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When sawdust got packed into the back end of my planer’s blast gate, I couldn’t close the gate all the way.  I solved this annoying problem by cutting a notch in the gate. Now, when I close the [...]

Tool: Thickness Planer 10044 Shop Now   Manufacturer: Oliver MSRP: $999.99 Oliver Machinery, a name recognized as a manufacturer of vintage woodworking machinery, has returned to the [...]

Let’s face it: running a twisted board through the planer doesn’t make it flat. The board will still be twisted when it comes out. The trick is to use a sled that prevents the board from rocking [...]

This versatile hand tool should be every woodworker’s first plane purchase. As a “professional woodworker” I often get asked what’s the best bang-for-the-buck tool by people getting into [...]

In Conversation with Plane Maker Karl Holtey. Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the December 2020 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. In 2015, acclaimed hand plane maker [...]

Moby Dick, the Great White Planer The newspaper advertisement was brief: “PLANER, 24″, $450. Call.” My friend Charles Poth and I had been looking for just such a machine. We found the [...]

Like most planers, mine snipes, overcutting a bit at both ends of a board. Sometimes I’ll simply cut off the sniped areas if I can afford the extra board length. However, with precious woods, [...]

I re-sharpen disposable planer blades a few times, using a shop-made jig, before tossing the blades away. I use a set of three diamond hones to sharpen the blade at an angle 5° higher than the [...]

Tool: MP160 Jointer Planer Shop Now  Manufacturer: Wood-Mizer MSRP: $4995 Wood-Mizer has started developing standalone woodworking machinery. This combo jointer/planer caught our eye because [...]

My portable planer uses disposable blades. When the first set got dull, I didn’t throw them away–I turned the two blades into very useful drawknives.  I wrapped duct tape around the ends of the [...]

As it often happens with my ideas, the moment I start thinking about some type of innovation or another I gravitate to my sketchbook and try to evolve it on paper until I feel certain it has [...]

As I mentioned last week, a common way to flatten a board that is too wide for your jointer is to build a planing sled and then pass the board & sled through the planer. Via incremental [...]