Instructional Woodworking
DVDs

Jointer and Planer Secrets
Author: Hendrik Varju

Hendrik Varju/Passion for Wood/September 2007
ISBN: 978-0-9781432-1-3
4 hours, 38 minutes on 2 DVDs

Price: Cdn. $69.95 + applicable taxes
+ shipping and handling

Ontario residents pay 13% hst. Canadian residents outside of Ontario pay hst at their own province’s rate, or 5% gst if in a non-participating province. Residents outside of Canada pay no tax.

“Jointer and Planer Secrets” is the authoritative learning aid for the proper use of jointers and thickness planers. It is quickly becoming recognized as the best and most complete DVD course available today on how to use jointers and planers, with extremely detailed bonus footage on edge-gluing boards together as well. This 2-DVD set is now referenced and recommended in both the WoodLinks Canada and WoodLinks USA programs in their Core and Fine Woodworking curriculums. To read reviews and testimonials about Hendrik’s DVDs, click here.

This video is the culmination of literally thousands of hours work in refining and teaching the various techniques shown. It represents an unselfish sharing of a vast pool of information distilled down to its essence after many years of hard work and experimentation.

“Jointer and Planer Secrets” covers the steps Hendrik uses to take rough-sawn boards through the process of jointing and planing to make lumber true and square on four sides. While learning to make fine joinery is what most think of as “fine woodworking”, there is no skill more important than precise preparation of lumber to give you anything close to a fighting chance on the joinery. Those who had been jointing and planing lumber for 25 years or more have commented on what a revelation they experienced in learning Hendrik’s process of milling rough lumber.

There is another very long section of bonus footage covering the techniques Hendrik uses to accomplish many edge-gluing tasks, turning those newly milled boards into door panels, table tops, bookshelves and other types of solid wood panels. These techniques have enabled Hendrik to achieve truly unbelievable flatness straight out of the clamps, often leaving the panel within a few one-thousandths of an inch from flat before even pulling out a hand plane.

In this video, you will learn:

• the importance of making your stock flat and true with 90 degree corners
• the difference between a jointer and a planer and what they can do for you
• the skills that take you from rough lumber to accurate lumber, one step at a time
• how to deal with concave boards
• how to deal with convex boards
• how to deal with twisted boards
• how wood naturally moves when it is machined and how to deal with it
• how to read the growth rings and medullary rays of a board to avoid tear-out
• how to arrange boards in a panel for optimal stability and aesthetics
• how to improve edge-joints just prior to your panel glue-up
• edge-gluing procedure to keep panels flat and true

How does this video differ from others you may have seen? First of all, it takes you through all of the steps in real time. It isn’t heavily edited to just show you the “gist” of each step. The edge-gluing sequence, for example, was a real glue-up done in real time without ever turning off the camera. Too many woodworking videos and television shows today edit them down too much, leaving the more difficult details out. For those who really want to move forward with their woodworking skills in a more serious way, the details are everything.

This video doesn’t just cover the “what” and “how”, but also the “why”. And it goes way beyond the call of duty, constantly reinforcing safety issues and details that just aren’t taught at that level anywhere. For example, the video shows you how to stand at the jointer, including the body positioning, foot placement, hand placement, individual finger placement and so on — all of the high-level details that Hendrik can normally only convey in person.

Hendrik tells you what he’s planning to do and why. He tells you the thinking process going through his mind each step of the way, from the body mechanics to the reaction of the wood and even to the sounds that tell him what is going on as he machines the boards. This is truly personal coaching conveyed by Hendrik in a DVD format for the first time.

Most instructional DVDs run for perhaps 45 to 60 minutes, often just glossing over the details that are causing you the most trouble in a real-life woodworking situation. This is a 2-DVD boxed set running at over 4 1/2 hours in total including the bonus footage. Until now, this level of instruction was only available in Hendrik’s small group seminars and private intensive courses. Now anyone can have access to Hendrik’s time-tested techniques.

To order your DVD today, click below.