After the joinery is cut and maybe you dry fitted everything so you won’t have any surprises in the end, it’s time to start shaping the piece to its final form.

Shaping tools

The first tool I’ll reach will be either a spokeshave or a rasp depending how much wood I need to remove. I don’t like to use coarse rasps since they will often split the wood instead of cutting it so if I need to remove a significant amount of wood the spokeshave will be the tool of choice.

You have two choices when buying a spokeshave, either with a flat bottom or with a round one. The flat bottom model will allow you to shape straight and convex curves while the round bottom variant will come in handy for concave curves.

After the spokeshave its time to get the rasps and files out of your toolbox. In this category there are two tools I’m extremely fond of – my Auriou modeller’s rasp and my Grobet detail file. These two tools work so much better than any of my other rasps and files that I tend to do all the work with them.

The Auriou rasp is 8″ long and has a 14 grain cut which is very fine when you look at it but cuts incredibly fast without tearing all the wood fibers appart and leaving a rough surface, something that will probably happen if you use a coarse tool. The fact that the teeth on the Auriou are hand cut explains why it cuts so well and leave such a nice surface.

The Grobet detail file pictured above is often used by sculptors that work with wax and other soft materials but works very will with wood. It has coarse teeth on one end and finer teeth in the other which makes the tool a joy to use since you can go from coarse to fine in a fraction of a second by flipping the tool in your hand.

It’s also worth mentioning that both ends are tapered and one side is half round while the other is flat which allow you to work on multiple shapes with the same tool.

Taking good care of your rasps and files is important to ensure that they continue to cut well and the teeth don’t get clogged. For this I recomend a small brush with either nylon or natural bristels. Brass or steel brushes will do more arm than good to your tools and the teeth will dull faster.

Both tools and the small brush are available from Tools for Working Wood.

Next installment: Complementary tools

Handplanes

Choosing the first handplane may not be an easy task, there are many models to choose from and while each one has it’s funcion, some of them are quite versatile and can be used for various tasks.

When looking for handplanes, some advocate that old is better and that you should get a Stanley or other antique brand name from a local flea market. I don’t agree, specially if this is your first handplane.

A vintage tool will require some restoration and tuning before it will perform well enough to compete with the tools produced these days – significant tuning if you want it to perform as well as the top brand names like Veritas and Lie-Nielsen. This is not impossible, but you really need to know what you’re doing.

If you’ve never used a well tuned handplane before, how will you know how it is supposed to perform if you’re buying a second hand vintage tool? This is why I recomend that for your first handplane you should buy the best tool you can afford.

Quality handplanes sold these days can use some tuning and they’ll perform even better, but out of the box they can perform quite well. Sharpen and hone the iron and you’re good to go.

But which ones should I get?

I would say you’ll need three planes in your basic set: a low angle block plane, a low angle jack plane and a large shoulder plane.

Here are my reasons:

The low angle block plane, preferably with an adjustable mouth, can be used on end-grain and face grain, you can use it as a small smoother to handle difficult grain by changing the bevel angle on the blade and it’s a very handy plane when working with small pieces for small projects.

The low angle jack plane can be a really versatile tool. It can be used as a small jointer to flatten a small board and by closing the mouth and setting the blade for a fine shaving it can be used as a smoother. It won’t replace a full size jointer or a smaller smoothing plane, but as a first handplane it will be a tool that will accomplish many tasks.

The shoulder plane will be useful to adjust tenons, rabbets, and whenever you need the blade to extend all the way across the sole of the plane so you can reach a tight corner. This will be the third plane to get.

From here I would say you should get a dedicated smoother, a jointer plane and then you can dive into specialty planes like the router plane. Or you can start to make your won wooden planes.

Next installment: Shaping tools

Chisels

If you are on a budget, a set of three bevel edge chisels (1/4″, 1/2″ and 3/4″) will get most of the job done. It’s nice to have a few more sizes, but I’d rather have only these three and have quality chisels than have all the sizes available from 1/8″ to 2″ of lower quality steel.

A lower quality chisel will be a rather disappointing tool. It wont keep a good edge for long, it may chip or get blunt easily and even when properly sharpened they won’t cut through wood effortlessly.

There’s nothing worse than cutting wood with a blunt tool. It tears the wood fibers instead of slicing them and your exposed joinery won’t look very good.

These days Lie-Nielsen chisels are rated very high, these are expensive tools but you get what you pay for.

In my shop I have some western style bevel edge chisels but the ones I wouldn’t live without are my Japanese chisels. These are easy to sharpen and hone and will take a very sharp edge that will last for a long time.

Japanese chisels are somewhat different than the western ones. They are forged with two different types of steel, one that his very thin and hard and will become the back and the cutting edge, and on top of this is a softer steel that will support it.

Furthermore there is a hollow in the back of the chisel so it is easier to flatten the back that is made of very hard steel. Some of the better chisels will have multiple hollows in the back for extra support. A good feature on larger chisels.

Due to their construction, the Japanese chisels can’t be hollow ground and must be sharpened on a waterstone or oilstone. And if you want to keep your chisels for a long time, never lever chips of wood if you’re cutting mortises with them. Take it easy on these and get a mortise chisel for the job.

So, what is on my set of chisels? Here’s what:

• 3mm (1/8″) Japanese dovetail
• 6mm (1/4″) Japanese dovetail and western bevel edge
• 12mm (1/2″) Japanese fishtail and western bevel edge
• 19mm (3/4″) Japanese bevel edge (multiple hollows)
• 25mm (1″) Japanese bevel edge (multiple hollows)

As you can see, I managed to get all the sizes from 3mm to 25mm but instead of just buying a set I built my set based on my needs. For small sizes I chose dovetail chisels, these are quite useful for working in small joinery, and for larger sizes I chose standard bevel edge chisels which can take a little more abuse.

The western chisels are somewhat redundant but I’ll use them for more coarse work and will save the edges of the Japanese chisels for the finishing work.

The fishtail chisel is what I’d consider a specially tool, it has a very thin blade and excels at cleaning the pins on half-blind dovetails.

My next purchase will be a long paring chisel around 36mm, but this one will have to wait.

Next installment: Handplanes

Saws

Every toolbox should have at least two handsaws, one filled for rip cuts along the grain and another for crosscut. The rip saw, if used for ripping rough lumber, should be around 26″ long with 5 tpi.

The other essential saw should be a smaller crosscut saw like a 12″ long backsaw with around 13 tpi.

To complement your set of handsaws, and if you want to cut your dovetails by hand, you could add a dovetail saw which is a smaller backsaw with it’s teeth filled for rip cut and with a higher teeth ratio, usually around 16 tpi.

A small coping saw is also a good addition to any toolbox for those moments when you need to cut a curve on a small piece of wood and want to keep your fingers away from the bandsaw blade.

If you want to try the Japanese saws, the ryoba will be a good starter. This type of saw has teeth on both sides of the blade, one for rip cuts and the other for crosscut. You can pair the ryoba with a dozuki which is the Japanse equivalent of a backsaw. These can be found with both crosscut and ripcut profiles, the later being a great dovetail saw.

Next installment: Chisels

Every woodworker will have a different approach to the craft and will develop a preference for some tools as he or she gets more experienced. For instance, I prefer to work with a folding rule instead of a tape measure. Some will prefer western saws over Japanese ones, and so on…

Layout tools

Good joinery starts with precise measurements and clean layout lines. Sharp pencils, a birch folding rule, a trusty combination square like the Starrett 6″ model and a wheel marking gauge are absolute essentials in my workshop. I also use a tape measure when I’m dealing with large stock and when measuring boards at the lumberyard.

If you want to go a step further, I’d advise to replace the pencil with a marking knife when you want that extra precision and add a 3″ engineers square to check your tools against. I find the 3″ square quite useful to layout tenons on small pieces and whenever the 6″ one feels too cumbersome for the task.

To complete the kit you should add a bevel gauge so you can layout some angles and a 12″ combination square. This can be used to layout larger pieces and the ruler alone can be used as a small straight edge.

Next installment: Saws