Popular Woodworking Editors' Blog

From December 2006 Popular Woodworking

Planemakers have long used floats to shape and true the critical surfaces of wooden handplanes. But cabinetmakers also used floats, and after several months of using floats made by Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, I understand why.


These tools are a cross between a rasp, a saw and a scraper. The teeth shape curved and flat surfaces quickly, but the tools leave a polished surface behind. And the stiff steel bodies and wide cutting area of the tools allow you to accurately trim mortises and tenons. The tools make beautiful chamfers, as well.

I tried a set of floats made for planemakers (these tools were developed with Clark & Williams planemakers) and was impressed by the long, rectangular bed float, which can smooth a cabriole leg and true a through-mortise. One of the small cheek floats works on the pull stroke and cleans up blind mortises with ease. And the edge floats worked well for squaring up routed corners of through-mortises. These are excellent, well-made tools and highly recommended.

— Christopher Schwarz

More information on Planemaker's Floats from Lie-Nielsen

From December 2006 Popular Woodworking

As a devoted band saw user, I’ve always resisted the bowsaw, which was used by early American and English woodworkers to cut curves. My problem with the modern manufactured bowsaws was that they were difficult to steer, they cut slowly and were unbalanced.

The new 12" bowsaw from Gramercy Tools, however, is another animal entirely. The first time I used it was like the first time I used a premium handplane – it was an almost religious experience. Thanks to the saw’s sharp and narrow blade, its featherweight frame and its remarkable balance, the saw absolutely flies through your work, tracks a line and is so balanced that you use it one-handed.
Like all my favorite tools, this bowsaw seems almost psychic and anticipates where I want to go and what I want to do.


So what’s the secret? It’s the details. Unlike other manufactured bowsaws, this one is lightweight at only 12.4 ounces (other saws that I’ve weighed tip the scales at 22.2 ounces). With this type of saw, every ounce counts.The hickory frame is nicely sculpted in all the right places and even has a recess up by the handle for your index finger, which is one of the reasons the saw is easy to steer with just one hand. The toggle that tightens the fishing line at top is easy to tension and release.

The blades themselves are also special. While some bowsaws use scrap band saw blades, the Gramercy uses thin blades (1⁄8" wide at most) that are made like a coping saw blade with integral pins. Other bowsaws have separate pins that get lost or are tricky to remove. The Gramercy bowsaw comes with three blades: 24, 18 and 10 tpi.
The saw is worth every bit of its $140 price tag, but you can cut that price by purchasing a kit that includes the blades and brass fittings for $26 and then download the free plans for the saw from the company’s web site (it’s an easy one-day project to build).

— Christopher Schwarz

More information on the bowsaw from Gramercy Tools

From February 2007 Popular Woodworking

How do you accurately test a seven-piece professional set of Infinity router bits?
Let’s face it, you could spend months in the shop trying to accomplish such a feat by using them day in and day out while building several projects and studying their performance along the way. I didn’t have that kind of time, so I applied some standard tests to check the precision of the manufacturing.

I used micrometers to check the various steps in the rabbet combination bit, to check the diameter of the bearing in relation to the cut on the flush trim bit and to the cut of the 3⁄4" pattern bit. I moulded a piece of hardwood with the 1⁄2"-radius roundover bit in a hand-held router, and with the 1⁄2" cove bit in the router table in order to check for a matching fit and determine if they could be used for a drop-leaf profile. I found that they all worked superbly under shop conditions.

But the true test of a packaged set is: Are these bits the ones most often used in a professional woodworking shop or that most woodworkers would use in their shops? Or, did they select a few usable bits and finish out the set with less-than-desirable contents? No, this is a useful set.

Each of these bit profiles has been a workhorse in my  shop during the past 12 years. I’ve used them all and I find myself using at least one during each of my woodworking projects. This is a nicely assembled selection of router bits for use in your shop and these bits also have 1⁄2" shanks for added strength and durability.

– Glen D. Huey

More information on this router bit set from Infinity Tools.

From April 2007 Popular Woodworking

Using a garden-variety bevel-edge chisel when dovetailing can be frustrating. The bevels on the side of the tool are supposed to allow you to clean any junk out of the acute corners of the joint. But the problem is that the bevels are too chunky and you end up damaging the walls of your tails. Many woodworkers will grind down the side bevels of their chisels to a knife edge or they will purchase a Japanese chisel specifically designed for this task.
 
But now Blue Spruce Toolworks (makers of our favorite marking knife) makes chisels in four sizes (1⁄8", 1⁄4", 3⁄8" and 1⁄2") that are perfectly suited to dovetailing. Not only are the chisels ground down to a knife edge on the sides, but those side bevels are actually concave. There is little opportunity for you to bruise the side of your joint with these tools. And perhaps because of the reduced friction, the tools seem to glide through the work.

Hands down, these are the most gorgeous chisels I have ever handled. They are perfect in every detail and under the highest scrutiny. The ferrules have one closed end (an unusual detail) and are fitted perfectly over the tool’s tang. The cocobolo handles are exquisitely turned, with a dainty 1⁄8" bead tucked behind the ferrule. These tools are simply over the top in every way.

Do they cut wood, you might ask? Indeed. The blades are made from A2 steel, which, when ground at a 30° angle, is stout. The two sets of chisels we have tested were heat-treated well – they weren’t warped in any way and the unbeveled side of the tool was dead flat.

You probably don’t need the whole set ($220), but having one in your arsenal (I’d get the 1⁄4" or the 3⁄8") would be a worthwhile extravagance. Highly recommended.

– Christopher Schwarz

More information from Blue Spruce Toolworks