Plane Question

[Ron Citerone]

I was wondering what plane you would recommend for planing/cleaning up an uneven glue joint on a panel for a furniture side. I want to be able to clean it up after the glue is removed, but before sanding when a little more than a cabinet scraper is needed. Thanks, Ron

[Jacques Gagnon]

Hello Ron,

I am convinced there will be a plethora of suggestions, all good, in reply to your post. The method I use for gluing up panels is: let the glue overspill (not sure if this is the right term in English) partially dry up (about 30 - 45 minutes) and lift the "ribbon" with a sharp chisel (some people use sharp wood wedges; I use an old steel chisel). At that point, very little glue should remain. Wait another half hour or so and scrape again with the chisel or use either an apron plane or a bull nose plane (with the front part removed). A card scraper also works well.

For work in corners, I am using the technique described by Michael Fortune in FWW: dry assemble the work and apply a thin coat of wax before carrying out the actual glueing operation.

I hope this helps,

Jacques

[Jim Koepke]

This depends on a few things. After the glue is removed one could use just about any plane. If the panels are fairly smooth, then a short smoother like a #3 or #4 would be good and follow any hills and valleys on the surface. If the panels were a touch ruff before gluing then a longer plane might be a better start.

The best plane is any one you have that will do the job.

Once you get your planes working well, you will find you don't need to do much sanding.

jtk

[Joe A Faulkner]

If there is any dried "squeeze out" glue, I'd remove that first - most likely with a cranked neck chisel on both sides of the panel. Next, I'd first remove the "ridge" using a smoother (#4 or coffin woody) held askew of the glue joint.

[David Eisenhauer]

I do what Jacques does. Wait till the glue gets "rubbery", then usually lift it off with a thin, flexible putty knife, or an old chisel or dull card scraper if the putty knife is lost. For the stuff I was not able to get to before it dried hard, I use a card scraper first (easier to sharpen than a plane iron if I were to chip the edge), then a #3 or #4 as Jim and Joe say. I just got a carbide blade Benchcrafted scraper made for the purpose of scraping hardened glue lines but have not had a chance to try it on glue. It did work on a test run on some (non glued) walnut ridges left behind by mismatched sawing lines.

[Doug Hepler]

Ron,

Gagnon's recommendation to remove the partially dried ribbon of glue is very wise.

I'm noticing the word "uneven" in your original post. Flattening an uneven panel glue-up can be very challenging. It depends on a lot of things, such as the grain (species of wood and whether the grain is rising uniformly in each adjoining board.) To pick an extreme example, oak or maple with grain rising in opposite directions in each board can be very challenging. Mahogany or walnut with nice even grain is much easier. It depends on how many joints you need to flatten and how much wood you need to remove.

My solution to this problem was to buy a Veritas bevel-up smoother with three blades (three different bevel angles) plus a toothed blade. That was an expensive choice, but after exhausting my patience and my energy with other planes, I decided that it was worth the money.

Depending on how much wood you will need to remove, you might start with a scrub plane. You might need a toothed blade and a very high angle to avoid tearout. To finish, you might need a very sharp blade, say in a #3-#6 plane, a high angle, and work across the grain. It can be a lot of effort. Some people would sand it out or find a contract service with a wide belt sander. IMHO you should NOT use a hand-held belt sander for this, tempting as it may seem when your arms go numb.

Doug

[Derek Cohen]

I was wondering what plane you would recommend for planing/cleaning up an uneven glue joint on a panel for a furniture side. I want to be able to clean it up after the glue is removed, but before sanding when a little more than a cabinet scraper is needed. Thanks, Ron

I understand from your question that it is the wood you want advice on removal, not the glue.

Simply, then, a small smoother is the plane I would turn to. The short sole will remove waste where the edges are proud.

Alternately, use a heavy card scraper, such as this ..

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/FoolproofSharpeningOfCard(Cabinet)Scraper_html_m94 efcba.jpg

It can remove a lot of waste in small sections. More details at the end of this article on preparing a card scraper: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/FoolproofSharpeningOfCard%28Cabinet%29Scraper.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Nicholas Lawrence]

If you don't have any planes, and don't know anything about them, I would suggest a low angle block plane. It can take care of what you want to do here, and you will find yourself reaching for it to do lots of other things as well. Stanley, Lee Valley, and Lie Nielsen all make versions, and you can pretty much take your pick depending on how much you want to spend.

[Phil Mueller]

Just to share my "Oh no!" experience. I was working with soft white cedar...panel glue up. Went to clean off the glue with a card scraper and instead of "cutting" the glue away, it pulled the glue off the seam and with it a bit of wood...left a terrible line of tear out. Probably technique, probably a bit dull. On soft wood, I now use an old chisel or beater plane to take most off first...

Normally, I use Jacques method, but sometimes more glue is left under clamps, etc where it can't be removed prior to drying.

[Ron Citerone]

I'm good with the glue removal part. Sounds like try my block plane which I have tuned and I have a #4 but it needs to be sharpened that will be my second try. Thanks Ron

[Terry Beadle]

This may not work for every one.

I use a H N T Gordon ebony small smoother. The blade can be reversed into a scraper and used on the pull stroke to even up misaligned edge areas.
Then give the blade edge a quick touch up on a 3000 ceramic stone.
Install the blade with the bevel up and proceed to finish any areas left that are uneven or have some tear out.
Then hit what ever is left with a freshly sharpened and hooked cabinet scraper.... some times my Stanley 80.

Using the small smoother at a slicing angle versus a direct angle is better and will give you few tear out areas even in a knotty area.

Mr. Gordon makes a great product at a reasonable price IMO. Light weight compared to a #3 or #4 too for my old shoulders too.

Enjoy the shavings.