About a year ago, a strange thing happened. I was at a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Raleigh, NC showing off some of my wood body planes. The one and only Roy Underhill was also there, with his spring pole lathe. As is proper with the world, Roy had a rather large crowd around him and he was as entertaining as ever. I’d caught myself entranced by his showmanship many times as well. Suddenly, as I’m watching Roy work, a gentleman turns and looks at me, his eyes go wide, and he walks over to my bench and says, “You’re Scott Meek! I’ve admired your planes for awhile now. It is so exciting to meet you!”

Dumbfounded, all I could find to reply was, “You do realize that was Roy Underhill you were just watching,

right?” He told me that he‘d met Roy before but hadn’t yet met me. Then he said, “This is a good chance to meet you, and I’m excited to do so.” His words, not mine, and I honestly didn’t know what to do with it.

I don’t share this story to say, “Look at what a celebrity I am” but because I’m just so blown away by what has transpired in my life in the last 5 years. How in the world did this all happen? How did I become a maker of fine wood bodied planes?

As a 4th generation carpenter I’ve always been around wood. Looking back I can’t say for certain which spark roused me. But it may be worth noting that I began reading Popular Woodworking about the same time Chris Schwarz moved the magazine into a hand-tool friendly direction. I developed an interest in hand-built furniture, handtools, and the like. Even so, I didn’t pursue it in my own shop.

In 2005, I started my own trim carpentry business, yet felt an increasing tug toward something more personal, that would stand alone. I kept reading books and magazines about woodworking. Trim carpentry transitioned into a cabinet shop, with the thought that I would build high-end cabinetry, which would supposedly put an end to that nagging itch.

S H A R P & T O T H E P O I N T The Hock Tools NewsletterGuest Contributor Scott Meek: Holy Crap, I'm a Plane Maker! from Issue #2 / 2014

Scott Meek at Handworks 2013in Amana, Iowa.

Photo Credit: Robin MacGregor.

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I see now that I was naive. It took a couple years of scrounging by, building the same plywood box over and over again at prices I was insane to offer, before I realized that I had better invest in a CNC setup or get out of the cabinet making business. I could not compete with the big guys as a one or two-man shop, no matter how many nice Festools I bought!

It was also about this same time that I read James Krenov’s masterpiece, The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking , which reinforced my awareness that something just had to change. I had grown sick of unremitting hours, a miniscule income, and deafening power tools.

Enter Christmas 2008, when I, quite literally, received a life changing gift. My brother-in-law gave me a Woodcraft gift card, with which I purchased a Lie-Nielsen #4 smoother. Over the following weeks and months, I would plane wood for no reason other than I thoroughly enjoyed doing so. I found any and all excuses to use the plane on my cabinets.

At last, the itch was scratched! Yet, although soothed, I was nowhere near satisfied. I was charged to follow this new path; wherever it leads.

With an adorable one year old daughter at home, too few cabinet jobs crossing the threshold, and a tanking Michigan economy, my tool budget took a nose-dive. Regardless, I couldn’t stop thinking about owning a jack plane. I roamed around the book section of our local Woodcraft store and stumbled upon Making and Mastering Wood Planes , by David Finck , a former student of James Krenov’s.

I had my solution!

Along with this DIY book, I took home a nice piece of Tiger Maple and a piece of Bubinga. I devoured Finck’s book and dove into crafting my first plane.

Although by no means perfect, I was elated with the results. It was a joy to use. The fact that I was using a tool made by my own hands was exhilarating. Plus, the more I used it the more I noticed the differences between using a wooden plane and a metal plane: the tactile feedback in use, the evolving comfort as I slowly removed material and shaped it to fit my own hands, the freedom to grip and use the plane whichever way worked best and not be locked into one way to hold it. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the whole experience of making and using this wood bodied plane truly awakened something in my sense of self as a maker, as an artisan.

The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking by

James Krenov is available at

Highland Woodworking.

Using David Finck's Making and Mastering Wood Planes, Scott built his first wood bodied handplane, made from Tiger Maple and piece of Bubinga for the wedge.

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I was so excited about that plane that I posted pictures of it on a web forum dedicated to quality tools, both power and hand. A gentleman on the forum, Fred West, whom I quickly came to call a close friend, ended up asking if I would sell him one. I had no idea in those days that Fred was the patron saint of hand tools. He took immense joy in supporting tool makers of all sorts. And, he became a sounding board and supporter. I credit Fred with launching my career as a plane maker.

Fred also introduced me to Ron Hock, without whom I would only have nifty chunks of shaped wood that didn’t do anything!In the first 2 years I made planes only in my spare time, selling most of what I made to Fred. Even though I sold very few, I couldn’t stop. When my wife and I moved our family out of Michigan to Asheville, NC, I took the opportunity to sell most of my power tools (no more table saw, planer, or jointer). This decision proved as formative as any previous decision on my journey. Because I used my own planes to dimension all my stock, I quickly learned more about them, becoming a better maker. The shape of my jointer planes directly stems from that time.

Slowly, the planes started gaining recognition.

Scott with Fred West at HandWorks 2013

in Amana, Iowa. Photo Credit: Jeff Burk.

From the Jointer Planes Section at Scott Meek Woodworks; left to right: White Oak

Jointer with detail, Sapele Jointer with detail of side and front view.

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Customers were happy enough with them that they helped me spread the word. I also gained a few great reviews by fine woodworkers/writers such as Shannon Rogers and Christopher Schwarz. Orders for planes started to take off. (Sorry, that pun is way too easy.) I was commissioned to make a custom plane for Highland Woodworking in Atlanta for their 35th anniversary. I cut a DVD with F&W Media on how to make planes, and also started teaching courses in person and over the Internet. Each time something new came my way, I felt exactly the way I did when that gentleman at the Lie-Nielsen Tool Event in Raleigh expressed his excitement at meeting me: completely flabbergasted that there are people that care that much about what I do.

Scott Meek wood bodied hand planes, ready to ship.

Shaping a jointer.

Shaping a smoother.

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As I look over the past 5 years I think to myself, “I can’t believe I get to be a full-time plane maker.” I have also learned that there is so much more: I get to be a sculptor, a joiner, a designer, an artisan. Someone will use this tool that I’m working on now to craft their own work, which spurs me on to craft a tool that is as inspiring and effective to use as it can be. I don’t want to make a status symbol or a museum piece. I want to craft a treasured tool that is then used to craft someone’s finest work. I want my planes to motivate and hearten during use more than they might while sitting on a shelf.

Bocote and White Oak Smoother.

55° Brazilian Rosewood Smoother.

Cocobolo Jointer.

22 inch jointer.

In a way, the attention has inspired me to become a more thoughtful plane maker. I have made it my goal to build the best wood bodied planes in the world. I strive to make each one so well that I actually hate to ship it out. If a plane I make isn’t one I wish I could keep, it doesn’t go out.

I have come to realize that I get an absolute thrill from shaping wood with rasps and I try to feed off that with every plane I make. Each pass of a rasp, pull of a spokeshave, or swipe with a card scraper reveals a wood’s grain in a new way. I continue to enjoy fairing out the curves, chamfers, and lines of each plane and have come to understand that shaping wood involves much more than just one’s use of a tool. It is a multi-sensory adventure. The more I use my senses the more I delight in making wood bodied planes, and the better they are in quality.

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I could have given up and not had these amazing experiences. But, I’m glad I didn’t because I get to make something beautiful, which leads me to say, “Go make something beautiful!”

Thank you, Scott Meek!

Thank You for Selecting HOCK TOOLS32+ Years of Excellence ● HOCKTOOLS.com ● hocktools.wordpress.com ● ron@hocktools.com

“My favorite plane I've made so far,” a Brazilian Rosewood Jointer.