How to Choose and Use Bench Planes & Scrapers

Working wood with hand tools is one of the most satisfying, relaxing and rewarding activities available, and adding planes to a woodworking regimen augments it in several ways. When we plane the face or edge of a board, we slice across cells, exposing a multitude of voids. When we sand, we fill up those voids with dust, the residue of crushed cell walls. As a finish is applied, the difference is immediately obvious. A planed surface has a deep, rich, translucent quality that is missing in a sanded piece.