Jointing square

[Victor Robinson]

I'm fairly new to Neanderthal ways, aside from using a block plane to chamfer an edge.

When jointing the edge of a workpiece (with a jack), I always seem to do it unevenly so it becomes a taper/bevel and the edge is no longer square to the faces. I think the plane is dialed in to take an equal shaving.

What's the proper technique here (aside from having a nifty jointer plane that has a fence)? Thanks for your help...I do like the quiet pleasure of the Neanderthal way but get discouraged.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

In my experience - just practice is the biggest thing.

The other things that help me are a proper setup - if I can hold the board on the front of my bench with the leg vise or clamps or whatever, it's much easier than trying to joint with the board on the bench top. The uncomfortable stance makes accuracy difficult for me. Getting "over" the work helps me feel plumb better. I change my grip too - rather than holding the knob up front, I pinch the casting just behind the knob, and trail my fingers along the edge of the board to help me hold it square.

If I'm removing a lot of wood, one thing I do is mark with my panel gauge from both sides, and then using a drawknife or a chisel or spokeshave or a scrub plane, chamfer the edge of the wood down to this line. I usually mark the resulting bevel with pencil hatches to help me see it. Then as I start bringing the edge down, I have a better visual indicator without constant leaning over to check of whether I'm bringing one side down more than the other.

You can always focus on getting straight with the jointer plane or whatever, and then follow up with an edge trimming plane to make it perpendicular to the face.

If the board in question is going to be edge joined, and it's thin enough, I match the two pieces up and plane them at the same time - any inadvertent angle will cancel out when you glue the two pieces, resulting in a flat panel.

If the piece is quite thick, you can also take a plane with a heavy camber, and run it down the middle of the thickness, making slight hollow. Then check with a square - if one side is higher than the other, make a few swipes with a plane on that edge, until a square touches both peaks at the same time, then you can follow up with a jointer plane, riding securely on those two points until you're taking a shaving the full thickness of the board.

If 90 degrees is quite critical and the size is amenable to your bench, you can make a long shooting board, or simply raise the piece a little bit on some shims, and joint it with your plane on it's side on the bench top.

But yeah, practice is really just the best way to do it.

[Jack Curtis]

Directed practice is very important; but also, using a tall wooden jointer helped me a lot. Also, as Joshua said, use of a sticking board is very handy for all sorts of things.

[Charlie Buchanan]

I have a similar tendency and I've found several things help. Definitely pinch the plane--thumb behind the knob and first two fingers on the sole and riding along the face of the board. Test with square often. Test your iron for even projection on each side of the plane. Avoid a cambered iron when edge jointing. If jointing for glue-up definitely clamp the boards together bookmatch style and small consistent angle error will be cancelled out. I find the more I have practiced the easier it has become, but sometimes I still lose focus and go out of square.

[Greg Wease]

Definitely pinch the plane--thumb behind the knob and first two fingers on the sole and riding along the face of the board.

Great recommendation--two fingers are all the "jointer fence" you need. You can make subtle corrections to the jointed edge by shifting pressure with that thumb on the left or right side of the bed.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Stance is important to - I often times find my natural tendency when I'm not thinking about it is to put a little twist in the board if I'm not paying attention - low on the left side at the start of the board, low on the right at the end. I have to take a second to think and make sure I'm paying attention.

Checking with a square often is key too - easier to correct a little out of square with a change of stance or pressure as it starts then keep going and find out the error has cumulated and you've gotten really out of square and fix it then. With a little care and a nice small square you can "feel" square - keep the stock of the square tight against the face of the board and bring it down against the edge of the board - it will "click" solidly, the square meeting across the full width of the board if it's square. If it's not, you'll feel the square click once on board and then again as you bring the blade against width of the board, or you'll feel it rock a bit as you hold it against the corner. Saves you from having to interrupt the flow and stoop to check the board against light through the square.

[Jim Koepke]

Victor,

Welcome to the Cave.

I used to live and work in the San Francisco area.

There are many ways of working with hand planes.

If you use the hand as your jointer fence, be careful of a few things.

1) This is an easy way for your fingers to find the blade under your plane.

2) Do a slow dry run every time you use this set up. It took me a few times of hitting my fingers against a vise before figuring out this vital step.

3) Check for splinters that may catch your fingers. They can become very uncomfortable.

Here is a post of mine about my thoughts:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?148076-Getting-Started-With-Hand-Planes

My thoughts on the use of a jointer is at the very end of course.

Eventually you will be more in tune with holding your plane square to the work. It all comes with repetition and learning.

Good luck,

jtk

[Roy Lindberry]

I'm fairly new to Neanderthal ways, aside from using a block plane to chamfer an edge.

When jointing the edge of a workpiece (with a jack), I always seem to do it unevenly so it becomes a taper/bevel and the edge is no longer square to the faces. I think the plane is dialed in to take an equal shaving.

What's the proper technique here (aside from having a nifty jointer plane that has a fence)? Thanks for your help...I do like the quiet pleasure of the Neanderthal way but get discouraged.

1. Practice. It sounds cliche, but its true. You get to where you can "feel" square with a lot of practice.

2. Until then, note which side you are high on, and adjust your iron slightly to take a heavier cut on that side. This is a great way to fix a problem that is there, and is much easier than trying to hold the plane on a tilt.

3. Use a slightly cambered iron, if that suits you. A cambered iron will take a heavier cut in the middle of the plane, so you can simply slide the plane to whatever side is necessary. This is a trick I learned from Bob R. fro the Logan Cabinet Shoppe. He talks about it here (http://logancabinetshoppe.com/blog/2010/10/episode-27/) at about 27 minutes.

4. Hook your front fingers around the plane and use them as a guide. I didn't believe it would help at first, but I tried it and saw immediate improvement! If it isn't working for you, you could use a small, square scrap (say, 3/4 x 3/4 x 2) and hold it to the bottom of the plane at the toe and use it as a fence against the piece you are jointing. No need for a fancy attachment.

[Victor Robinson]

Thanks guys. Great advice here, but the main thing it seems is to keep practicing. I will also try the "pinch" method as I've seen lots of folks hold the plane that way in WW videos.

Gosh, with all this effort, sure seems easier to ensure a power tool fence is square and bzzzzzzz. Done.

Though I suppose the "bzzzz" is more like a "BZZZZZZZZZZZ" and a lotta dust.

[Jim Matthews]

There's no fast way to do this, it takes lots of bored feet to become proficient by hand.

I was taught to get a reference face flat, and run a square off that face to get the jointed side flat.
Bob kindly posted Episodes 27 and 28 (http://logancabinetshoppe.com/blog/2010/10/episode-27/) at the Logan Cabinet Shoppe showing a method that works for me.

In essence, you make sure your blade cuts square to the plane base.
You scoop out the center of the board to make a hollow, leaving both ends "higher" in comparison.

You get your longest true jointer out and take down these ends until you have one continuous shaving.
Check to see if it's perpendicular to the reference face.

Mark the spots where the square does not show light with pencil and pass over these, lightly - you're sneaking up on your final surface.
When it's square to the reference face, scribe off the other side and repeat the process.

Keep the SAME reference face toward you so you can check fore square off that known surface.

Bob's description is deliberate, stay with it to get the skinny.


jim
wpt, ma