture of sliced, aged cheddar. It looks okay, but it feels a bit rough.

However, there is a cut that the old books call a 'compass cut' which works wonders on end grain. In this cut you select a point on the chisel, usually about as far back from the tip as the blade is wide, and this will be your axis or swivelling point. You press your thumb hard on this point of the bevel-up blade, and swing the handle back and forth while pushing forward and the net effect is that you get a slicing cut. It's not as fast as a straight push, but it leaves a finish as smooth as glass. You can see in the shot to the left that the left-hand side of the surface, the part done with the compass cut, doesn't reflect light from ragged end-grain the way the right hand side does. It doesn't look hugely different, but it sure feels different. Oh, and I didn't even sharpen the chisel before paring that end-grain. I haven't sharpened this particular chisel since the last time I used it a couple of weeks ago. More on sharpening later.

Acquisitions

It has been a little while, gentle readers, but I have crawled back up on the wagon and I'm hanging on with grim determination.
In the past little while I've been on a bit of a buying spree, having picked up the new Veritas rabbet trimming plane, as well as all three of their 'normal' spokeshaves, the missing sizes from my mortising chisel collection, spoon bits, beading cutters, and I have the new skew rabbeting planes (the pair) on order, though they aren't actually available yet. Curses! From Robert Sorby came a 90 degree chisel for those pesky mortise corners, and a 1-1/2" paring chisel, which is a glorious piece of work. I am liking this chisel. I'm going to buy the other sizes in a few weeks. The bevelled edges are nice and thin for those tight dovetail corners, and the blades are loooooong and easy to control.
A bit of good news is that I heard from Ed in Oakville at Medallion Tools and I should have my two new back-saws in a couple of weeks. Sweet.
Now I just have to do something with all of this stuff. Or do I? Am I allowed to acquire and amass these tools and do nothing particularly 'important' with them? It's an interesting question.
Still, I would prefer that I was doing more with them than I am, so I will endeavour to do so. More on this later.

To crown or not to crown

Gentle readers, I have had an epiphany. It has to do with crowning plane blades, and names for planes.
I read an article by Adam Cherubini about the subject, and it resonated with me to such an extent that my ears are still ringing.
An archaeologist and historian named Henry Chapman Mercer wrote a book in 1929 called "Ancient Carpenter's Tools" wherein he decided to classify tools in order to give them 'true names', similar to the way biological nomenclature works. I liken it to genus and species. Using this analogy, the three genus of planes were set as levelling when the plane is used on a surface to make it flat and/or smooth, fitting when the plane is used on a surface no wider than its blade to create a new surface that will match another surface, and lastly ornamentation, which is where a plane is used strictly for a decorative effect.
Within each genus there are many possible species, but all share common traits. Yes, there are exceptions. There are always exceptions. However, here are some common traits:
Levelling planes like fore planes, smoothers, and try planes, have crowned irons and tight mouths. Exception - the fore plane has wider mouth as the surface finish isn't as important as speed.
Fitting planes like rabbet planes, match planes, plow planes, router planes, etc. have irons ground straight across and are used to produce the surfaces of joints. They have wide mouths because the surface won't be seen in the final product, so the surface finish isn't important. The exception is the jointer plane, which should have an iron ground straight across like other fitting planes, but it has a tight mouth because leaving a rough surface can be visible from the side when the joint is glued.
"But Mike!," I hear you exclaim, "the experts pretty much all use crowned irons in their jointer planes!"
Here's the interesting bit. Are you ready for this? Those aren't jointer planes. Those are try planes. Try planes are levelling planes, with a crowned iron. A jointer plane is used only for jointing edges for glue-up. Making a joint. That's it. It's a fitting plane.
Long has the nomenclature been rather... lax. Jack planes and fore planes are, in some books, the same, and in other books different. The same goes with try planes and jointers. I think Mercer was on to something.
I have a 'jack plane' which I use only for fitting, with a straight iron, so it is actually a short jointer.
I have a 'jointer plane' which I use for levelling, with a crowned iron, so it is actually a try plane.
I have a 'block plane' which I use for levelling, with a crowned iron, so it is actually a smoother.

It may seem complicated, but for me it has made things a whole lot clearer, and also clears up the reasons for some of the previous confusion. A wooden plane 24" long could be either a jointer or try plane depending on what you were going to use it for. Put a flat grind on it and it's a jointer. Put a camber on it and it's a try plane. If the plane didn't have an iron in it, then what kind of plane would it be?

The common jack plane, I suspect, was called such because you would have multiple blades for it and convert it from a short jointer to a fore plane to a short try plane on a whim.

Overhead Rack

Above the bench I mounted a 12" wide, 5' long piece of laminated pine shelving, which I drill into and mount shaker pegs on. I don't have that much on it yet, but I'd rather have the space and not need it then need it and not have it.
Currently I have my small egg-beater drill, breast drill, three braces, drawknife and pull-knife, and hammers all mounted there, with lots of room to expand.

Saw Till

Now that I have some saws worth having (Medallion Tools... nice...) and more on the way, it was time to build a saw till. My needs are relatively meagre compared to a serious saw aficionado, so I went with a relatively meagre saw till. Still, it stores all of my saws, so far, and also stores all of my saw sharpening gear and other 'saw oriented' stuff.
Right now I'm light on cross-cut saws. I have two on order from Medallion, but it takes a while. I have my saws made with light coloured steamed-beech totes if they're a rip pattern saw, and dark totes (some weird carmelized maple) if they're a crosscut saw. It keeps me from grabbing the wrong saw as easily. At the top left of the rack is a Veritas 'dovetail saw'. It came packaged with a magnetic dovetail guide that I got as a gift. It actually has its moments. Moving clockwise, next comes the legendary Rip Tooth Dozuki from Lee Valley Tools. Great little saw, but after trying them, I'm not so happy with pull-saws, and I'm going back to push-saws. Next is a somewhat generic 'gent's saw' which I rarely use. My big rip saw is a Disston, but not old enough to be particularly good. It works. The cross-cut panel saw is also a Disston. Same comment. It works, but I'm looking forward to replacing it. Next is my Medallion Tenon Saw. Nice... and my custom big-ass Medallion Dovetail Saw with a 12" blade and 2.5" depth of cut below the back. Ooooh baby. Lotsa beef, there. Fab on hardwood. Grabby on pine. It's worth it. Oh, and last but not least is the Kugihiki from Lee Valley tools. It's a flush-cut saw, and a pull-saw is better for that particular application. It's a great saw, particularly for the price. "Woodworking" Magazine did a comparison between several brands of flush-cutting saw and this one won. Colour me smug. :)
Past the saw till is the clamp rack for the gluing clamps. Those are the Lee Valley 30th anniversary aluminum clamps. Not fabulous clamps, but an excellent deal.

Main tool shelf

This shelf was my first storage project for the wood shop. The general idea is cribbed from Robert W. Lang's column in the Autumn 2007 issue of "Woodworking" magazine. When I first built it it was so full of tools that it was virtually unusable. Now that I have the plane till and saw till and overhead storage... it looks a bit bare. :)
This shelf will be used to store my more often used chisels and layout tools. My gimlets and awls are in holes along the left vertical of the shelf. I also store my surface clamp and bench dogs here.

Plane Till

When I built my plane till I first built it much flatter to the wall. I did some experimentation to show that the angle was sufficient for the planes to stay in place. What I didn't calculate in was the 'pucker factor' every time I set a plane on the till and just wondered if this would be the time that it would fall off. After a week I hadn't dropped a single plane, but it was wearing on my nerves so I rebuilt it with almost twice the depth. This causes more 'shadow' over the bench, but it's worth it both for my peace of mind, and for the extra shelf space below.
To the left we see the plane till. From left to right, top to bottom, we have a Veritas Bevel-Up Jointer, which I use as a try plane, not a jointer, and old Stanley #6 which I use as a fore plane, a Veritas Low-Angle Jack plane, which I use as a fitting plane, not as a levelling plane. Next comes the Veritas Bevel-Up Smoother, the Veritas Scrub Plane, a Veritas Low-Angle Block Plane with the extra tote and knob to turn it into a "#3 Smoother", Veritas winding sticks, a Stanley G12 low-angle block plane that I bought, perhaps, 15 years ago, and a Veritas low-angle block plane which normally always has a Veritas Chamfer Guide on it. On the shelf below we have a Veritas Router Plane with all of the trimmings, a Veritas Small Router Plane, a Veritas Jointer Fence for the Low-Angle Jack, a Veritas Small Plow Plane plus the blades, a Stanley #78 Duplex Fillister plane, and a Veritas Small Shoulder Plane.
Attached to the side is the piece of 2x4 that I use as an index for my augers, and that stick hanging on the tie peg is just a piece with different sized holes in it (all bored by my auger bits) which helps me figure out what size hole I need for various applications.

First entry - my shop, and why I have it.

I'm a metalworker by trade and training. In the past I've worked in structural steel, machining, welding, fabrication, and machine building. Now I've dusted off the other half of my training in industrial mechanics, and work in maintenance keeping machines running for a manufacturing company.
My shop is an anodyne for what I do at work. I don't want to come home and turn on a milling machine. I'd rather do something different. I went with woodworking, which believe it or not I had some training in as a millwright. At first I considered getting a planer, jointer, and other woodworking machines... after all, I like machines... but the environment that I work in requires eye protection, hearing protection, etc. I wondered how much fun it would be to have to put ear plugs in to work in my own shop after wearing ear plugs all day at work. I decided I'd rather give that a miss. So my shop is pretty much hand tools only. I have a cordless drill that I use when I need to drill a hole with one hand, or where an egg-beater won't fit, and I have a grinder to grind primary bevels on the plane irons when that is required (rarely).
My shop is a modern hand-tool shop. Although some of the techniques that I use may be 18th century, as a general rule I like new tools. The boys and girls at Lee Valley Tools and Veritas have made a ton of money off of me. :)Above is the widest aspect picture I could take of my shop. I ended up using a digital super-zoomer to get this much in. At the left is the plane till, then the main tool shelf, then the saw till, then the clamp rack. Above is the overhead storage.