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I started with a Veritas honing guide, but over time I have moved to sharpening freehand.
Partly I became more confident in my ability, and partly I was forced to sharpen some tools freehand because they did were unsuitable for the guide. Router plane blades, spokeshave blades, thin chisels etc.
Then I moved on to plane blades, and finally gouges.
I do still use my honing guide when I want to regrind a primary bevel, or to square a blade or chisel if the edge has become skewed, but mostly I sharpen freehand. It’s very liberating and much faster.
I even keep a strop right by my bench and polish the chisel for a few seconds every minute or so. It means I rarely have to go to the stones.
What makes a smoothing plane is how you set it up, not the plane itself. You can use your #4 for almost all operations by varying its setup.
So I would open the mouth, extend the blade a little further (and camber it a little more than is usual for a smoothing plane blade) and hog off some material.
As the board is trued up, you can tighten the mouth, withdraw the blade and revert to more of a smoothing plane setup.
What you are looking to do has been done many times before. I would construct it like a very long frame and panel door with more than one cross-members. You could leave off the stiles if you wish. Making the panel pieces flush with the frame would be the way to go.
The benchtop apron is also the rear jaw of my vice. I like it this way as I can clamp long timbers to my benchtop at the other end without the need for a spacer.
It also allows for a larger maximum vice opening than if you had an extra rear jaw.
If I ever wanted to insert a rear jaw, it would be a simple matter of removing the front jaw, drilling out a new jaw, and sliding it on the vice.
As for protecting the benchtop, I’ve never considered it necessary. Once a year, I plane it true and this removes most of the glue, shellac spills, the odd ding, saw kerf, chisel mark etc.
As others have said, it’s all personal preference and I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule.
Temperature could definitely be a factor here as well as moisture. My woodwork guru told me once that my room was too cold for my shellac as I had the window open on a cold day for ventilation, and that it should be applied in a comfortable room temperature.
On another occasion I got a slightly milky finish from my shellac and I put it down to my jam jar having some moisture in it when I mixed the flakes in it. But your sealer was pre-mixed so I am not sure if the same reason would apply to you?
Most tung oil sold already has thinners in it. If you want to be sure of your ratio, then make sure you buy pure tung oil, and thin it yourself. Some so-called tung oils barely have any tung oil in them!
I like Tried and True oils more than other oils and I don’t dilute them.
Last night I sold my Veritas twin-screw tail vice to a beginner woodworker who I hope will enjoy using it more than I have done. I probably haven’t used it more than a couple of times in the last four years, although it is my son’s preferred vice and he was quite upset it has gone. (He is only seven and found it easier to work at the end of the bench than the side.)
I use my front vice a lot, and dogs and a holdfast too, but the tail vice was a waste of space for me.
Good luck to the new owner, he is in the process of building his first bench.
My bench is just over 6 feet long. If I was to make it again I would make it 8 feet but I am not restricted for space. The reason is sometimes I am working wood longer than 5 feet and one end can be unsupported, for example when you are ploughing a groove or rebate along its length etc.
I certainly would not want it shorter than 6 feet.
A friend of mine made a wooden dashboard for a classic Mercedes. I think the best way to go is to use a veneer over 1/4″ baltic birch plywood rather than solid wood. This will overcome any stability issues and allow you to use crotch veneers etc.
Personally I have always liked the look of birds eye maple veneers in cars.
Sandy,
I understand what you are saying, but I believe what I wrote still holds. Even when using a jack plane for thicknessing (or a scrub plane) the camber on the blade should be sufficient that the shavings feather away at the edges. So it’s not a groove so much as a very shallow series of U-shaped undulations.
If you are making a plane track, then the corner of the blade is exposed and you don’t have sufficient camber on it or the adjuster is pushed too far to one side.
I can’t think of a single situation when a plane track is acceptable (apart from when starting a rebate perhaps?).
As to your blade angle issue, it sounds like it might be time to regrind the primary angle!
Richard.
Ron, respectfully, I disagree with your post. I would say you are removing high spots rather than cutting a groove when planing. If the blade is properly cambered and set, there should not be any plane tracks.
If you are using a heavily-set blade to remove material, there should still be no plane tracks as the blade should have a smaller radius and more pronounced camber. A smoothing plane blade would have the largest radius and least camber but the smallest set so still no plane tracks.
My only blades without a camber are those used in my block planes and #7 jointer plane where my plane width is usually wider than the material I am planing so plane tracks are not an issue.
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