Update on Tool Advice Needed (my order)

[Tony Wilkins]

Spent some time at the work bench today and got myself reacquainted with my OS jack plane. I'd like it to take a thicker shaving but I'm not willing to filed open the mouth any yet. I got it where it works very well.

Also spent some time with the Ohio Tool Co try plane. Sharp iron and chip beaker set correctly and it's working better. I'm still having to problems with it. (1) It's a bit ungainly to balance on the edge of a board with it's weight and height. (2) it's hard to set with so much wood to 'tap'; I was wailing on it with my adjusting hammer and it barely moved a bit.

So, after all is said and done I feel good about my smoother and jack. I'm not certain about my jointer/try solution. Are the two issues something I can (and would want to ) overcome with practice.

So that will leave me with (a) ordering a #7 from LN, (b) ordering a Krenov style jointer (expensive but I'm not sure I could make my own and have it work), (c) work on my technique with the wooden jointer (d) get a new wooden jointer for Philly with adjustments to make it easier for me.

BTW, I know there is a different technique for holding bailey style planes for edge jointing, is there a different holding technique for wooden jointers?

If I don't buy a try and with what money I have left over, I plan to order joinery plane goodies from LV (plough, fillester, shoulder, router)

TIA,
Tony

[Jim Koepke]

BTW, I know there is a different technique for holding bailey style planes for edge jointing, is there a different holding technique for wooden jointers?

Everyone tends to find what works best for them.

Maybe holding the plane skewed so the right front corner and rear left corner is on the stock. Try skewing the other way if that doesn't work.

You might find holding the front of the plane so your finger tips are underneath may offer more stability.

jtk

[Tony Wilkins]

Played with the wooden try for a while and I think that with more time I can make it work for me.

Think I've about decided what I want to do with the money. I'm going to get a variety of LV joinery planes. My last remaining question - should I fill our my bench chisel aresenal from the 1/4" and 3/4" BS chisels I currently have and with what if so?

[Winton Applegate]

One thing I heard early and took it seriously as a learning challenge, (think I heard it from Frank Klausz or Toshio or both) was not to clamp or prop up a board you are edge jointing.
just put it on the bench top and plane it and if it falls over then you were not centered on the board and not controlling your plane well.
In other words push a dog up on the forward end of the board and put the board up against it to stop it from sliding down the bench as you plane but there is no reason to use the tail vise and dog on the rear end.

I do that and I don't find I have to hold the plane special other than at the totes.

Two things I have to say about jointing :
1. I don't sandwich two boards side by side, plane both edges at the same time and then flip the board up and expect them to mate.
2. I don't use a straight , no camber blade in my jointer. I want a hint of camber on the blade.

PS: I wouldn't worry about opening up the throat a bit on your plane. Just do it. Carefully and with respect. From extensive experimentation with easily adjustable throat openings while planing tear out prone woods while using metal planes I find that a close throat does hardly anything for me with the one possible exception of birds eye maple which I have not worked but heard tell.

What makes a huge difference is flat facets to the plane blade. Back and bevel. Sharpening jig territory. (I am NOT saying don't hollow grind. I AM saying don't round the bevel and NO ruler trick.
I would easily rather have a throat well open than one that jambs with shavings.

I would go so far as to say that is how you know you have the right edge geometry and good enough attention to the details of a properly sharpened edge when you can have an eighth inch throat opening on wood that often tears out and it is planing cleanly.

[Adam Cruea]

I will tell you, Tony, if you're having troubles with keeping a wooden jointer on a board's edge, be wary of a metal jointer. LN's 7 weighs in the league of 8 pounds. The 8 at a meek 10 pounds.

Metal jointers are monsters that will need tamed. I love my 7's and my 8's (Stanley/Bailey/Bedrocks), but they were not easy to learn to use in the least (and to be honest, I'm still learning, as on long boards, I have a tendency to fall to one side at the end).

I will also second what Winton has said: your throat opening could be 1/64" or 1"; it's more about the sharpening and chip breaker placement. I can tell you from personal experience that closing up the throat makes things more annoying, at least for me. Setting the chip breaker closer and closer to the edge is where I find tear-out is helped and paper-thin shavings are achieved.

And I would suggest finding some scraps and practicing jointing, see what works for you. I've learned to put the wood into a vise very low, about a finger's thickness from the top of the bench. Then I can use my fingertips to keep from *really* skewing one way or another; other than that, it's just finding what works for you.

I would also suggest putting your location up; there may be someone near you that will let you practice with a Bedrock/Bailey style #7 so that you can see what you're getting into before you drop the coins on a LN jointer. It might be that a #6 suits you better than a #7, or maybe you find a #7 too small and gravitate to a #8.

[Jim Koepke]

One thing I heard early and took it seriously as a learning challenge, (think I heard it from Frank Klausz or Toshio or both) was not to clamp or prop up a board you are edge jointing.
just put it on the bench top and plane it and if it falls over then you were not centered on the board and not controlling your plane well.

But then you can't drag your plane on the back stroke! :eek:

This gets a bit tricky when planing a 1X12.

jtk

[steven c newman]

Perhaps, learning on a slightly small jointah plane would help out?265867Like maybe a #6 sized one. Sure, it is only 18" long, but since I work with a lot of shorter stock, it seems to fit the bill. Even works nicely tapering Shaker style legs265868This one is a DE6c that I rebuilt. Oh, and yes I did have a size 8c for awhile265869but most times, the plane was longer than the board I was working on. I just found the #6 size to be a little easier to control.

[David Weaver]

Plow plane, maybe the router plane (though I think they're more useful and less limiting if they do things like clean dado bottoms).

The other stuff is not needed. I'll admit that I have two shoulder planes and never use either of them, and for 7 years, had a LN 140 and really never used it.

You'll see a lot of old plow planes around, and you'll see a lot of old router planes around. You won't see many skew block planes and you'll see shoulder planes, but relatively few compared to rabbet planes. That tells you what people did use.

Though it's not necessary by any means, I find a plane bed float extremely useful for joinery, but you have to be able to sharpen one to justify it. It's basically a tool that lets you work right to a line and fast, no matter the grain direction, etc, and it doesn't require precise depth like a router plane. Useful if a long set of dovetails just doesn't quite fit, too.

[Tony Wilkins]

So what I ended up with:
LN #5
Couple of LN chisels to see if I like
Router Plane
Small Plow
LV Medium Shoulder Plane
David Charlesworth Chisel technique DVD

I'm going to get a coarse water stone (thinking
Gokumyo-Ryu) and a flattening stone when I hear back from Stu.

[Jim Koepke]

So what I ended up with:
LN #5
Couple of LN chisels to see if I like
Router Plane
Small Plow
LV Medium Shoulder Plane
David Charlesworth Chisel technique DVD

I'm going to get a coarse water stone (thinking
Gokumyo-Ryu) and a flattening stone when I hear back from Stu.

Looks like a good all a round selection of tools.

Now you need to pick projects to use them all.

jtk

[Tony Wilkins]

Working on a shaker side table right now and have a list of projects ready to go :)