Did Neanderthals have longer arms?

[Josh Bowman]

You all have helped me flatten the pictured top. You helped me get the Hock blades straightened out and working in the planes in the fore ground. Now I that I’ve made large trash cans of shavings to learn to plane over the last winter and summer. It’s time to get-er-done! How do the big dogs plane a large panel such as pictured? I started out running the #7 plane down the length, but that just didn’t feel right….it’s hard to keep consistent pressure on the plane skipping down the length of the bench and trying to reach across the width. So I tried to do it in thirds, and that felt far more controlled. Especially while reaching across the width. I keep the clamps on the panel to keep it flat. I don't want it bowing again, now that it's mostly flat.
What say ye?

[Jim Koepke]

If the clamps are keeping it flat, then it will bow again as soon as the clamp pressure is released.

It would likely be better to clamp a piece of wood across the end of the bench as a planing stop. This will depend on your bench top being flat and the panel not being bowed enough to rock and slide over the stop.

Do you have winding sticks?

I have found this to be a good reason to have more than one plane of the same size or type. One is set for a thick cut and one is set for as light of a cut as it can take. Once the fat cut shavings come through without voids, then the light cut is used until there are no voids.

In the case of a big panel like this another method is to make cuts on a diagonal and then lengthwise. This might produce faster results.

Even the shavings have a use. They can be used in compost, but they tend to leach nitrogen from the soil. If there are chicken ranchers in the area, they might like them. They are good for stoking a fire if you have a wood stove. I have even given them to one of my daughters who is a teacher. The shavings, some paper bags and the creativity of the kids in her preschool classes make some fun paper bag puppets.

jim

[Josh Bowman]

If the clamps are keeping it flat, then it will bow again as soon as the clamp pressure is released.

jim
Not much bow left in the panel after all the help on this site. When I'm done workng for the day, I just keep it in clamps until I get the finish on it. Don't what it bowing back again. There is a plane stop on the end of the bench, that you can't see in the photo.
So after I work it diagonally, do I run a plane from one end to the other? That's where it get's kind of tough, keeping it consistant.
Thanks for the help.

[Richard Magbanua]

Hey Josh. Still busy I see!

I think I ended up being a little long in the response, so if you want pics you can see my limited flattening experiences here (http://richardmagbanua.blogspot.com/2009/11/more-milling-and-flattening.html) and here (http://richardmagbanua.blogspot.com/2009/08/flattening-by-hand.html).

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2573/3870053539_dee032688d.jpg

I don't have much experience flattening by hand but I'll share what little I know and hopefully someone more qualified may chime in.
First of all, I'd lose the clamps. The wood's gonna do what it's gonna do. Let it acclimate and then flatten it as it sits. Otherwise, it will just spring back to shape after it's released.
Flattening by hand seems to require a different approach. One that makes using hand tools a different experience. You can't rely on "blind" processes like using a power planer. WIth a machine, you send it through. It does it's job and you go on. I realized that when using hand planes to flatten they need eyes and those eyes were mine. To do this I need to really see the board and "the lay of the land". Use a straight edge to see where the hills and valleys are. I start planing on the hill side of the panel to keep it from rocking. The largest planes I have are jack planes, no jointers. I gotta fix that. But I used them along with a straight edge to plane down the surface pretty flat. I did this with good success to about five medium to large panels and my 2x8 foot workbench so far.
I usually start by traversing or planing across the grain to bring down the hills. I check to see how it looks as I plane then along the grain and then diagonally both ways. I try to remove any twist to the board by bringing down the high corners. I check for this with winding sticks. Then I plane diagonally one way, then the other. I check along the grain and then plane with the grain. Basically I just plane a little and then check my progress with a straight edge. At this point, I'm not worried too much about a finished surface or thin shavings. I have a jack plane set to take off the wood I need and get to the point, setting it finer after get close to where I need to be.
Finally, after I'm satisfied with the flatness (I'm not expecting perfect), I hit it with a finer pass to take care of larger ridges. I'll try to resist smoothing until I'm further along with the project.
After one side is done, I'll mark the thickness I want, turn it over and start again. I try to work to my thickness lines as best I can.
Even after all of this I still have panels warping on me. I'm making a six-drawer chest at the moment and realize that a traditional carcass design will take care of the tendency to warp. At least that's what I'm praying for.
I'm definitely not the expert but I'm happy to share what I've learned so far.
Thanks for sharing and asking!

[Josh Bowman]

My largest concern is having to jog down the length of the panel with a #7 plane! And was wondering if anyone has had success just planing about a third of a long panel at a time. Since then I tried Jim K. technique buy going diaognal. I took the #7 and did just that.....it seem to handle most of the problems, but left me with lots of ridges. So I started running with the grain and after 30 min. I was making fairly good shaveings. I then swapped to the #4 and worked the whole panel over and worked harder at some bad ridges that the #7 didn't get. Now the panel looks real nice. Tomorrow, I'll look at making some winding sticks....and see where I am. It doesn't have to be perfect, it's just a TV cabinet top and will be mainly under a 45" flat screen. I've down power wood working since I was 17 and I have to admit, this is a hoot! No dust collector noise, No dust, no sanding! Just the pieceful woosh of the the plane. Midway I did resharpen the #7 and what a difference it made....guess that oak is hard on a blade.
BTW the clamps are not forcing the panel, it's mostly flat, I just keep them on the panel while I'm not working on it....my shop is heated and at 60 degrees plus, but down here in TN, it can rain any time...I don't want it to rewarp.