Planing Tip

[Joel Goodman]

Last weekend I was at the LN hand tool event at Cerritos College. Mr. Wenzloff was generously showing a fellow how to file his backsaw -- not a Wenzloff at that, and Deneb was showing the LN line of planes. In addition the man who makes Glen Drake tools was there with his products.
I picked up a tip from Deneb that I've found useful. He adjusts his planes with a small block of wood, say 1/2 X 1 1/2 X 5 inches long, planing first with one side of the iron, then the other. to set the size of shaving and to make sure it is even across the iron. Only then does he put the plane to the work. I find this technique is very helpful -- both for my jointer and smoother.

[Jim Koepke]

Depending on what I am doing, I will often just put a piece of scrap in a vise and set the plane with that.
The plane is run along the scrap as the blade is adjusted. As soon as shaving starts, the blade is tried on both sides of the mouth. Lateral adjustment is made as needed and then on to planing.
If a rough piece of wood is being worked on the edge, then this is often mounted and used to set the plane.

jim