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 course) and walk you through all the intricacies of using them. By the end, you will know your wood bodied planes inside and out, have learned how touch, sound and sight is pivotal to blade adjustment, gone over sharpening tips and techniques, and learn how to trouble shoot any issues that may occur over your life with the plane.

Where will the Wood Plane Weekend take place?
I will either host the Wood Plane Weekend in my shop or come to yours, whichever you prefer. Travel costs and hotel will be covered and I will also provide lunch or dinner each day. You may also invite a friend to join you for the sessions, however, they will be responsible for their own travel, lodging and food expenses.

So how do you win?
Every plane order placed before August 15, 2013 is an entry into the drawing. This includes Ready to Ship, Jointer, Jack, Premium Smoother, Journeyman Smoother, or Block planes. I will announce and contact the winner sometime before August 30. I will work with the winner to select a time that works best for both of us.

So go place your order today and be entered to win the Wood Plane Weekend!

Some fine print.
Unfortunately, orders outside of the United States and Canada are not eligible. Not available for cash refund. If the first winner chooses to decline the Wood Plane Weekend, another winner will be chosen. The winner is responsible for the materials for the plane made during the Wood Plane Weekend. If there are fewer than 10 planes sold before August 15, 2013, Scott Meek Woodworks reserves the right to cancel, extend, or postpone this contest.

Is the Wood Plane Weekend available for purchase?
Absolutely! If you are interested in purchasing a Wood Plane Weekend, please contact me and we will work out the details.

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 City Tool Works
• Daed Toolworks
• Knew Concepts
• M.S.Bickford
• Sauer And Steiner
• Vogt Toolworks

I am so excited to join these amazing artisans there! Be sure to check out the Handworks website for the full list.

As if that list wasn’t enough motivation, get this: the show is free to attend! (Donations to help cover expenses are appreciated of course.) Oh, but it gets even better. There are also door prizes provided by many of the aforementioned tool makers! Seriously, if you haven’t checked the site out yet, at least go look at the amazing door prizes! I promise you will drool.

I really hope to see you at Handworks next month. If you are there, please be sure to stop by my booth, say hello, and try out my planes.

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 make great last minute gift ideas! Click here to learn 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. I will be working out the details in a couple test run classes, which are taking place over the next few weeks. These first classes will be at a discounted rate of $75, a savings of 50%. I am expecting the classes to be three to four 3 hour sessions. If you are interested in these classes, please use the form below to subscribe to my newsletter, being sure to select the “Plane Making Class” interest. You can select other interests also, by the way.
If you are already a subscriber, still fill out the form and it will walk you through how to update your preferences.

Click here for a list of required materials and tools for the class.

I will be putting together a schedule for classes throughout the year after I get through the test runs and will email that out to newsletter subscribers. I’m also thinking that I will offer private group classes at discounted rates. In other words, if you get three friends together to take a class, we can cater the times to meet your needs and even save a few dollars.

Below the newsletter signup form is where you can reserve your spot in one of the test run classes. I also have a couple 2″ Hock blades for sale there, no cost for shipping them.

I’m excited about this new venture. I love getting others hooked on wood bodied planes.

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 will be going to the Red Cross and I’m investigating a couple of other options as well. The 20% will be on anything I sell this month, whether that is planes I currently have in stock, planes that are custom ordered, or commissions for furniture. I would be honored if you passed this on to anyone who might be interested!

If you are interested in some planes I currently have in stock, you can check those out below. If none of those tickle your fancy, check out the Wood Body Planes page and mix and match the plane that you would prefer. Also check out the Available Pieces page for a couple decorative display pieces that I make. You can use the Contact page if you have any questions about a custom piece you may want to create with me.
 

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 your list right away.

I also wanted to let everyone know that I will be at Woodworking In America in Cincinnati, November 2-4. I will have many of my planes there for you all to check out and use. I have to warn you though, if you are on the fence about purchasing one, it will be much harder to put off once you’ve taken a couple of beautiful shavings with one.

I am also offering a “hand delivered” option for anyone that will be at WIA and would like to place an order before September 30. Shipping costs would be waved and you will be able to pick up your plane from me at the show. I’ll even be able to give you some tips right then and there on using your new wood-bodied plane! If you would like to take advantage of this, head on over to the Available Tools page and place your deposit. In my order confirmation email, I will be sure to ask you if you would like to receive your plane at WIA and we can work out the details that way.

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 Olson, and Journeyman Smoother, suggested by Trevor Angell. Since I couldn’t decide, I gave them both $50 gift certificates towards my planes.

So I’m asking for your help. If you would be so kind, pick your favorite name in the poll below. And just for a bit of added motivation, I’ll be entering the names of all who vote into a drawing for a $25 gift certificate towards anything for sale here on my site or even towards a custom commission. In order to be entered for the drawing, be sure to reply to this post with “I voted!” No need to share which you voted for of course.

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 may have missed something.
Thanks!

Oh, and I will hopefully be making a couple big announcements soon, so be watching the page and also my Twitter or Facebook feeds for that.

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 the best woods for handles due to it’s strength and flexibility. The color also compliments the Lignum Vitae quite well I think.
Second, I’ve lowered the price of these hammers to $85. I believe it’s the best option for adjusting my planes, and I’m hoping this change will mean you will be more apt to combine this great mallet with your plane order. Using the right tool for the job is important to the quality of enjoyment of our work. These mallets are definitely the right tool for adjusting plane blades. Not too mention any other use one might have for a smaller mallet.

Check out the updated Lignum Vitae Plane Adjustment Mallet page to order yours today.

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 to get recognition! I am striving to make the best wood planes possible, both in function and also aesthetics. My hope is that every one of my customers receives a tool that becomes an integral part of crafting their greatest work. I honestly can’t think of anything more rewarding than that. It keeps me striving to be better and better at what I do.

Now the bad news: this tremendous and exciting increase in plane orders means that lead times are getting longer. Right now, to stay on the side of the sane (and also, more importantly, to continue to strive to be a good husband and father), my back log is running at 6-8 weeks from the time of the order being placed. I am absolutely thrilled to have so many planes to build, but obviously this kind of stinks if you are the customer waiting for a tool you just dropped a decent amount of your money on.

So what to do about this? Well, I’ve decided to change my order structure a little. From now on, when you place an order, the only payment required upfront is a $100 deposit. This deposit will reserve your spot on my build queue and is non-refundable. Once I have your plane ready to ship, I will send you an invoice through Paypal for the balance and shipping. As soon as the invoice is paid, your plane (or mallet) will be sent on its way to a life of beautiful shavings with you!

I’m hoping that you see this as more “Great News/Necessary News” as opposed to “Good/Bad”. It allows me to continue to craft the sweetest working wood bodied planes I can. Of course, your spouse, kid’s tuition savings, or retirement fund might not see it as “Good news” that I can continue creating tools that you will want to buy. I guess you just can’t win them all.

Check out the Available Tools page to see the changes and to submit your order before the waiting times have to grow yet again! Also be sure to view the new Testimonials page to see what others are saying about my planes.