Yup, a sale. These never happen around here. But I need to raise some funds for a personal situation that has come up. Don’t worry, it’s nothing of the illegal nature or anything like that. Just some unexpected costs. Well, I have a few Ready To Ship planes that are just sitting here in the … (Read More)
Join me in beautiful Asheville, NC for a week of plane making next month! I still have two spots open in the class. Over the course of the week, you will craft a smoother, jack, and jointer. What’s best is that you will get to shape them to uniquely fit you. Materials are included, as is … (Read More)
Three Plane Class – August 2016 Make a Smoother, Jack, and Jointer with me in beautiful Asheville, NC The August Three Plane Class is now full! I will schedule another for later in the year, or next spring. I first mentioned the possibility of having this class last year, but I have wanted to offer … (Read More)
I have wanted to make a smaller smoother for awhile now, and when I finally did, I was even happier with it than I had thought I would be. It is a really fun plane to use, and incredibly useful. At 7 inches long, it is about an inch and a half shorter than its … (Read More)
Ready To Ship Planes and Spokeshaves Your workbench is begging for new shop friends! I wanted to share some of the recent additions to the Ready To Ship page. I am pretty proud of these planes. Hopefully, you will see something that begs to be added to your tool chest. The Brazilian Rosewood Block Plane … (Read More)
I am so excited about this refresh of my website. It has been in the works for months, and I believe the wait has been more than worth it. The new site is cleaner, more streamlined, and works much better across all platforms, including on mobile devices. I hope that you take some time to … (Read More)
Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Nashville, TN, March 13-14 I am excited to be heading to Nashville for the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event this coming weekend! The event is taking place at Fort Houston, a “creative, innovative, and technological resource for those who wish to teach and those who seek to learn.” If you are … (Read More)
New Ready To Ship High Angle Smoothers At a length of 8″ and an iron bedded at 60°, my High Angle Smoother excels at tackling the toughest wood grain you can throw at it. I’ve recently added two of them to my Ready To Ship page. The first is Osage Orange with an Ipe wedge … (Read More)
Kansas City Woodworkers’ Guild – January 16-17 This coming weekend, I will be at the Kansas City Woodworkers’ Guild. The event runs from 10am-6pm on Friday and 10am-5pm on Saturday. Mark Hicks, from Plate 11 Bench Company will be there as well. For more information on the event, including directions to get there, click here. Palomar … (Read More)
I’ve just added these two new planes to the Ready To Ship page. The first is a 22″ Mesquite and African Blackwood Jointer. I love these Mesquite Jointers, but finding decent material for them is so tough. I wish I could make it a regular option. The stability and weight make this one incredible plane. The … (Read More)
New Width Options For Plane Irons Up until now, I only offered my planes with a 2″ wide blade (other than the Block Plane, of course). My only real reason for that is that I personally like them wider. Well, after hearing from a few potential customers that wished for thinner width options, I have … (Read More)
Earlier today, I was challenged on Facebook to take part in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge by Chris Kuehn of Sterling Tool Works. For those that don’t know, this challenge has become a viral phenomenon that has raised awareness of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and has helped raise millions of dollars to aid in research. … (Read More)
The amazing tool chest/tote pictured above is a project I am incredibly excited to be a part of. It is the Fred West Commemorative Tool Chest and it will be given away at the upcoming Woodworking In America conference in Winston Salem, NC, September 12-14, 2014. The chest came about through a discussion I had … (Read More)
My friends at Sterling Tool Works recently announced their amazing new plane hammer. I was one of the lucky few who received an early prototype, which I’ve been using in my shop since. I love this hammer so much, that after only a week of using it, I talked to Chris about making some exclusively for … (Read More)
I have had quite a few requests for an advanced plane making class, and I’m pleased to announce that it is coming soon. This advanced class will be longer and more in depth than my regular class and it is highly recommended that students will have taken my other class or watched my DVD before … (Read More)
I recently wrote a piece for my friend, Ron Hock’s, newsletter, Sharp and To The Point. I’ve been meaning to link to it from here and finally getting around to it. You can find the article through Ron’s blog: Holy Crap, I’m A Plane Maker! I’m really thrilled with how the article came out and humbled … (Read More)
Since 2010, Marc Spagnuolo, aka, The Wood Whisperer, has been holding an annual event called Woodworkers Fighting Cancer in order to raise money for cancer research. The following is their mission for this year: We are woodworkers united in the fight against cancer. Our goal for 2013 is to raise $10,000 for CancerCare, a national nonprofit … (Read More)
Woodworking In America took place again this past weekend in Covington, KY. I had the pleasure of having a booth for my planes for a the second year in a row, and I must say, it was a resounding success. Sales were fantastic, seeing old friends and making new was a blast, the food was … (Read More)
I recently had a father and his son take one of my online plane making classes. I asked them to write something talking about their experience that I could post for Father’s Day and what they sent me is posted below. I love that they had such a great time together and that it helped … (Read More)
I am auctioning off the Mesquite and African Blackwood Smoothing Plane and donating at least 50% of the proceeds towards the relief efforts in Moore, OK. As you can see, the Mesquite has some truly unique and stunning curl figure in it and the contrast of the Blackwood makes this one of my favorite planes … (Read More)
What is the Wood Plane Weekend you ask? Well, first of all, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a weekend, but Wood Plane Weekend just sounds better. The “weekend” is three days of immersion into wood body planes with yours truly. I will help you craft another wood bodied plane (not the plane you order of … (Read More)
If you are at all interested in hand tools, you need to make it to Amana, Iowa for the Handworks show taking place May 24-25, 2013. The list of makers that will be there is very impressive. Here are just a few: Benchcrafted (They are the evil geniuses behind this incredible event) Blue Spruce Toolworks Brese Plane Bridge … (Read More)
I now have gift certificates available. They are perfect for the woodworker or appreciator of fine woodwork in your life. These gift certificates can be used towards my wood bodied planes, the upcoming online plane making classes, or furniture and other custom items I sell here on the website. The best part is that they … (Read More)
I have decided to start offering plane making classes online. The classes will be live, using the Hangout feature of Google+ and limited to 3-4 students each. This will allow discussion and questions to happen in real time. Students won’t be required to have a webcam to participate, but will need a microphone at minimum. … (Read More)
I’ve been watching the news and seeing the disaster that was left in the wake of Hurricane Sandy last week in the Northeast. They need our help in any way we can, so I’ve decided to donate 20% of all my sales for the rest of this month to the relief efforts. I know some … (Read More)
If you have been looking wistfully at my planes but haven’t yet placed an order, might I recommend asking Santa (or his helpers) to bring you one on Christmas day? Orders placed before October 15th will have guaranteed delivery for Christmas, so be sure to put a Scott Meek Woodworks plane at the top of … (Read More)
Recently, I held a contest on my Facebook page to pick a name for my White Oak Smoother. Well, plenty of great names were suggested, and two of them resonated strongly with me. So strongly, in fact, that I haven’t been able to decide between them! The names are Blue Collar Smoother, suggested by Derek … (Read More)
I was finally able to get the site back up after finding out yesterday that it was down. I hope you didn’t miss me too much! If you notice anything funky as you browse, use the contact form to shoot me a quick email and let me know. Everything should be fully functional, but I … (Read More)
I wanted to let everyone know a couple changes I’ve made to my Plane Adjustment Mallet. First of all, I’ve changed the species of the handle to Ash. I feel that this is a much stronger and long lasting option than the Olive wood. The Olive looked great, but Ash has always been one of … (Read More)
First, the good news: orders for my planes have taken a massive jump of late, due mostly to kind words from Shannon Rogers and Mark Harrel. I’m incredibly honored that more and more people are finding my planes worthy of their hard earned dollars. It’s definitely encouraging when something you work so hard on starts … (Read More)
I recently received an order for a Tiger Maple Smoother from The Renaissance Woodworker, Shannon Rogers. Shannon also is the man behind The Hand Tool School, an online, subscription based source of a wealth of hand tool knowledge and instruction. He and I had talked on a few previous occasions about developing some sort of … (Read More)
Check out this video from Shannon Rogers, the man behind The Renaissance Woodworker and The Hand Tool School, unboxing some planes I sent him this week. I’m really excited about this opportunity to partner with Shannon and The Hand Tool School and to soon announce the exclusive deals for HTS members. I’m in great company there, with … (Read More)
As you may know, my family and I recently moved from Michigan to North Carolina. On all accounts, this move has been wonderful. We feel tremendously thrilled and blessed to live in such a beautiful area (just check out the picture at the right from a hike 30 minutes from our house) full of amazing … (Read More)
I’m launching a new feature for Scott Meek Woodworks today. The Sketchbook will give you unparalleled access to the process of new designs as they happen. Subscribers have the privilege of seeing new pieces I create before anyone else, which means they also have the first chance to purchase the one they fall in love … (Read More)
When a Craftsman of to-day sets to work to make a chair, the knowledge which he takes so much for granted is the stored-up inheritance of generations of craftsmen who had preceded him. He is profiting by their discoveries, their failures, and adding whatever of its own particular worth in new processes the present age … (Read More)
I’m realizing a couple things in my designs I’m doing lately. I like designing with curves. I love the life it adds to a relatively simple basic form. Imagine the piece below with all straight lines, it would be pretty boring, missing anything that would catch your eye or add life to the space it … (Read More)
This is a bookshelf design I’m working on. I need a shelf over my desk at the shop to hold some of my woodworking books, so I came up with this. Its about 32″ x 20″ with hand dovetailed drawers and shelves attached to the sides with through mortice and tenons. I like the design … (Read More)
I love Artprize! I’m completely enthralled while walking around Grand Rapids viewing the creativity that has exploded from people’s souls. If I could, I would spend every waking hour taking everything in. The scope of the thing is intimidating. There is so much to look at, to experience, that its impossible to feel completely justified … (Read More)
This page is in the process of changing. Hopefully I will have things looking nice around here over the next few weeks.
I have some friends, Jay and Jen Kroll, who are heading to Haiti, March 28-April 2, 2010, in order to help World Vision build a school. Last night, they had a gala and silent auction to help raise funds for the trip and school. I had originally hoped to have a piece made for the … (Read More)
I decided to build my own wooden hand plane after seeing planes from Larry Marshall and Kari Hultman. Making a wooden plane is almost a craftsmans right of passage, like a Jedi building his own lightsaber. (Sorry, should have issued a nerd alert.) It is an extremely fulfilling project and can provide some great learning … (Read More)
Over the course of the last couple weeks, I finally launched an Etsy shop and an Art Fire studio for Scott Meek Woodworks. I only have two items for sale currently at both locations: the Maple and Cherry tray and the Butternut/Walnut treasures box. I hope to have a few more items for sale in … (Read More)
I launched my Etsy shop yesterday, and one of the things I’ve noticed right off the bat is that I don’t have enough items for sale. I’m hoping to get at least one of the other box designs that I posted earlier done in the next few weeks. Even so, I want to offer some … (Read More)
This is another box concept I’m currently working on. It will require a lot of shaping with rasps, spokeshaves, and planes, which I’m VERY excited about. I had a tough time trying to draw other proportional sketches of this box, so the above sketches really don’t show whats fully in my head. I had an … (Read More)
After being so thrilled with the way my first box turned out, I’ve decided to design and build a few more different styles. I’ve drawn this one a few different ways now, and I’m still not sold on it completely. It may just be my inability to draw, so I might mock one up. At the … (Read More)
I’ve now applied two coats of linseed oil and beeswax. Need to wait a couple days before I can put a 3rd coat on, and then another week, when I may finish with Shellac. Once that is done, I will get some final pictures of it before giving to my friend who is eager to … (Read More)
The box is completely assembled! Only thing left to do is apply the linseed oil and bees wax finish. And so, without further ado:
I was asked by a friend to make a box for his mom to hold cards that are very special to her. I put together some ideas in Google Sketchup, and asked some fellow woodworkers for their input using Google Wave. It was an interesting experience to get real time input online. Here is the … (Read More)
I listen to a lot of music while I’m in the shop. I have some great in-ear, noise canceling headphones that protect my ears from the noise of the tools and also allow me to listen to things that help inspire me while I work. I also listen to audiobooks and podcasts, but that’s for … (Read More)
I picked up Rob Bell’s new book, Drops Like Stars, yesterday. Almost read it all last night. In it, Rob talks about the link between suffering and creativity. Two things have immediately stuck out to me and got me really thinking today. The first is from this quote: “Great artists know that it isn’t just … (Read More)
Starting to think this may be a serving tray instead. I’m just not going to want to cut on it! Finished it with Tried & True’s Original Wood Finish, which is Linseed Oil and pure beeswax. Ended up using Bubinga for the plugs and feet.
This is what I’ve been working on today. I’ve had the Maple sitting in the shop for awhile with such a unique grain pattern, just waiting for inspiration to hit. I made a comment on Twitter this past Sunday that I needed to create something this week, and asked people that follow my tweets to … (Read More)
I got to build an Oak interior door the last couple days to replace this one, which was burned in a fire. This has been a fun little project. Just waiting for the glass, and for the painter to stain and lacquer the door, then I will install it.