N00bies, Hand Planes, and Plywood

[mason winston]

Hi everyone, thanks for reading! :D

I'm the n00bie, and I'm building a combination reloading/general purpose workbench. Going to be topping it with some Birch hardwood plywood from my local Home Depot. I want to really get the sides smooth, and in my head, a combination of a block plane and some sandpaper sounds like the right answer.

Am I thinking myself in the right direction? Should I go with a standard 21* plane, or one of the "low angle" types @ 12*?

I'm also not rich, so I was gonna grab a Stanley from HD or Lowe's. That sound OK, or am I 100% wrong w/my thinking?

[David Weaver]

Call me a cynic, but with one post, I wonder if an IP check would reveal an alt of a prior or current user who can't log on here.

[mason winston]

Call me a cynic

David, you're a cynic.

IP check me to your satisfaction, I'm a new member and that was my first post.

At least point me in the right direction while you're kicking my teeth in, plz.

:o

[Sean Hughto]

You want to smooth the edges of a piece of plywood? Sandpaper is probably your best bet. Got a ROS or a belt sander?

Plane will work too, though plane blades don't like ply much - the glues or something dull the blades pretty quick.

[Steve Friedman]

I'm new as well, and have found that using a plane on plywood edges is not very productive. I think it's because there are voids in the plywood edge. I would just use a fine saw blade to cut the edge square, use some sandpaper to get it as smooth as you want, and then coat the edges with marine epoxy. If you're using several layers of plywood, the epoxy will create and maintain a smooth, shiny, solid edge.

Steve

[mike holden]

Mason,
I would also nix the idea of using a handplane on plywood edges. My concern is the multiple glue lines, when I first started I jointed some plywood on my jointer and created nice chip lines in the blades to match the glue lines in the plywood. Plywood no longer goes over my jointer! I would be afraid that the glue would chip the plane blades as well.
Abrasives would be the way to go here, belt sander, ROS, or just handsanding.
Mike

[mason winston]

Sandpaper it is, then. Thanks, everyone.

:)

[Prashun Patel]

Hmmm, I bet you'll get a lot of voids on BORG ply; I do. My instinct is that the edge will be too brittle to serve as a good edge to a bench. Also, if you want to add a vice, you might want a thicker edge. To that end, why not edge band the whole thing with some hardwood - or even a 2x4...

If you really want to leave the edges exposed, I'd at least soak them with thinned down glue.

You can also get smooth results with shellac as an end sealer, but while it'll be nice and smooth, it won't resist nicks very well.

[Conrad Fiore]

I'm with Mr. Patel on this one. Glue some hardwood strips to make edge banding for the workbench. HD usually carries oak and maple 1X2 that would be perfect for your top. You could even use 1X2 pine which would be better than a raw plywood edge.

[David Weaver]

David, you're a cynic.

IP check me to your satisfaction, I'm a new member and that was my first post.

At least point me in the right direction while you're kicking my teeth in, plz.

:o

Yeah, keep planes away from plywood, unless you have a dedicated plane to beat.

The veneer is about a 42nd of an inch on a lot of hardwood plywood, and even power sanding with anything other than a very light touch.

Sand it but don't expect too much if it's out of flat, you're stuck. make a great reloading bench, though. I made mine out of an old second-hand store table with a formica layer on the top. Just don't make the bench with the idea that it's going to be your last ever - make it with an eye toward being a good reloading bench. You'll be back making a second bench for woodworking in short order if you keep at it with hand tools.

The HD planes will work OK if you spend some time with them, though there is a chance of a defect if you have bad luck, and you'll have to understand what's important in them to fix it, or just return one and get another one (maybe a better idea).

Lots of trolls here lately, no worries. Figuring you were a troll, I was going to suggest cement board for the bench and a CPM-3V ironed infill plane to smooth it.

[steven c newman]

for the same amount of cash, one could just buy a few 2x12s, and edge the top in what ever hard wood one wants. Then, add a layer of 1/4" hardwood plywood to the top. The matching hardwood edging would have a rabbet to cover the edge of the plywood. One or two passes with a block plane would produce a champfer on the edge. Just an idea...:cool:

[David Weaver]

Aye, i missed that the smoothing is for the sides because I was focused on the fact that the ply on the top probably won't be flat.

I'd worry more about the top than the sides, and if it was going to be a woodworking bench, I would use ply for a substrate and put hardwood on top of it - tongue and groove or something - so I had something I could flatten after I was done.

[Sean Hughto]

If flat is critical, make a torsion box, and skin it with ply.

[Conrad Fiore]

Mason,
What size is your top going to be? I have two reloading benches that I use, one for shotgun and the other for metallic cartridges. What I have found is that you need some good weight in the top and legs because of the torque exerted by the press handle that hangs over the side of the bench wants to raise the back of the table up.
I made mine laminating two layers of ¾” plywood for extra weight. At the time, 30 years ago when I made the benches, I didn’t have access to ¾” MDF which would have been even better to add the extra weight. I edge banded the plywood with pine and used a router to round over the two top edges. Because my tables were for reloading only, I had my edge banding slightly higher than my table top to keep primers from rolling off the table. It makes it a little difficult to clean up power spills, but that’s the only down side.
Hand planes were never intended to “smooth” the edge of plywood. For that matter, nothing was intended to smooth a raw plywood edge except an edge banding of some sort.

[george wilson]

Since all the layers f the plywood,including the outside layers of birch would be running in different directions,I'd saw the plywood to size with a smooth cutting blade,and edge it as suggested. I also think that you need a stiffer top for the reloading press.