My good old table saw almost only gets used as a flat reference surface lately. Thanks for all the education and inspiration you provide!

You have a really flat sense of humor, thanks for winding this one up quickly.

Thank You Graham... Just wonderful... short, informative, excellent editing, performance, A#1🍀.. TM

The most important part of this video is learning how to correct the defects found by the winding sticks.🙂🙂

Excellent, thank you Graham

Holy cow! It's amazing how easily he pulls shavings with that coffin smoother! It looks effortless!

As always, I learned something. Fantastic sir! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I have a set of Winding sticks I made myself. I use them often and love them, but I didn't know there was a name for each one.

thanyou. I like your short clear presentations.

I use two 24” levels for winding sticks. They are reliably straight and square and comparing the bubbles is often helpful.

Graham, terrific video. Straight (lousy pun) forward info. Thank you.

This video (and another old one by Chris Schwarz) is a great resource for preparing stock by hand. It's ever so satisfying to turn a piece of wood into a usable board. (That being said, I struggle at getting accurate results... I wish I had a jointer :-))

First time watching your work. Its called fine furniture for a reason and when the makers soul is worked in right there is the difference compared to mass produced on some machine that attempts to emulate the craft. Guess what - it never will. Absolutely love your workshop.

Thanks Graham, I like the videos you produce and I am gradually losing my electric tools. So all tips on hand tool working are extremely valuable. I have just picked up a set of winding sticks very cheaply.

Thank you passing this information along. I am always intimidated by the hand plane mainly because I am not comfortable with adjusting the blade.

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge.

Thanks for sharing 😊

Thank You Graham - I will try making a set of winding sticks next time im in the garage, so save me from pulling out machinery for small projects.

“Expensive power tools” says the guy with $30k in shoulder planes behind him 😂. I enjoyed the video, will check out more

Everyone who has ever made any amount of videos on hand tool woodworking has a winding stick video, so there are a few people who have heard of them these days. It is however nice to see your take on it. Also do you not need both winding sticks and a straight edge to check for flat? The winding sticks to check for wind (get two co-planar lines at the end of the board) and then the straight edge to take care of the rest (sweep the lines connecting those two co-planar lines). An alternative requiring longer straight edges would be to put two of them flush at the bottom of a V-shape and then put the board in between the legs of the V, giving you three points connected by straight lines, forming a plane that you can reference with a third straight edge. The caveat with this method is that you need straight edges long enough to make a V that your board fits into. If you are going to make your own straight edge without any external reference you will have to make them three at a time, checking each for high spots against the two others until they all match

Thanks for the lesson, Graham! 😊 I really need to make a pair of those! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

thanks, I liked this teaching video.

very good information , such a simple way to check your wood pieces with winding sticks.

Thank you for an excellent video as always. Interestingly enough Rex Krueger has just made a video about flattening wood, although I think only his patrons have seen it so far. It will probably be published tomorrow. I have two sticks I made out of oak as planing stops. I simply place one against two stops on the workbench and then put whatever I need to plane up against it. I suddenly realized I could use them as winding sticks as well, so I cleaned them up and made them parallel. They aren't terribly tall, but they are better than nothing. I also have a straight edge, so I have something to choose from, so to speak.

An accurately flat aluminium spirit level is also good to check for flatness; simply rubbing the level over the wood leaves grey marks on the high spots. I use this method with an 8’ Stanley Fatmax for jointing planks into boards.

Very enjoyable. I guess you really need both. The winding sticks confirm the lack of winding, but not flatness, as the board could dip or rise in the middle but still not have any twist.

Do you film all of your videos live? If so I was unaware until now 😅 the content is great I'm working through your books now and really appreciate the information

Great video, thank you!

Flatness is at the heart of perfection 👌

I really enjoy your videos, thanks! I'd love to see one on your tool chest one of these days

Enjoyed the video, but please cover how to make the other side flat while keeping the desired thickness across the full length of the board.

Also helps to have center dot in center of winding sticks. One thing I have to always watch for in there use is make sure board is flat where they are rest on. Have had boards with bow on top and stick will lean one way or the other and give false readings, just a little can throw you way off.

Thanks!!! Because winding stick has to be accurate i have decided to use two identical levelers good quality. With out them I won't start flattening my stock. With time and experience it become very intuitive process. I have got small jointer/ thicknesser but it so noisy, can't get more than 19 cm stock and the blades leaves marks .

thanks

Thank you very much ! Would you recommend 36” or 24” for a straight edge? They are very expensive so knowing which of the two can offer more possibilities would be very helpful. I really enjoy very much your videos. Wouldn’t mind if they were longer to show more detail.

Hello Graham! Another excellent and informative video. While I don't have an expensive machinist straightedge like yours, I have an aluminum one from the hardware store. I also have a pair of winding sticks that I made myself. I never looked at these as alternative to each other, but instead necessary partners. The straight edge tells me if it is straight, while the winding sticks show winding and flatness across the width. Am I missing something here?

I just wonder if the problem with the raised ends of the board might be when you use the straight edge, as the end against the bench dog looks to be raised slightly off the bench. I guess the sticks won't pick up the longitudinal unevenness, just the lateral flatness or twist.wind.

I know this is cheating, but as suggested by Chris Schwarz, I used two pieces of aluminum angle, each 24 inches long. I painted one of them bright red and have been using them for several years with no complaints.

Do you have sections in any of your books covering the use of the Stanley 55. I'd like to use it to create scroll work panel for a frame and panel box I'm designing.

Hi Graham, thank you for your informative video's. Just a quick question, you mention that the winding stick closest to you that you look over is called the "gaffer", are you aware of a name given to the other winding stick or does it not have a formal name? Thank you and best regards.

You have any DIY/simple/easy procedure how to make a good enough straight edge - let's say with max 0.1 mm deviation / 1000 mm?

Thank you. For winding sticks, do you recommend to seal the wood to prevent the sticks themselves from deformation?

👌🙏

You mean instead of tons of expensive planes and chisels and saws

I wish straight edge was the expensive tool. I am just starting out and need to buy planes. From what I've seen, I could either duplicate your plane collection, or buy a new Tesla.