Jorgensen Bench Plane

Novice woodworkers ask me to recommend a hand plane that works well and won’t break the bank. Up until now, I have recommended than they search for a pre-1970 Stanley and restore it. Then I tripped over this Jorgensen, and was surprised to find it’s price is similar to a restored Stanley. And it’s just as good as an old Stanley, maybe a little better.

The sole is 10” (250 mm) long, with a 2” (50 mm) wide iron, making it comparable to a Stanley No. 4 smoothing plane. The plane we bought needed very little tuning. The sole was dead flat and the iron was sharp enough to use right out of the box.

The construction is very similar to an old Stanley, but slightly more robust. The sole is ductile iron, the frog is steel, and the handles are beech hardwood. The big change (for the better) concerns the iron and chipbreaker. Both are machined from O1 tool steel. The iron measures .1095” thick, about 50% thicker than Stanley (.0750”). As a result, there is no chatter. The cut is smooth and precise. And when you hone the blade and lap the sole, it’s even smoother and precise-er. See our video on “Fine Tuning a Bench Plane.

Jorgensen Low-Angle Block Plane

The low-angle block plane is the most used plane in my shop. It is essential for trimming and finessing the parts of an assembly, and the low-angle configuration lets you cut long grain and end grain with equal ease. My favorite is the Stanley No. 60-1/2, one of the most popular planes Stanley ever made. And the Jorgensen look-alike comes very close. It’s heavier than the Stanley yet still fits your hand just as comfortably. The mechanism that advances the iron is simple and straightforward, but I found it benefited from a little judicial tuning. The sharp arrises in the plane iron slot caught on the adjusting disc when you turned it. Easing the arrises with a grindstone and waxing the interlocking parts (for lubrication) was all it took to get it working perfectly.

The thumbwheel under the cap lets you quickly adjust the pressure of the cap on the iron, allowing you to easily change the depth-of-cut and then lock the iron in place. The iron itself is more substantial than Stanley’s (which partly explains the additional weight). This reduces chatter to almost nothing, even when planing end grain. The Jorgensen is sharp enough to be used right out of its package, but a careful sharpening and honing will make this hand tool sing and dance. Lapping the sole also helps, in my estimation. To see how to lap the sole and sharpen the iron, watch our video “Fine Tuning a Bench Plane".

Kreg Pocket Hole Jig 320

I’ve tested a lot of pocket hole jigs, and Kreg makes some of the best. This is the one I use in my work. Kreg has bigger sets filled with interesting accessories, but this simple set – the “320” – has everything most of us need, with the exception of an 1/8” (3 mm) drill bit for pilot holes -- I explain the reason for that in our video “Pocket Holes Overexplained”. That aside, the Kreg 320 is extremely versatile, reasonably durable, and relatively inexpensive.

3/8” x 12” Aircraft Drill

Yes, there really is such a thing as an “aircraft drill,” and no, I haven’t a clue as to why they are so named. It’s just what the tool industry calls long drill bits. This is the specific aircraft drill I used in “Making Pocket Dowel Joints”.

By the way, this may only work in America where we are still wedded to Imperial measurements. Elsewhere, you probably want a 10 mm-diameter drill bit. (Irwin makes those too.) Best check your pocket hole jig and get a bit to match.

Irwin 1/8” x 6” Aircraft Drill

This is the drill bit that every pocket hole jig manufacturer leaves out of their kits and sets. You use it to make pilot holes in the adjoining wood part. This keeps that wood from splitting when you drive the screws home. I overexplain the need for pilot holes in our video “Pocket Holes Overexplained”.

Starrett Band Saw Blades

An important part of setting up a band saw is choosing the right blade for the task at hand. So far, the best blades that I have found for most jobs are Starrett blades. To help select the specific blade you need, I offer a few rules of thumb: Unless you want a very fine cut, look for a hook-tooth or skip-tooth blade with as few teeth per inch as possible. For scrollwork, use 3/16” (4 mm) or 1/4” (6 mm) blades. When resawing, use as wide a blade as your saw will handle. You can watch some scrolling work in “Band Saw Magic” and “Scrapwood Reindeer”. I show how to resaw in “Bandsawn Nesting Boxes”.

Power Twist Belt

There’s no faster way to reduce the vibration that plagues many belt-driven tools than to replace the V-belt with a "link belt" such as this Power Twist belt. An ordinary V-belt bunches up and get a little wider as it goes around a pulley, and then it narrows when it leaves the pulley. This continual expansion and contraction sets up a vibration that can reduce a tool’s precision. Link belts are designed so they remain the same size as they travel. If you’d like to see how well this works, watch our short video “Reducing Tool Vibration.”

Nicholson 12” Second-Cut Mill File

In case you’re confused about the specifications for this tool, “single cut” refers to the file tooth pattern. A single-cut describes parallel rows of teeth; a double-cut refers to crisscrossing rows that create a diamond pattern. “Second-cut” refers to the quality of the cut. In files, you have fine, second-cut, bastard, and coarse. And “mill” designates the shape of the file itself. I recommend this specific file because I’ve found it works well when sharpening scrapers. In fact, I keep one of these with my scrapers and use it just for that. See this file in action in our video “How to Sharpen a Cabinet Card Scraper”.