Explain this like I'm 5 (plane not the whole length of board)

Intro: I've been collecting some "users", a 7, a few 5's, 6's, and blocks. The plan(e hahahaha) was (is) to admire them 'till retirement, then start using them. I simply don't have the time or energy, but you wouldn't believe how cheaply I've picked these up.

Problem: It looks like I'll have to take them out of retirement (or retire sooner?). I got a 4" long, 1 1/2" wide, 3/4" thick piece of oak glued and screwed on already. Think of a stile on a face frame cabinet where you got some overhang on either side. Here's the problem, once I got it out of clamps, this particular piece is skewed 1/16 (it's mounted up-and-down, so 4" starts at bottom and goes up). Everything else "works", it's just this outside edge that's 1/16 proud at the bottom that's going to cause a problem, a rather obvious gap when I mate this with another piece. Removing and replacing is not an option, and I'm past epoxy/woodfiller phase of my hobby WWing. My knee jerk reaction is to whip out the belt sander, but past experience shows that's going to make it worse. So I'm here on the internet googling "plane angle into wood" and looking at a bunch of mint condition Stanleys......sharpening is not a problem for me, the soles are smooth and the beds are square. So how does one square this up? In theory it's perfectly clear (square?), but in practice I don't see how my inexperience is going to, even with the #5, take 1/16 from the bottom of this 4" piece and not take anything off progressively towards the top. I've already got a line scribed, so I know where to stop. I've tested this on some scrap and all I manage to accomplish is take 1/16 of the entire length of the 4" piece, despite consciously reducing downward grip on the fore knob the closer I get to the end.

I'm sure you'll get some more knowledgeable responses soon. I've had to handle some similar tasks of removing a taper (and putting a taper on). I start at near the end that needs most of the wood removed, taking short strokes to work it down, gradually working back to the other end of the board with progressively longer strokes. Have the lines showing the desired edge marked on both sides as an aid.

Its actually an enjoyable task. You may want to do a trial on a piece of scrap first.

I think the thing to do here is pick one plane, I would reach for a #3 or a #4 if you have one of those, and then practice on construction lumber. Just draw/scribe a skewed line on a 2x4 and practice planing to that with no pressure.

I could do it with a #5 if I didn't have anything smaller. Do you have a block plane ready to dance? You could try using both a block plane and a #5 on your contruction lumber scraps to see which feels more intuitive to you.

If I am understanding this correctly you are wanting to plane a surface that is nominal 4" long and 3/4 inch wide, taking 1/16 off one end of the 3/4" width and nothing off the other end? So you will be planing face or edge grain.

If you are needing to cut through end grain I would clamp on a piece of scrap as a saw guide and use a small back saw.

Also, if you have a big enough bit you could use a flush trim bit on a screaming electric router. My router bit will only flush trim half inch stock and I hate that thing, but it is an option.

But if you are looking at face or edge grain on the surface you want to bring into alignment with an adjacent surface, yes a hand plane can do that with a little practice. I would plan to get the offending piece to pretty close with a #3 or #4, and then dress the surfaces together with something longer that would end up taking a sliver off the entire surface of both pieces.

Hi Thomas,

If you're going to plane off something that's proud of a surface, I'd suggest skewing the plane with the heel of the plane on the surface to which you want to make the other flush. Place downward pressure on the heel to keep it against the reference surface, and cut away the protruding wood. Once the plane stops cutting, if the plane is set up properly and the last few shavings are thin, the protruding piece will now be flush with the surface--only the protruding parts of the offending piece will be cut. Depending on exactly what the piece looks like, this may or may not be an option--there may or may not be a surface to use as a reference.

For a properly sharpened and set up plane, downward pressure will have little to no effect on the depth of cut.

As Richard mentioned, you can plane a taper (or correct a taper) by using stopped cuts, even in a piece that's significantly shorter than the length of a plane. In case Richard's explanation is not entirely clear, I'll add a description of how I typically accomplish this. For example, let's say I want to take more material off the far end of the piece, but I want to leave the near end completely alone. In that case, I'll start the plane with the blade already on the board, perhaps 1/2 inch or so in from the end (depending on the size of the piece and how much I'm taking off), and plane all the way to the far end. If instead I want to take material off the near end but leave the far end alone, I start the plane with the blade hanging off the end as with a through shaving, but I lift the plane before the blade reaches the far end so that the cut stops before reaching the far end. Either method will keep the plane from cutting the whole length of the board and allow it to cut (or correct) a taper.

I hope this helps.

Can you post a picture? I am having trouble Visualizing. My knee jerk reaction is to plane across grain at the problem area and then work backwards to blend it in. But I wouldby commit to that advice before seeing your situation more clearly.

Only let the plane touch where you need to take something off.

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Originally Posted by Prashun Patel

Can you post a picture? I am having trouble Visualizing. My knee jerk reaction is to plane across grain at the problem area and then work backwards to blend it in. But I wouldby commit to that advice before seeing your situation more clearly.

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A picture would help enormously.

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Originally Posted by Tom M King

Only let the plane touch where you need to take something off.

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Without much else to go on, my suggestion would be to use a spokeshave.

Planes can be used to remove a precise amount of material from a select area. Sometimes it helps to have a very small plane. This is where block planes and spokeshaves excel.

My other suggestion would actually be to ask if the material can be removed with a chisel.

jtk

I recently used a no.8 to take a slight amount of twist out of some 12' long handrail pieces. I hold the plane in the plane I want to finish with, and it only hits the parts that need to come off. It seems sort of like people thinking you need to make a full pass on a jointer to straighten a board. You not only don't want to, but it won't work. The plane shouldn't stay in contact everywhere either. It's sort of like sculpting, but instead of taking off the part that doesn't look like a woman, you take off the part that isn't flat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tom M King

Only let the plane touch where you need to take something off.

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A few ways to make this very obvious, but one can still screw up things if not using "stopped shavings" (Look up David Charlesworth on youtube)
I use a wee aluminium plate with artists graphite stick for making witness marks, (graphite on cast iron is probably more sensible)
but one can even use crayon for the task, depending on the work.
It simply marks the contact between, and one can use this technique to make things very accurate, say if making straight edges without a bench.
Better yet it teaches one to use their eyes, when they inevitably get a bit lazy and choose that instead.
Then one needs a long reach angle poise lamp for the job, with a decent sized shade.

The principals of Charlesworth's definition of a flat surface rings true here thereafter.
i.e respecting the perimeters, as one "can do nothing with a bump" which refers to your taper that you intend to make.
as you won't get a proper reading of it unless your straight edge (wood or metal, whatever it be...lets hope that ain't just a ruler)
is resting on two points and not variably rocking about like a see saw.

Tom


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Where are you located? When I started fooling with these things, an afternoon in a shop with a guy who knew what he was doing taught me more than I figured out on my own in a week.

Check this site:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=used+h...PRES1OS1AS3MT2

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Originally Posted by Nicholas Lawrence

Where are you located? When I started fooling with these things, an afternoon in a shop with a guy who knew what he was doing taught me more than I figured out on my own in a week.

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I wondered the same thing.

When I needed to take more off one end then the other, it was easiest if I could plane towards the part that needed to take more off. I would then start close to the end that needed to take more off then keep moving the plane back further towards the thin part as I went along. In real life, you often cannot choose which direction to plane but a similar principal applies. Start at the thick end and then lift the plane as you plane in.