Shop on the Go
A travel kit of carefully chosen tools keeps a veteran cabinetmaker at work away from homeSynopsis: Veteran cabinetmaker Mario Rodriguez often travels to where the work is, so he carries with him tools that can help him tackle anything from basic joinery to furniture repair. He’s pared his tool collection down to the hand tools and a few portable power tools that offer the best results with the least weight and bulk. This toolkit helps him make almost any small project from scratch when power machinery isn’t handy. In this article, you’ll learn what you need to take to travel light but right.
I often find myself far from a well-equipped shop, and when I reach my destination I typically need a good collection of woodworking tools that can help me tackle anything from basic joinery to furniture repair.
I’ve been a cabinetmaker for a long time, and I own lots of tools. When I travel, I can’t lug everything, so I pare down my collection to the tools that give me the best results with the least weight and bulk. Although I routinely use a variety of stationary power tools when they are available, my travel kit allows me to make almost any small project from scratch when they are not. In my travels I’ve discovered that this set is really all I need and would serve as a good set of essentials for any shop.
In addition to being compact and portable, tools must have three qualities: each must be effective, versatile and of good quality. Ef plane. Three of my planes are made by Lie-Nielsen, where I work part-time as a consultant. The planes are well made, but they are expensive. In most cases, you could substitute another brand, such as Record or Stanley.
The low-angle jack plane is a copy of the Stanley No. 62. It is long enough to serve as a jointer yet short enough to double as a smoothing plane. It can cut with the grain, perpendicular to the grain, and it even handles end grain. It also works on very dense woods such as bird’s-eye maple. Like most woodworkers, I can’t do without a block plane. Mine is a Lie-Nielsen No. 103, but good block planes also are made by Stanley and Record. A No. 4 smoothing plane is rightfully regarded as an all-purpose bench plane. I use mine to smooth and flatten short and narrow pieces, to clean up edges and to remove saw marks and other surface blemishes. The last plane in my kit is a 3 ⁄4-in. shoulder plane. I made this one myself, modeling it after one from the tool chest of famed 19th-century cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe.
From Fine Woodworking #153
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