Handplane Essentials - Book Review

Handplane Essentials by Christopher Schwarz
First I want to say that I'm in no way associated the author of this book or the publishing company. I'm simply a woodworker giving my honest opinion about a product I've purchased and want to share my thoughts. Maybe this will help another woodworker make a decision on whether or not to purchase the same thing - maybe not.

This is a beautifully published book. All black and white (duotone or tritone - haven't checked with my loupe yet) photos. A lot of good information organized into various categories including some reviews and historical articles.

One thing that I wasn't expecting however was the fact that most of the book seems to be an aggregation or reprints of past magazine articles previously written by the author. If you are someone that has read a lot of the articles written by the author you may be disappointed. That is really the only negative I can find about this book. But for me it doesn't take away from all the great info contained within. I've read it through and often find myself referring back to it when needed. I'm not sure if this is considered companion material to the Handplane Basics DVD but the two work well together in my opinion.

Handplane Basics - A Better Way to Use Bench Planes - Review

For anyone interested in learning more about handplanes or making sense of all the planes available this is a great place to start. The DVD walks through three different types of bench planes, the purpose of each type, how to sharpen and set them up, and how to plane a board in an efficient manner. There are also some extras on the DVD-ROM.

Before owning the DVD I always found myself laying aside my planes in frustration after trying to use them on projects, vowing to someday take the time to learn how to properly add their use to my arsenal of tools.
Now I can say with confidence that the day has finally come where I feel like I'm headed in the right direction. I'm by no means an expert and may never be but I can honestly say that the information on this DVD has allowed me to increase my skills exponentially. From the first time I watched it I could feel the tumblers clicking in to place as the mystical secrets of hand planning were finally beginning to unlock themselves. I found the style of teaching easy to understand and absorb and have found myself referring back to it multiple times as a refresher.


I ordered it from the Woodworkers Bookshop at the regular price with some birthday money. Of course, as is typical with my luck, it went on sale after I had ordered it and before I had received it in the mail. I decided to e-mail the customer service team and explain the situation and asked if I could get the discount even though I ordered it before it went on sale. Not more than a couple of hours went by and I received a reply telling me they would be happy to refund the difference between what I had paid and the current sale price. It goes without saying that I was extremely happy and sent an e-mail back to customer service telling them they had just earned a repeat customer.

I'll close by saying I highly recommend this DVD if you are like me and want a clear direction on getting started with or increasing your skills with handplanes.

Stanley No. 5 Jack Plane

Here is an older Stanley No. 5 Jack plane I picked up at a flea market last fall. I think I paid about 20-25.00 for it. When planing rough stock it's typically the first to be used and is designed to quickly remove material from the board surface by running it across the grain.

Stanley No. 8 Jointer Plane

Here is a Stanley No. 8 Jointer plane I picked up off of ebay a while ago. It's in really good condition and I'm satisfied I got if for a really great price.