wood saw cut – Let The Shape of the Shaving Be Your Guide

To wood saw cut, maintaining the plane's mouth free of obstructions will protect it from clogging. However, it also lets you see how the shave is shaped. I used The same Technique to Build this Bathroom Bench  Mark Harrell of BadAxeToolworks and I have been corresponding via email, and Mark has kindly shared with me some of his saw-making experiences and thoughts. I found it particularly insightful when he mentioned how frequently he witnesses woodworkers approach his booth at a show, take up a saw and bench hook, and, in spite of the extraordinary functionality of his equipment, be utterly unable to wood saw cut. This made me consider how much of a revelation it was for me to use a bench hook for the first time. My work was drastically altered overnight.

Track your saw in two dimensions

So, as I was cutting the final joinery for my super saw bench I figured I would share my thoughts on accurately sawing up on a workbench. And the following is my recipe for sawing square and plumb….now, mind you, none of these pointers are my own ideas….they were collected from great WW minds, both past and present. Each one was a giant revelation in how to saw better. Add them together and you’ve got a winning combination… The location of the shaving in the mouth as well as it's shape tells you a lot about the pass you just took. It tell you about the topography of the board and how to adjust your plane strokes when flattening. It tells you where the plane just cut which can be super useful when squaring the edge of a board. Mostly it is just observing the feedback the plane gives you so that you get to flatter boards and smoother surface faster without just planing away blindly. The only time hand plane work slows down is when we overplane and have to do additional passes to correct our mistakes due to inattention. Use the shaving's shape as a reference!