Noah B Woodworks

In my attempt to improve my own woodworking and further my understanding of the craft, I purchased a set of books published by Lost Art Press in 2016 titled The Woodworker. This unique set of four books sets out to preserve the work of Charles H. Hayward, a premier craftsmen and educator. Over the next few posts I’ll be discussing some key points from these books, and I’m still working my way through the first.

In an article from the first book, Hayward writes: Marking out is one of those jobs that cannot be skimped. It must be done carefully because the success of the job depends on it (Lost Art Press LLC, 2016). These days, I often mark with a pencil because its fast, easy and abundant. When I was dovetailing, I used to mark with an extra long bladed Veritas marking knife that I got from Lee Valley for $15. It’s an awesome knife and I will be using it more often. I often notice that pencil marks do good enough work but not first-class work, at least by yesterdays standards.

When I first started woodworking, I learned about what it took to make a reference surface. A reference surface is essential to accurate marking, but how do you create one without a jointer? A few years ago all I had was a cheap Stanley no. 5, some cheap chisels and some winding sticks. I found the cheapest square that Rockler had as well. I was haunted by a set of questions: Is the sole of my cheap Stanley flat? Is the surface I use to sharpen my blade flat? What is flatness? The answers are no no and yes.

At the time I bought a small piece of float glass which is glass that is cooled on top of a pool of water, which makes it as flat as the waters surface. Its a really good place to start if you’re looking for a cheap reference surface. I found it was too small for the lapping of tools though, so a few years later I splurged on a piece of granite reference stone that had a flatness certification. This piece of paper showed the tolerances at each corner and the center of the block being less than one thousandth of an inch. I used the block to flatten the bottom of my plane bodies, and now I can use those planes with more confidence.