slab planing

[alex grams]

I have a pair of bookmatched walnut slabs, 20" wide x 7' long I am looking at making into a table. I currently have a LV LA smoothing plane and a LV LA jack plane which I use for a majority of my larger smoothing/flattening. The boards have some machine marks which will require me to probably remove about 1/16-1/8" of material to truly flatten.

I would describe my skill at planing as on the shy side of fair. The tools I have are capable of doing a lot more than I have gotten out of them. That being the case, would a LA Jack plane be sufficient at this task, or should I look at a true jointer plane (#7/#8) LA or normal for the faces and for flattening the joint between the two boards?

FYI, the boards are not highly figured, so that is not something I will have to worry about when planing them flat.

Thanks in advance.

[David Weaver]

The LA jack is fine if you have a straight edge. If you get some less than ideal grain, just increase the angle and/or close up the mouth on your smoothing strokes.

[Mark Wyatt]

I agree with David on the LA Jack. It would certainly work.

Other good options are the #6 fore plane and the #5 1/2 jumbo jack. From the LV web site: "The #6 fore plane is ideal for smoothing and flattening large surfaces, such as panels, tabletops and workbench tops." From the Superior Works, the #5 1/2: "A wider and heavier jack plane for rougher work. These make good planes for preparing broad areas such a truing panels."

[Mike Siemsen]

Alex,
Your fore plane and smoother can only get you so far. To get stock really flat without a lot of hassle you will need a jointer. I would tell you to get a # 8 in what ever configuration you like. The big problem will be in making the 7 foot long joint between the boards, that is hard to do with a short plane. It sounds like you do a bit of woodworking and are willing to tackle big stuff, so get a big plane, that is what it is for (you will use it again). The typical method of flattening stock is fore plane (5 or 6), jointer plane (7 or 8), smooth plane (3 or 4). You will find a wider smoother a lot harder to push.
Once you have the big plane you will find many uses for it.
Mike

[Nixon Roger]

Actually, you can use any plane. You can't deflect 20" wide boards with clamps so the two boards must mate. It doesn't matter if the joint is a straight line or a bunch of whoop-ti-doos. Get the joint close and then put chalk or some other transferrable material on one side of the joint. Place the other board on top and check for spots that hit. Start planing/scraping off the high points until the two boards mate.

[alex grams]

Mike, that was partially what I was expecting. I have the Low Angle jack plane already, so I am still undecided if i would want a #7/#8 normal angle, or get the LV low angle #8 jointer. The Lie Nielsen #8 is a chunk of money, and a I already have blade sets for the Lee Valley Low angle jack plane, so I guess I would just get the LV #8 LA Jointer and have other angle blades ready for use on it.

I should think this over a day or two, because if i tempt myself too much now I am just going to end up ordering the plane (which I have been wanting for a while, but just not had the proper motive to buy)...

[Matt Evans]

I should think this over a day or two, because if i tempt myself too much now I am just going to end up ordering the plane (which I have been wanting for a while, but just not had the proper motive to buy)...

See? You just wanted us to justify your tool spending. . .

You could go with the LV 7/8, or, if it isn’t something you think you will use often, pick up a wooden jointer on the cheap, rehab it and get through this project. If it turns out over the next few months or a year or so that you end up using it more than you thought, then spring for the LV plane. (I don't have Lee Valley planes, but then again, I'm broke. . .)

One of my arguments for the wood jointer is price. Another is that they are so darn easy to fix up to user condition. And, most importanly, they seem to glide over large surfaces easier, making it much more pleasant to do larger scale work.

Not trying to make an argument over wood vs. metal planes, or to buy or not to buy, just a few thoughts based on my experience. For what its worth, if I had the cash to spend on it, I might actually spring for a LV 8. I would use it mainly for edge jointing though, not as much for flattening faces.

[alex grams]

Matt, the faces are pretty flat on the two boards, I just have some tool marks from milling with a few small areas where there are cups from the milling. The wood supplier was kind enough to run it through their larger planer prior to shipping, so it is pretty flat, but I need to thin it about 1/16-1/8" to get to the low point of the milling marks and make the entire face flat and even.

Decisions, decisions....

I have looked at rehabing a plane, but don't have that extensive of a knowledge to feel confident enough in buying something used that I would be getting a good tool to rehab.

[Matt Evans]

Alex,

I wish I were closer. .. would be able to help you tune up a wood body in no time. I wonder if any other Neanderthals in the Houston area would be able to walk you through a rebuild?

I don't know how plentiful the wooden planes are in your part of texas, but my guess is that even on ebay you wouldn't have much difficulty finding one to rehab. The great thing about the wooden ones is that the soles are really easy to flatten, and since the adjustment mechanism is a simple wedge, there isn't a whole lot to it. as long as the checks you see aren't gaping and the top of the mortise hasn't been cracked all to heck and back by improper storage, there isn't a whole lot that bars a wooden plane for being usable. Even a twisted body can be dealt with by grinding the iron off kilter to match the sole after its been flattened.

If you don't feel comfortable with redoing an older plane though, I would recommend going with a new plane. No substitute in the world for a plane you know is gonna work for what you need it to do, when you need it. Lee Valley makes some really good products, so if you are comfortable with those planes, go for it. Just make sure to post a picture of it making shavings so I can gripe about being too broke to afford one.

[Nixon Roger]

If the faces are flat as you indicated, all you are looking at is smoothing them up. The LV jack is great at that. As I mentioned earlier the edge joint can be made with anything.
Matt is right on about wooden jointers. I use a 30" and it is a lot less effort than my #8 Stanley.

[Bob Jones]

You can certainly flatten with the la jack. Keep a straightedge handy and check your surface often. I prefer to flatten large surfaces with longer planes like a 7 or 6, so a purchase is easily avoided or justified.

Where did you get the wood? I am glad to see it being used appropriately, and not being cut to bits.

[Harlan Barnhart]

Alex, If I were you, I would start edge jointing with the planes on hand. If you run into a problem, then buy. I think you can do it with what you have.

[Curt Putnam]

Not sure whether or not you are talking about surface flattening & smoothing or edge jointing or both. Your current LA planes are more than a match for flattening & smoothing. No hand plane is long enough to completely smooth a 7' edge so it would have to be done in sections. If done in sections then the LAJ is enough. With all that said, once you have an 84" x 40" panel, you will be very happy if you have the LA jointer. Assuming you have the money, you will be happier during the entire process with the LA Jointer, IMO & YMMV

[David Keller NC]

Alex - Some practical advice from one of many of us that regularly do this sort of job by hand:

1) Taking off 1/8" of thickness on the face of a 7' long, 20" wide board is not a "smoothing job" - it's a job for a roughing plane. It will take you a few centuries to do that job by taking off 2 thousandth's smooth-plane shavings. Instead, you need a plane that has a heavy curve (camber) to the front of the blade. I happen to use an old Stanley #6 with a hock replacement blade - the front of the blade is ground on about a 10" radius. You don't necessarily need another plane - you could use your LV LA jack for the purpose, but you will have to heavily re-shape the blade, so you may wish to buy another blade for it to avoid having to re-grind the same one back to a less severe curve for edge-jointing, smoothing, etc...

2) I would always recommend that a handtool woodworker have a jointing plane in the 20" long or greater range. Having said that, you definitely do not need such a plane to make the edge joint that you're describing. What you do need to do is plane both boards at once in a configuration called "match planing". Place the two boards face-to-face so that when you're done, you open the package like the leaves of a book. Align the edges as closely as you can, then clamp the boards tightly together. Then, with a plane that has only a little camber to the blade (or straight across, it makes little difference), plane the edges of both boards at once. When you get a full-length shaving off of both board's edges simultaneously, you're done. Even if you don't get each individual edge perfectly plumb with the face, the differences will cancel out when you open the package. You must, however, get the edges reasonably straight. While a jointer is helpful for this purpose, you can certainly do it by sighting down the edge and identifying the high and low spots, then adding a few extra plane strokes to the high spots. Take this job slowly - you want to be taking off 3-5 thousandths thick shavings, stopping after every 2 or 3 strokes to evaluate where you need to put additional strokes.

[Harlan Barnhart]

I would like to second David Keller's advice. Right on.

[Matt Radtke]

Dumb question: shouldn't a bookmatched panel/slab be inherently difficult/impossible to plane? I know I avoid it, because in theory (and my practice), the two pieces have the grain running in the opposite direction...

[Harlan Barnhart]

Far from an expert, but I have always managed by planing in different directions up to the center and then using a card scraper to tidy up.

[David Keller NC]

Dumb question: shouldn't a bookmatched panel/slab be inherently difficult/impossible to plane? I know I avoid it, because in theory (and my practice), the two pieces have the grain running in the opposite direction...

Yep - no doubt about it. It can be done, though, as Harlan describes. When one looks at antiques from the age of handwork, however, it's not too common to see bookmatched glue-ups. Glue-ups period are relatively rare except for curly maple pieces, where it's not so unusual to see them as the sides of casework such as desks & highboys. But many of these aren't book-matched, and most of them don't even have equal widths in the glue-up.