DID YOU KNOW…

Ever wanted to try your hand at making a woodworking plane? Handplane Central has a ton of information for budding planemakers. Whether you’re a beginner who wants to start off making a simple Krenov style handplane, or a more advanced woodworker who wants to tackle something more complex like a dovetailed infill plane, you’ll find something here on Handplane Central.

We’ll show you how to source materials, design, cut, shape and construct your plane, as well as information on what tools you’ll need and which books are more helpful. We even have plans and diagrams that you can use.


Stanley 1902 Catalog

The scans below are from the Stanley Rule And Level Company catalog of January 1902 As always there were a few changes to the list and a few more hand planes added, which. I’ve included in the introductory piece below. NOTE: For the purposes of…

Norris 1928 Catalog

This is the second Norris catalog addition to the site and is a reproduction of the 1928 catalog. The main difference you will note is that most of the images of the bench planes feature the Norris adjuster, whereas in the 1914 catalog the adjuster…

Norris 1914 Catalog

The scans below are from the Thomas Norris & Son catalog of 1914. The catalog features the entire range of Norris hand planes, from dovetailed smoothers, panel planes and jointers right down to tiny violin makers planes cast in bronze. Mitre planes, shoulder planes and…

George Adams 1923 Catalog

The following images are taken from the George Adams “Woodworking Tools” catalog of 1923. George Adams was a tool and hardware merchants located at 255/6 High Holborn in London. While most of the planes and spokeshaves featured on these pages are manufactured by Stanley, there…