Block planing end grain?? Advice sought~

[Tim Farrell]

I made a couple boxes this weekend for SWMBO to use in the kitchen. I used box joints (my first ones) and based on advice from some SMC and others I cut the pins a bit long so there would be no gaps in the joints. It came out well and the joints are very tight and look great.

I now have to shorten the pins and would love advice on the perferred approach. The options I have considered are:

1. block planing the end grain (worried about chip-out)
2. cutting with a flush cut saw - then sanding
3. power sander to remove mass - then hand sand
4. chisel - to remove waste - then hand sand

Thoughts?

[Zahid Naqvi]

I made a couple boxes this weekend for SWMBO to use in the kitchen. I used box joints (my first ones) and based on advice from some SMC and others I cut the pins a bit long so there would be no gaps in the joints. It came out well and the joints are very tight and look great.

I now have to shorten the pins and would love advice on the perferred approach. The options I have considered are:

1. block planing the end grain (worried about chip-out)
2. cutting with a flush cut saw - then sanding
3. power sander to remove mass - then hand sand
4. chisel - to remove waste - then hand sand

Thoughts?

I made finger/box joints on a kids toy box last year. I used a router with a flush cut bit to clean the protruding finger, followed by a roundover bit to roundover the corners and finish sanding to end it all. A low angle block plane will also work to cut away the protruding fingers, just make sure to set the shavings to as thin as possible when you get close to the surface. Chipout will not be a problem if the joints are flush, any chipout will be cleared with subsequent cuts. My preferance would be to use a smoothing plane as you get closer, because the blade of a smoothing plane will have the corners rounded and it will not leave an edge mark on the adjacent surface. Chisel can be tricky as you get close to the end, it might leave edge marks which you will have to sand or plane off.

[Lee DeRaud]

I'll second the router/flush-trim-bit approach. I sand a chamfer on the corner of the end fingers which seems to eliminate the chip-out there. (The ones in the middle aren't a problem because they're supported by adjacent fingers.)

Note that I'm using a router table for this. I'm not sure I'd want to try it with a hand-held router on the small pieces I do, but it sounds like your project is a bit larger scale.

[Alan Turner]

I use a LA block plane for this operation on through DT/s The trick is be sharp, and to take a fine, angled, shearing or slicing cut, first from one edge to the center, and then from the other edge to the center. Never plane towards the corner or dege, and you will have no chipout. The stroke is controlled and deliberate.