Hand Planing
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I’m spending the day planing rough/sawn timber for the legs of my workbench. Well so far I have planed it flat, straight and square. I have been having problems with my planing, but today even though the timber was not straight, and it was cupped. It seemed easy and a lot faster to true it up. Ok coffee over time to glue them up 🙂
Hi Ken 🙂
I often went through periods where it’d take what seemed an age for things to click, but everything falls into place once you pass a certain point. It’s a great feeling. 🙂
Great to hear Ken!
I also had a short moment of confusion when my latest boards turned square and straight right off the bat. These moments of success really raises the energy and you go into the shop with a smile 🙂
Keep up the good work!
Located in Jönköping, Sweden.
Thanks guys. HaHa I have planed just about every bit of scrap I can find, just to make sure it was not a fluke. Stopping now while I’m ahead 🙂
Best invest in some hamsters or gerbils, because they love soft and hardwood shavings. 😉 😀 Our I was (Still am) torture to have around the house when learning how to plane, because my mother didn’t dare leave her chair in case she returned to find it minus a shaving or three, or re-modelled. 😀
Funny you should say that Gary. I have been trying to find someone to give the shavings to, they are mounting up fast 🙂
😀 We could start a kipper smoking house 😀
Hi guys, ok the legs for my workbench are all glued up, so today I’m planing them square, well that’s the plan. First two went great nice and square all round. The third one was a little different, It had some real hard and nasty knots, my No 5 and 6 just seemed to ride over them, giving my a bump at every location. I had not done any thing to the N062 since getting it, so I honed the blades up, and give it a try. I first worked the knots only, and tried to make a small hollow then some full length shavings, bingo straight and square, no bumps.
I’m sure It’s not the correct way to do it, I was just happy to get it done. Ok clean up time, and more bags of shavings 😉
Those gerbils are gonna be happy bunnies with all of those shavings you’re making Ken 😀 It’s good knowing your bench is progressing nicely. 😉
One set of tips for planing through knots is;
1. Ensure plane iron/blade is as sharp as possible.
2. Reduce set on your plane.
3. Skew the plane slightly for a slicing cut.
4. Repeat numbers 1, 2 & 3 😉 🙂
Presently subliminally messaging on SWMBO and the kids for a #62 plane for xmas 🙂
Put some mineral spirits on the knots just before planing
A toothed blade can be used when dealing with knots, but doesn’t need to be an expensive piece of additional equipment. This is what I do;
1. Prepare a spare 2″ plane iron in the usual way, then divide and mark the edge – using a sharpie – into 12.
2. Using a fine triangular file or Dremel cutting disc nick the edge so it’s grooved to a depth of 1/16″ – 1/8″.
3. Remove resulting burs from plane iron and re-fit the cap iron/chip breaker.
You now have a toothed blade that’s capable of dealing with gnarly grain and knots with, against, across or diagonal to the grain. It can be fitted into a #04 or #05 plane at a moments notice, or you can keep it fitted in a spare plane for the sole purpose of toothing problem surfaces prior to finishing with a smoother. 😉
Grooving a plane edge will not draw or damage it’s temper and is fully reversable via grinding back to create a clean edge.
Another option I favour is to grind a radius the leading edge of your #05 jack plane iron, creating a cambered edge. The curve/arc can vary, but I find an 8″ radius works well. This provides a cutting edge similar in nature to that of a scrub plane and is ideal when preparing rough stock prior to smoothing and works extremely well when encountering knots.
I hope this helps in some way.
You get to a point where you flex the plane to task without thinking. Your body aligns itself intuitively to the work and your muscles actually relax as you plane. This is good because planing is not really a rigid and muscular task but one of relaxed connection to the work transmitted more gently to the brain and by this sensing we microadjust our bodies and the pane to the work. A lot of the time I see students and apprentices bulldogging the plane to the edge of the board, which always creates its own problems. I suspect that may be happening here is that you land the plane at the start with a little more hesitancy and lack of confidence, then, once safely landed, you move more confidently down and along the runway before taking off as early as possible, not realising the full cut is incomplete or you relax the pressure too soon. The certainty I talk pof will not usually happen straight off the bat. It takes time to master skill and so i encourage you to practice wherever you can.
So very true Paul. Reaching a point where tools effectively become an extension of yourself can take time and crafting instinctively typically involves constant consistent practise. It often only truly falls into place with adequate guidance/support from a mentor or work partner. Hand and eye co-ordination play a massive part in this, but the ratio of 75% theory : 25% practical skills truly comes into play as reading and study fall into place and convert to projects and tasks. Knowledge becomes practice and practice becomes knowledge in the never ending cycle of challenges and fulfillment.
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