Dimensionally stable wood for wooden tools

[woodcanuck]

After ogling some of the tools at WIA, I am compelled by a few of the wooden tools that I saw.

Wooden planes for sure are high on the list of things to try, but given their size and blockiness, I'm less worried about dimensional stability than I am for something like 'winding sticks'.

This is one of those areas that I think I would indulge myself and buy something really nice to use for some of these projects, but I don't want it to go crazy and warp on me.

What kind of wood has the least likelihood of moving and twisting out of square if I were to use it in relatively thin strips for something like a straight edge? Schwarz has a really nice wooden straight edge, Rob Cosman also sells some wooden winding sticks.

If a single solid piece of wood is too prone to movement for something as precise as a straight edge or a winding stick, I could always laminate strips to make my own plywood. I'm thinking that if I got some really nicely figured wood, I could maybe resaw it and laminate it together with other very stable woods to make a somewhat fancy plywood that I could use for these.

Any thoughts or suggestions on how to approach this or what types of wood to use, or to avoid?

[gardnesd]

I bought some padauk for this purpose. Making a really nice straight edge and a roubo square. If you can stand the orange color and the nasal irritants it's a good choice. It would seem to me that anyof the tropical woods that are heavy and quartersawn would work well. Padauk happens to be a variety that is often found quartersawn. Wonder if QS white oak would work??

[Mike M]

I know that one of the objectives is the beauty of the tool, but for simple functionality, silverwood (aluminum) is easy to work, readily available and stable. A perfect choice for functional, albeit ugly, winding sticks.

[Bob Rozaieski]

No matter what kind of wood you make the tools out of, they will eventually need to be adjusted. No wooden tool is going to stay perfect forever. Fortunately, because they are made of wood, they are easy to tune and adjust. I've made squares, gauges, winding sticks, sliding bevels, spokeshaves, planes, reamers, and a whole host of other tools out of wood. I've used oak, ash, mahogany, walnut, maple, bubinga, purpleheart (never again), cherry, hickory, beech and all have been fine for wooden tools. Just pick something readily available, inexpensive, and dry. If what you are making is a reference tool like a square, just check it for square every couple of weeks (takes seconds to do). If it goes out of square (and it eventually will), correct it. For other tools that aren't used as reference tools, like gauges, a little out of wack is no big deal. Winding sticks aren't a big deal either. Just two sticks with parallel edges. Check them every once in awhile to make sure they are still straight (again, takes seconds) and if they aren't, plane them straight again.

Like I said, no matter what wood you make them out of, they will eventually require maintenance. No wooden tool is maintenance free (this goes for metal squares too, which can and do go out of square). Fortunately, the maintenance takes seconds to do with wooden tools. And they're lots of fun to make and use. So dig into your cutoff bin and see what you have. I'm betting just about anything you have in there (except softwoods) will work .

[PaulMarcel]

So I have to ask why you didn't like making tools of Purpleheart? It seems pretty impact resistant, hard as nails, but maybe a bit splintery to work with...

just curious

[Bob Rozaieski]

So I have to ask why you didn't like making tools of Purpleheart? It seems pretty impact resistant, hard as nails, but maybe a bit splintery to work with...

just curious

Yep, hard as nails, but more importantly, full of silica. I don't use machines, so making tools means using other hand tools. The purpleheart I had was hell on my edge tools. I couldn't plane it more than one or two strokes without having to resharpen (and couldn't take anything but a super thin cut), it balked at my chisels, my Nicholson rasps wouldn't touch it, and it dulled my hand saw's teeth very rapidly. It was just an awful wood to work by hand. Kind of like trying to work a purple cinder block. I've heard it machines ok, but working it by hand was a nightmare. I like North American hardwoods personally as they are much more hand tool friendly. Some of the exotic stuff is ok working by hand, but purpleheart is not one of them .

[gardnesd]

Bob,

What about Jatoba???

[Bob Rozaieski]

Bob,

What about Jatoba???

Never tried it. I've heard it's pretty hard so it should work fine.

[JimB1]

Kind of hard on tools but what about hickory? I know they use it for lots of tool handles and not as pricey as some of the exotic woods...

-Jim

[Bob Rozaieski]

Kind of hard on tools but what about hickory? I know they use it for lots of tool handles and not as pricey as some of the exotic woods...

-Jim

Yep, hickory is good.

[jlloydparks]

I have made a pair of winding sticks out of quartersawn Mahongany. They are about 5/8" thick and have held up exceptionally well. However, my shop stays a consistent 60 with about a 40% relative humidity. They about three months old and I had to take one light pass with jointer on them so far.

[flairwoodworks]

Yep, hard as nails, but more importantly, full of silica. I don't use machines, so making tools means using other hand tools. The purpleheart I had was hell on my edge tools. I couldn't plane it more than one or two strokes without having to resharpen (and couldn't take anything but a super thin cut), it balked at my chisels, my Nicholson rasps wouldn't touch it, and it dulled my hand saw's teeth very rapidly. It was just an awful wood to work by hand. Kind of like trying to work a purple cinder block. I've heard it machines ok, but working it by hand was a nightmare. I like North American hardwoods personally as they are much more hand tool friendly. Some of the exotic stuff is ok working by hand, but purpleheart is not one of them .

I detest purpleheart. I think I would rather work with lignum vitae than purpleheart.

[Mister Pants]

Never tried it. I've heard it's pretty hard so it should work fine.

I've made a couple of smoothers with Jatoba, it's nice, heavy and fairly dense. Bubinga also works well for handplanes. What you don't want for them is anything brittle. Padauk as mentioned elsewhere would probably work very well with handtools, as it cuts like butter with power tools and is pretty slick. Hard maple would probably work well for the other pieces, and winding sticks in contrasting species/colors would probably be a good idea.

I've also used lignum vitae for turning handle replacements, but it's a bit of a pain to work.