While it is fun to write about building tiny boxes, every night, for 7 or 8 weeks, I am sure it is getting a bit tiresome to read them.  Though I have done a bunch of work on my tiny boxes, since yesterday, I have something else to discuss tonight.  Practice makes almost perfect, as the old saying, almost goes.

I don’t like to set the bar too high.  Actually, I am quite fine with leaving the bar on the ground, but I digress.  I am not sure if perfection can ever be attained, but almost perfect is certainly something I can imagine.  Over the summer, my love for hand planes has grown.  I reach for them daily, but my skill level has sort of hit a plateau.  The plateau is just above ‘no skill what so ever’ and below ‘cusp of mediocre’, and without doing some studying, I will remain there.  I don’t like this plateau.  It isn’t at all appealing, there isn’t any vegetation, the rocks are, for lack of a better word, rocky, and the view is of ‘no skill what so ever’.

I needed a spark of inspiration to get me back on track.  It came from Shannon of The Renaissance Woodworker (see my blog roll).  He has created, to date, 96 video podcasts about woodworking, and today he made one just for ME!  I am sure he wouldn’t mind if you watched it too.  While chatting on Twitter the other day, I mentioned some of my troubles with using hand planes.  His video today addressed my problems.

RWW 96 Avoiding the Planing Taper: Planecraft 101

I could spend a lot of time explaining the things he taught me, but then you would be getting it second hand, or second foot, if you prefer.   Instead I am going to set up a practice session to try out his suggestions. 

In his video, he mentions my love of both power and hand tools.  This is absolutely true.  I bought a bunch of questionable lumber at a garage sale, a few weeks back, and one of the boards is perfect for ‘board flattening practice’.  It has more curves in it, than an Italian Super Model.

I used my Japanese hand saw to lop off a 35 inch piece.  The 35 inches is at the point where most of the silliness with this board ends, so I tried to make it as challenging as possible.  I can’t stress enough how much I love my Japanese hand saws, and believe me, I have tried.  It takes only a few seconds to clamp a board in the vice, draw a line on the board, and then to cut it.  It would take much longer to get my circular saw, extension cord, and then to coil the cord back up after I was done.  (Note:  I actually probably would not recoil the cord, but leave it in a pile until I tripped over it, causing cussing. Then would coil it back up out of anger.)  The point is, learning to make straight cuts with a Japanese hand saw takes some effort, but when one has the skill, it is a very handy.

Normally, this is the point where I would describe how the practice went, but alas I have been distracted by the Colts vs. Packers preseason football game, so you will have to wait until tomorrow to find out if I had success or not.

I am such a tease!