3 Boards Glued Together

[Glenn Samuels]

I needed side panels for a chest on chest. I joined 3 boards each after running them through my jointer and planer. I used biscuits to join them but there are still a few areas where the alignment is off by 1/32 to 1/16 of an inch. I have 3 planers: a BUJ (approx. 22") a #4, and a low angle bench plane. The blades have been sharpened down to 13,000 grit so they are sharp. I am having difficulty getting the panels completely flat. I have planed from all sides, the BUJ just skims over the surface, and the #4 is not much better. Starting to attack the variation with the LA bench plane. Am I making a mistake in how I am going about this?

[steven c newman]

I would try just a small Block Plane ( your choice) an attack just the raised up areas, going across the grain ( almost like a Scrub plane) going towards the raised areas. Then a pass with the smoother.


As for me, I have all bevel down planes in the bench size. Sometimes, I will just use my #6 as a smoother253878 then follow up with a smoother253879Just the way it works in my shop.

[Chris Griggs]

If your 4 and your BU jointer are just skimming over the wood your blades are either not sharp or your setup is not right in some other way. My guess is that its your blades... it is absolutely possible to polish a dull edge and have it still be dull. It could also be your mouth settings or maybe your just depth of cut. Hard to tell without more information or picture. Fiddle around on some scraps until you get them cutting how you want, then put them to use on a project. If you continue to have issues while working on getting them setup on the scrap pieces, post some pics or some more info and hopefully we can help you get it sorted out.

[Jim Koepke]

Sometimes my panels have a similar problem. It is usually that something is high and no contact is taking place between the wood and blade.

Usually there is one area that may get a bit of shaving. That is the high area that needs to be worked with a short plane.

Depending on what planes are available will determine what is the best plan of attack.

A straight edge or winding sticks come in handy here. One problem in my experience is the pine used for my projects sometimes gets a bow that is more than the board's thickness.

Can you get a shaving of any length anywhere on your panel?

These kinds of situations is where a scrub plane is handy. Making your own from an old bench plane is an easy way to get one cheap, or in my case getting a few pieces of junk off of ebay the only way to salvage the deal was to turn one of them into a scrub plane.

jtk

[Glenn Samuels]

Jim, I think that you are right. The BUJ and #4 are touching some high spots and therefore not getting to the variation where the seam is. Yes, I continue to get fairly long spirals of wood when using these plane. I'll keep on working it until I make some more progress. Just not sure how I got the variations even using biscuits. It seemed very flat when I clamped the boards together and I used 11 clamps.

[Chris Griggs]

I'm confused, if your 4 is hitting the high spots why is your "BU bench plane". Which "low angle bench plane" do you have. Is it a low angle jack or is it a small low angle smoother of some kind? Is it smaller than your No. 4? If its smaller than I would assume what Jim said is correct, but if its as large or larger ) than the no. 4 (as in a low angle jack) it doesn't make sense that it would work but your 4 wouldn't. What am I missing here?

[Glenn Samuels]

Chris,
I had been using a LA block plane to work the edges. The BUJ was only taking sawdust until I lowered the blade an additional amount. There must be high spots that were keeping the BUJ from getting to the edges. I need to make a couple of winding sticks which should help. I am new to hand planing and probably just not giving the planing enough time to get to the edges. The smallest to largest are the small block plane, #4, and then the BUJ

[Chris Griggs]

Chris,
I had been using a LA block plane to work the edges. The BUJ was only taking sawdust until I lowered the blade an additional amount. There must be high spots that were keeping the BUJ from getting to the edges. I need to make a couple of winding sticks which should help. I am new to hand planing and probably just not giving the planing enough time to get to the edges. The smallest to largest are the small block plane, #4, and then the BUJ

Oh I see! Yes that makes prefect sense then. In that case I 100% agree that what you and Jim said is exactly what's going on. Sounds like you got it figured out. Great!

[Jim Koepke]

Just not sure how I got the variations even using biscuits. It seemed very flat when I clamped the boards together and I used 11 clamps.

Were the boards marked to keep the orientation the same when you cut the biscuit slots and glued it up?

My usual method is to tongue and groove panels. Even with all the care one can practice there is sometimes misalignment caused by bowed boards or swelling due to change in humidity. On a large pane, one corner lifted by about 2" after the glue up. Not something that can be easily fixed.

jtk

[Russell Sansom]

A biscuit doesn't fit "perfectly" into the slot. If it did, you couldn't push it in. That "slop" could be 1/32", total ( 1/64th" in one board, 1/64th" in the other ). Splines work well for me. But it's nearly impossible to get a perfect match.

[Chris Griggs]

The couple times I used biscuits or dowels for aligning glued up panels it made things harder. For me its much easier to gently clamp everything and then nudge the top of the boards into alignment. My finger tips are my guide...they can very easily feel went the boards reference faces are in alignment. Yes, you need to move fairly quickly but its actually quite easy. Once everything is flush give the clamps their final tightening and you're good. Of course, YMMV.... perhaps the suggested technique may not work as well for very large panel (e.g dining table) or if you have whole lot of narrow planks you're gluing up... I can't say for certain.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

It depends on how large the panel is, but if it's small enough to be feasible, and the boards are dress well enough to be flat, this is a place I like wedges in place of clamps; using wedges against cleats seems to move the panel out of flat less than clamps do for me, and if the boards are flat, you can apply a little weight from the top if needed, and press it right against your platten or whatever to keep things flat.