[OP]
Member
I'm a novice at using handplane. I was trying out a new lee valley #4 smoother on the face of a piece of maple 2" wide. The plane skips at the beginning of the push stroke and cause ripples at the start of the piece. The shaving are either dusty or form tiny rolls. I backed the blade up as much as I could but the plane still skips. It's most likely I'm the culprit but I'm not sure what need to change. Thanks!
Last edited by Billy Trinh; 12-23-2017 at 11:08 PM.
Contributor
Have you sharpened the blade lately? That may be one cause.
Last edited by Frederick Skelly; 12-24-2017 at 6:47 AM.
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This sounds more like skipping than (what most people would call) chatter.Originally Posted by Billy Trinh
The usual causes are iron too dull (fix by sharpening), shaving too thick (fix by retracting the iron), stroke not steady (fix with practice).
If it only happens at the start of the stroke then try skewing the plane a little bit so that the edge of the blade doesn't hit the edge of the workpiece all at once. Also focus on maintaining a smooth and steady/deliberate stoke without "jerking" - You should ultimately (after practice) be able to start a stroke cleanly without skewing unless you have a really nasty situation like a knot right at the leading edge.
[OP]
Member
blade still has factory edge and I haven't used it since bought. Should it be sharpened? planing 3/4" edge works fine but face planing always give me trouble. If I start slow/normal speed, plane often get stuck at start. On the other hand, start fast and the plane skips.
Contributor
I'd guess it does need to be sharpened, though the LV blades I've received have been pretty good. I'd suggest backing off the depth of cut. See how it works in the finest cut and adjust from there.
Do you have a way to take & post photos? Do you have a way to measure your shavings? Photos will allow folks to view your setup and measuring the shavings would be a clue to your adjustments.
Another thought, have you checked the grain? Tried the other direction on the face? Hard to guess not knowing exactly what you're doing... Sorry.
Member
LV tools ship about as sharp as any our of the box (with the possible exception of the Tsunesubaru chamfer plane I recently acquired), but not very sharp at all by the standards of real-world planing. You should definitely hone the secondary bevel at a minimum.
Skewing (rotating the plane a bit relative to its direction of travel) as I suggested in a previous post would probably help a bit, but there's no substitute for a sharp iron.
Member
<p>
If you cant shave your arm hair with one effortless stroke, its not sharp. Go buy a honing guide, I have gotten great use from my knock-off Eclipse style guide, cost about a fiver. Good luck</p>
Member
Billy, how close have you set the front edge of the cap iron to the cutting edge.
Member
Stewie brings up a good (implied) point here. You should start with the simplest setup possible for debugging, and that means not getting fancy with things like the cap iron. I'd set it ~1/16" or so from the edge until you get the basic cutting action straightened out.
Take an old candle and make wiggley lines on the sole of the plane. It reduces the friction, won't harm the wood and will make the cuts smoother.
The other thing to look at is the grain direction in the problem area. Try a pass in the opposite direction on that part of the board. You want the grain ends to look like this--->/////// not like this ---->\\\\\\ where the arrow is the direction of the cut.
Last edited by Lee Schierer; 12-24-2017 at 8:23 AM.
Lee Schierer
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As a newcomer to using hand planes, I would bet you're somewhat overwhelmed by all the suggestions. Take heart, it just takes time to learn each plane that you acquire. By purchasing a LV or LN plane, you've by-passed the learning curve required for rehabbing vintage planes. That likewise means that you've by-passed gaining the experience for a number of the above suggestions. Our suggestions focus on (1) the blade (sharpness, protrusion), (2), the blade, chipbreaker, and cap iron (how these are positioned), (3) the frog (primarily its placement), and finally (4) the sole of the plane. Since you've bought a LV, there's little chance the sole is not flat. Typically, new makers send out their planes with blades that are very sharp and ready to go; so, that seems an unlikely factor. However, many of us like to go the extra mile of sharpening to get blades honed and polished well beyond factory standards--hence, the above directions to sharpen further or set a secondary bevel. The best "read" (without pictures) is that you've got too much blade protruding through the slot. This can create some bite issues. Be sure to sight down the sole and try to have so little of the blade protruding that it's finely set. This is achieved by turning the set screw behind the frog. Sometimes, chatter is caused by having the frog slightly further back from the mouth (slot) so that the blade is not resting securely against the frog's face. Likewise, sometimes the chip breaker is set back from the edge of the blade too much. For me, that's more than 1/16th though I strive for even closer edge of the blade positioning. Otherwise, blades start chattering and clogging up the mouth when there's a larger gap between the chip breaker and blade. The cap iron's tightness can also be an issue, especially if too loose or too tight. Too loose and the blade can move (= chatter); too tight, and the sole (of some of my vintage planes) can distort somewhat, causing that to introduce cutting distortions. Stanley Handyman planes were some of my earliest lessons in such troubleshooting. BTW, I no longer have or use them.
Have fun! And don't be afraid to take your plane apart and troubleshoot. I hope that I've clearly and accurately pointed out the various areas of concern for you to trouble shoot.
Contributor
Cut is too deep, frog too far forward, pressing down on the rear handle instead of the front knob AT the start of the cut....
Member
It sounds like you are planing against the grain. Try going with the grain to compare results.
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Yes, I agree, dont assume your tools are bad
Trying to describe hand plane technique can be a bit like trying to describe shaving your face. A basically simple task that brings into play so many granular elements that codifying the process gets overwhelming. Practice is the basic fix for many problems with hand tools. The trick is to get semi-functional so that you can practice with gusto and not stumble over things like skipping, stalling and so forth. Even if your first long steady strokes are not true, they will start to build the motions that will become second nature.
Lee Valley irons do arrive pretty decent out of the box but, I would go to work with them on anything other than practice pieces. The whole discussion of what is "sharp" generally starts to breakdown into personal battles over what each person has found to be "best" so let's not go there too much. Suffice to say that your iron should probably be touched up. Your test board is already irregular so I would flip it and start again once your iron is sharp. Grain direction and the ability to read it will factor into almost anything you do with solid woods.
grain-and-plane.jpg
I kept a printout of something like this tacked to the wall for quite awhile back in the day.
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