Upside Down Tool Usage

PopularWoodWorking: We have these adages in the woodworking world: Hand-tool woodworkers prefer taking the tool to the wood, power-tool users prefer taking the wood to the tool; Westerners operate on the push, Easterners on the pull. I’m here to say we need an adage for a technique I’ve been finding extremely useful. Let’s call it the Australian way: Using tools upside down.

These past weeks I’ve been making lots of small parts in batches – the kinds of things that if, using tools the “proper” hand-tool way (clamping them up so we can securely take the tool to the wood), would have taken an inordinate amount of time. But because of an upside-down technique I was able to batch them out quickly, with greater control and more accuracy. It also showed me another reason why I so love my low-angle jack plane.