Edge Trimming Plane Question

[Don Dorn]

I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these (The LV or the LN) for the purpose of running across edges of boards meant for glue-up. Even though I have a jointer, there is usually a little snipe and it doesn't always give the results I want (probably operator error).

One of these planes seems to be the answer in that it would shave the edge 90 degrees to the face of the board. Is this plane designed for this? Is it too short? Being a novice at planes, I have trouble keeping a longer plane dead on top of the board, seems to want to tip a bit before getting to the other end. Would this solve the problem? Thanks for any advice.

[george wilson]

A picture or model # would help.

[Don Dorn]

Sorry,

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=54862&cat=1,230,41182,48945

[Mike Henderson]

I often (usually) glue up right off the table saw rip and never had any problems. If you're getting snipe off your jointer, I'd search for the reason before I'd buy those planes. You need your tools to work well - and you need to be able to depend on them.

Mike

[David Keller NC]

These planes aren't really designed for the purpose to which you want to put them. They are excellent at fairing a short section of the edge of molding to get it to fit a slight irregularity where it's to be placed.

But they are very short to expect them to true a long edge. That's why one purchases a long plane for the purpose - a #7 or a #8, for example.

The "snipe" or "tipping" with either a powered jointer or a hand plane is a symptom of technique that you can probably easily correct in 10 minutes - so long as you have someone show you how. For example, a handplane jointer should be handled so that you have no pressure whatsoever on the knob/toe of the plane at the end of the stroke that goes off the end of the board, otherwise, you wind up planing a "banana". But that's a lot easier to see if someone demos the correct technique in front of you than trying to puzzle it out from a net posting or a book.

[Sean Hughto]

I hate electric jointers. No doubt operator error on my part, but I'm not that interested in getting good at it.

Good thing is that there are other ways to get edges to glue ready for edge joints. Like Mike, I think a table saw with a good blade (Forrest in my case, but I know Freud makes some glue ready stuff, as well as others probably) will give you a terrific rip, that in many woods and for many projects is glue ready. To go a bit further in refinement, remove any blade marks, any little smoother will do but so will a 7 or even a block (i.e., most any plane set to take only a very fine shaving) as you are removing next to nothing and should not be altering the basic geometry set by the sawing operation.

Now, suppose you want to get into some edge jointing with a 7 - no table saw. The 7 will get rid of the waves and humps along the length of the edge (that's why it is so long - to bridge those and create a straight line). But for many novices or even intermediates, keeping the 7 perpendicular to the face, especially if the stick is a long one, can be a challenge. That's where the edge trimmer is handy - after the 7 has made the edge straight, a couple passes with the edge trimmer can ensure that the edge is also a perfect 90 to the face. The edge trimmer is useful in other situations, but this is where it typically comes into edge jointing in my experience.

[David Gendron]

On most jointer plane like the #7, 8, 7 1/2(LA BU) you can fit a fence for it that would help keep things square!
I use a Veritas BU jointer and the fence that I threue to the sole of the plane with a ingeneer square and it does a great job!
An other thing you can do is to place both piece to be jointed back to back and clamp them together and joint theme together, any discrapency will cancel each other(wont do any goog for ends snipe(banana shape))!

[Derek Cohen]

I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these (The LV or the LN) for the purpose of running across edges of boards meant for glue-up. Even though I have a jointer, there is usually a little snipe and it doesn't always give the results I want (probably operator error).

I have both the bronze LN #95 left and right set as well as a right-hand Veritas SS model.

These are great planes. I use them in a few ways.

The most common use is to square the edge of a thin board - one that is too long for the shooting board and too narrow to easily balance a jointer plane on top.

Sometimes I will use one when cleaning up the joining edges of a box and lid (but lapping on sandpaper is even better here).

A great use is when creating a spring joint for joining boards. This is especially so when using boards that have been jointed on a power jointer, where the edges are square. Simply run the #95 along the board, leaving the ends unplaned (i.e. taking out the centre of the board). Then use any plane to take one pass across the entire length. I might add here that the length of the plane is no deterant to jointing if the boards are already flat (from a power or hand jointer).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Doug Shepard]

The other thing they're good for is planing a consistent bevel on the edge. There are countersunk holes on the body that let you attached angled guide blocks.