giant Cypress

Handworks is back for 2026, and I’m lucky enough to be able to be presenting there this year. This…

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 20:08:00 -0400

Handworks is back for 2026, and I’m lucky enough to be able to be presenting there this year. This should be a lot of fun.

Handworks 2026 will be on Fri-Sat Sep 4-5 at the Amana Colonies, IA. Christopher Schwarz and Mike Siemsen are the special presenters. Lord knows what they will be talking about, but it will be terrific.

As for yours truly, I’ve started planning out what I’ll be doing. I’ll be bringing a whole bunch of Japanese tools, of course, but this will be different from my past experiences. I’ve given talks and workshops that have ranged from 1 hour to a whole day, but Handworks will be more like an improv jam for the two days. Suggestions are more than welcome.

Looking forward to seeing you there! More information at the Handworks 2026 website.

Happy Year of the Horse from Hello Kitty and Giant Cypress!

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 12:08:00 -0500

Happy Year of the Horse from Hello Kitty and Giant Cypress!

This has become a bit of a tradition here at Giant Cypress.

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 06:08:28 -0500

This has become a bit of a tradition here at Giant Cypress.

This is one of the best Veteran’s Day songs ever, even if it was written for Australia’s version of today.

God bless our vets, all of them.

My Japanese Plane talk at Woodworking in America 2025

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 09:08:00 -0400

My Japanese Plane talk at Woodworking in America 2025

I’m super excited to have the chance to present at Woodworking in America again this year. WIA is one of the premier national woodworking events, and I’m so glad it’s back. The click-baity title of my talk this year is “Japanese and Western Planes: The Common Ground”, which is really an excuse to talk about cool things regarding Japanese planes and planes in general. I’ll also be covering how to avoid tearout when planing, Japanese or otherwise, so that should be useful even if you’re a committed Stanley user.

Woodworking in America will be on Fri-Sat Oct 10-11 at the Iowa State Fair Grounds in Des Moines, IA. Looking at the other presenters, this will be a terrific event, and I’m honored to be included among them. There’s also a great selection of vendors who will be there as well.

There’s still time to get a discount. Use code SAVE10EARLY for an additional 10% off your ticket when purchased before Aug 31.

Hope to see you there!

giantcypress: giantcypress: “In Flanders Fields”, by John...

Mon, 26 May 2025 06:28:27 -0400

giantcypress:

giantcypress:

“In Flanders Fields”, by John McCrae, 1915. For Memorial Day.

Making this a tradition.

Ouch. That one hurt.

Sat, 03 May 2025 08:38:31 -0400

Ouch. That one hurt.

(From the June 2025 issue of Popular Woodworking. In all seriousness, this was a great article by Logan Wittmer on building a Craftsman desk.)

Hello Wilber, thank you for the great info, I have a question in regards to using a Japanese plane for shooting board, and with the way kanna bottom is made to shave wood, with 2 0r 3 points of contact on it , in your opinion, do you see the kanna bottom flat enough to use in a shooting board vs a flat no 7 western plane for example, which has a true flat bottom. thank you Tony

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 21:28:26 -0500

Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate it.

I use my Japanese planes for shooting all the time. Despite the 2- and 3-point contact design used for the sole of a Japanese plane, using them for shooting is perfectly fine. If you're on the desktop version of the blog, you can do a search for "shooting" to find all the posts I have on using a Japanese plane with a shooting board.

I've covered shooting the end grain and the long grain edges, and other details about using a shooting board.

You may think that the 2 or 3 point contact set up of the sole of a Japanese plane would cause problems with a shooting board, but in practice, it's not an issue. I've also used shooting boards with western planes. In both cases, the results depend more on technique than on the plane itself.

I can’t believe it’s been 15 years since I first started writing Giant Cypress. Time flies, and it’s…

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 21:28:00 -0500

I can’t believe it’s been 15 years since I first started writing Giant Cypress. Time flies, and it’s been a fun ride. Here’s to another 15 years or more!

Happy Year of the Snake from Hello Kitty and Giant Cypress!

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 08:32:38 -0500

Happy Year of the Snake from Hello Kitty and Giant Cypress!

Dec. 10. Another flat kaiju.

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 06:28:30 -0500

Dec. 10. Another flat kaiju.

Actually, when I opened the flap for Dec. 10, the compartment was empty, as well as the compartment for Dec. 11. I opened the box, and slid out the tray to see what was going on. Here’s what I found.

All the rest of the days were flat kaiju, and the strings indicate that they are to be used as ornaments. Because they were flat, they had migrated out of the compartments.

This is fun and all, but not what I expected based on the photos on the website that I ordered it from. I thought this was going to be a month’s worth of Godzilla miniature figures.

I’m asking for a refund. Boo.

Dec. 9. Wasn’t expecting a flat kaiju.

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 08:38:00 -0500

Dec. 9. Wasn’t expecting a flat kaiju.

Dec. 8.

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 09:58:00 -0500

Dec. 8.

Dec. 7.

Sat, 07 Dec 2024 08:08:00 -0500

Dec. 7.

Dec. 6.

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 08:28:00 -0500

Dec. 6.

Dec. 5.

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 08:48:00 -0500

Dec. 5.

Dec. 4.

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 09:48:00 -0500

Dec. 4.

Dec. 3.

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 13:58:00 -0500

Dec. 3.

Dec. 2.

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 09:48:00 -0500

Dec. 2.

Godzilla Advent calendar! One Godzilla (or maybe a related kaiju) every day until Christmas Eve. So…

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 09:28:00 -0500

Godzilla Advent calendar! One Godzilla (or maybe a related kaiju) every day until Christmas Eve. So excited.

Here’s Dec. 1.

giantcypress:Happy Thanksgiving from giant Cypress.

Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:17:34 -0500

giantcypress:

Happy Thanksgiving from giant Cypress.