A boy buying his tool outfit is often bewildered by the array in the hardware store. He is further confused by the advice of the salesman, and his own little store of money.

In selecting planes, only three are really necessary for ordinary work, and this number may even be reduced to two.

Wooden planes are still the favourite tools of some woodworkers, but iron planes have largely superseded them. A 15-inch iron jack plane, a 9-inch smoothing plane, and a block plane make a very good combination for a beginning.

Special planes can be added later, as the finances will allow.

The iron plane with its various parts is shown in Fig. 111. These refer to either the jack or the smooth plane.

In the block plane there is no cap iron, the cutter or plane iron being placed with the bevelled side up. There is frequently found on this tool an adjustment for changing the amount of opening in the mouth for hard or soft woods.

The plane iron and cap are fastened together with a set screw, and the cap is removed when it is being ground or sharpened on an oilstone.

This set screw, which is loosened with a screw-driver, or the edge of the clamp used as a screw-driver, also allows the distance from the cutting edge to the cap to be changed for soft or hard woods. These two irons are fastened into the throat of the plane by the clamp.

The lever (1) is for straightening the plane iron, and the screw s is for adjusting the depth of the cut.

The difference between the jack and smooth planes, aside from the size, is in the shape of the "cutter" or "bit." In the jack plane, the bit is ground with a slightly curved cutting edge. This enables the tool to remove coarse shavings, but leaves a slightly corrugated surface which must be smoothed with the smoothing plane.

The jack plane also tends to straighten the work, owing to its greater length. The greater the length, the more does it straighten. The old-fashioned jointers were made several feet long for this very purpose.

If a boy can afford only one plane, it should be a jack plane, but the cutter should be ground straight to act as a smooth plane.

The block plane can be dispensed with better than any of the others, because the smooth plane can be used on a shooting board for truing up end grain, the original purpose of the block plane.

The latter plane has no cap, as it works on the ends of the wood fibres with a shearing or paring action. This is helped by holding the tool at an angle with the wood, a position not advisable with the other two tools.

The proper position for planing is with the right side to the bench, the plane held flat on the work. Each stroke should, wherever possible, be the full length of the board, unless one part is higher than the rest of the surface. This may be ascertained by using the edge of the plane as a straight edge. High spots should be marked with a pencil, and then planed off, till the full length strokes can be made, and the edge planed straight and true. In surface planing, if the surface be warped, the amount of wind may be determined by placing two "winding" sticks—two straight pieces of the same size at the two ends—and sighting with the eye along their top edges. To take out wind, it may be necessary to plane diagonally across the grain from corner to corner. This defect is common in lumber not properly piled or seasoned, and is more noticeable in such woods as gum or chestnut.

The sharpening of plane irons is a very important part of one's knowledge of tool work, and of course applies to chisels, gouges, and all cutting tools.

Remember that the cutting edge or bevel is a wedge, the angle of a plane-iron bevel being from 25 to 35 degrees, the smaller angle for soft wood, the larger for hard. This angle is not measured by the woodworker often, but is a matter of experience. If the young mechanic will keep his tools ground to the same angle as he finds them at the time of purchase, he will not go far astray.

This angle should be a clean-cut one, however. Fig. 112 shows some correct and some incorrect ways of grinding. At a is shown the right way, b is not an angle at all, and c is a waste of time and material. At d is shown the worst fault of all—a "back bevel." This occurs when the tool is carelessly turned over and ground on both sides, which renders it useless until all the steel in front of the dotted line has been removed; in other words, until the tool is reground.

This mistake is sometimes made in using the oilstone, by rubbing the tool on both sides instead of on one only. All the grinding and sharpening must be done on the bevelled side. As the plane iron is only a thin chisel, the sharpening of the latter tool is performed as in the case of the plane iron, and the same care should be taken to keep the bevel clean cut.

A good grindstone is a shop necessity, and, one might add, a household necessity, because every household uses knives, and the dull knife is an altogether too common nuisance.Our boys hung up another sign at this stage, and it read, "Keep your tools sharp." This ought to go without saying, but it is a fact that many people make failures of their work and become disgusted with it because they do not keep their tools in order. The satisfaction of using fine, sharp tools cannot be explained; it must be experienced.

Like other things about the shop, there are many kinds of grindstones on the market. The old-fashioned stone with a wooden frame (Fig. 113) worked by hand or a treadle may be good—it depends on the stone—and the new one with a small stone, iron, or pressed steel frame is handy. The last stone is provided with a bicycle seat, and is worked by both feet, so that the hands are free to hold the tool. This stone has ball bearings, is noiseless, and occupies less space than the other.

A stone that is soft and gritty, rather than one that is hard like a piece of granite, should be selected.

In holding the tool against the stone, some common sense is necessary. The harder one presses, the quicker the grinding, but if there is not plenty of water on the stone, the tool may be "burned." When a black place appears, you have destroyed the temper, showing that there has been too much pressure, or too little water, or both.

The tool may be moved back and forth across the stone to keep its face true, but never up and down. This up and down motion is careless and gives the defective edge shown at b (Fig. 112)—very bad grinding.

It is an easy matter to test your grinding by occasionally placing the blade of a try square on the bevel. If it is not straight, your grinding needs more care. Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of this subject of grinding. It is the key-note of success. If you are careless in this particular, your work at the bench cannot be a success. "A good workman is known by his tools."

A teacher of drawing once said, "I don't care to see your drawing; all I want is to see your pencil. I can tell just what kind of work you are doing by observing the care you give your pencil."

This is peculiarly true of the worker with tools. Find a man very particular about them, and you may be sure he is a careful workman.

After grinding comes sharpening. This is done by rubbing the bevelled side back and forth a few times on an oilstone, lubricated with a few drops of sperm or light machine oil.

The stone should be wiped off, afterward, and should never be saturated with the oil. If this is allowed to happen, the surface becomes gummed (Fig. 114) and loses its cutting edge. This rubbing will sometimes turn over a thin wire edge, which is removed by laying the tool with the flat side on the oilstone and drawing it toward you. The wire edge can be further removed if necessary by stropping on a piece of leather.

Before replacing the cutter in the plane, the cap iron is fastened on the flat side about ¹/₁₆-inch from the cutting edge; but this distance may be varied for different woods.

The object of the cap iron is to prevent a splitting action by bending the shaving forward, as shown in Fig. 115. At a is shown the effect when there is no cap, and at b the splinter bent over giving a shaving.