Hand planes

[Brian Runau]

Howdy. I have a few decent hand planes, Woodriver, and understand how sharpen the blades and to set them up etc... Not a lot of experience using a smoothing plane so looking for guidance on technique I guess. I have jointed two boards and glued them up and they have some shifting in the height of the two boards at the joint. They are to wide to use my planer so... Not sure what my technique should be to take down the one side that is higher?

Thanks.

Brian

[ken hatch]

Howdy. I have a few decent hand planes, Woodriver, and understand how sharpen the blades and to set them up etc... Not a lot of experience using a smoothing plane so looking for guidance on technique I guess. I have jointed two boards and glued them up and they have some shifting in the height of the two boards at the joint. They are to wide to use my planer so... Not sure what my technique should be to take down the one side that is higher?

Thanks.

Brian

Brian,

Depending on how much the boards shifted and any wind. First I would, using winding sticks and a jack, get a true and flat surface on each end and each side. Then with either a scrub or jack (depending on how much needs to be removed) plane cross grain to bring the boards close to the trued ends, a jack with the grain to level the hollows, a jointer to level the board and finish with a smoother.

Some folks do not like to cross grain plane they think it wastes time and effort, YMMV.

ken

[fritz eng]

perhaps a longer plane, a #5 or longer next time and yes use winding sticks or run the edge of your plane along the joint as you go

[Phil Mueller]

Everyone’s technique is a little different, but as Ken said, it depends on how much they are out of alignment. If it’s slight (say less than 1/16”) I tend to even that up first using a card scraper on the high side to bring it to level. Then use planes to level out to the edges. Much more than that I go with a cross grain scrub or low angle jack to get it close, a jointer to fine level, then smoother.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy. I have a few decent hand planes, Woodriver, and understand how sharpen the blades and to set them up etc... Not a lot of experience using a smoothing plane so looking for guidance on technique I guess. I have jointed two boards and glued them up and they have some shifting in the height of the two boards at the joint. They are to wide to use my planer so... Not sure what my technique should be to take down the one side that is higher?

Thanks.

Brian

Brian, My first question would be about the use planned for this panel?

My second question would be what are the "few decent hand planes" you have to use?

Finally, is the height difference all due to one piece being high or does the height switch back and forth between the pieces?

If it is just one side of a joint being high the smoother alone may be enough to accommodate your situation.

With as sharp a blade as you can achieve, while taking as light of a cut as possible, position the joint centered on the blade. This should only cut the high side of the joint until they become even. After this, work the panel to bring it to the surface you want.

It may be necessary to work across the grain. Going at an angle with the grain using a very sharp blade. This could be necessary if your plane is bridging over valleys.

One problem you may encounter is leaving tracks. Very light cuts help eliminate this. Another way to eliminate tracks is to camber the blade. It doesn't have to be at some set radius. Running the corners of the blade's bevel over a stone will remover enough metal that light cuts will not leave tracks.

Here is an old post of mine about one way to apply camber > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?158373

There are many other ways. My approach often considers how to undo what is being done. A camber on the bevel is much easier to undo than a back bevel.

Sometimes it is easier to buy an extra blade or an extra plane.

jtk

[Brian Runau]

well I came to the right place and quickly learned how little I know about hand planing. Let me educate myself more based on your feedback. Thanks. Brian

[lowell holmes]

Check out this site.

https://www.google.com/search?q=604+1%2F2+hand+plane&oq=604+hand+&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l3.10838j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8