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Thread: Got Some Planing to Do!!!

  1. #1
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    Got Some Planing to Do!!!

    This piece of rough 16/4 poplar was purchased last week. The first step was to get the edges smooth(ish):

    Got Some Planing to Do.jpg

    This was fairly easy to do on a couple of saw benches with a hand screw clamp used as a stop. A #8 plane was used with a light cut. If too heavy of a shaving was being taken the front saw bench would want to move.

    Next was trying to devise a way to hold a 7' piece of work on a 5' bench. Cam action clamping seemed to be the way to go:

    Holding On.jpg

    A couple of 5" disks were cut from some scrap 2X construction lumber. The clearance between the two cams wasn't quite enough. The dog holes are ~11" from edge to edge and the piece being worked is 10-1/4" The out board cam was set in the vise to give a little more room. It seems the cam has to rotate about 1/4 of the way to start having any holding power:

    Holding Cam Detail.jpg

    It also appears this could have been done with a single cam and a couple of dogs on the other side of the piece being held. There is a dog on the inboard side at the far end to hold the piece laterally to use the scrub plane:

    Scrub This.jpg

    The piece has a high center on this side. The scrub plane was used to bring that down and to get the process started.

    Next in line was a #6:

    The Old Stanley Try.jpg

    This is the oldest Stanley/Bailey type metal plane in my kit. It is a type 4 (pre-lateral). It is a bit less tiring for this part of the job than trying to push around a #7 or #8.

    This part took awhile:

    Just Keep Tryinjg.jpg

    Not much more to do:

    That's A Lot of Work.jpg

    This is likely going to be the underside so it doesn't need as much work as the other side.

    One needs to be careful when handling a piece like this. It was fairly easy to move it around by sliding it over the saw benches to get it out of the car and into the shop. Then it wasn't too difficult to slide it off of the saw benches to stand it up on end. Then it was fairly easy to walk it across the floor over to the work bench.

    The cam holding worked quite well. My plan was to try attaching sandpaper to the cam's face if it had slipping problems. That wasn't needed.

    Note: The dowel/dog in the cam was made of ash turned on the lathe for this purpose. A screw was run in from the side to keep it in place.

    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 03-07-2019 at 1:32 AM. Reason: Note:, added> Stanley/Bailey type metal & wording
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  2. #2
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    I like your stops.

    Gloves make my hands get tired quickly. I never have been able to do much work with gloves on.

  3. #3
    Really cool! Those cams are a great idea, especially since all my work is weird contours, I’ll be revisiting these photos I’m sure!

  4. #4
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    Well done. So, what are you planing to make with that?

  5. #5
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    I like cams Jim. I was laying in bed the other night and deciding between cams and tapered battens for my bench. I'll probably do both and see which I like best.

  6. #6
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    Like your Cam idea Jim....What are you building?
    Jerry

  7. #7
    While planning for planing, an idea cam to you? Nice work. Half a bench top? Dedicated planing bench? Vibration damping top for lathe stand? Give it up, Jim.
    Fair winds and following seas,
    Jim Waldron

  8. #8
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    Jim,
    I noticed your saw bench. I have one and I made a saw horse the same height. It is a tee bench made of 1 x 4. I use it to support
    long boards when I am using the saw bench.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Olexa View Post
    Like your Cam idea Jim....What are you building?
    Hopefully this will become half of the top for my long put off bench project.

    The other half is a piece of 12/4 beech.

    With a tool tray down the middle my hope is the different thickness of material won't be a problem.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    Hopefully this will become half of the top for my long put off bench project.

    The other half is a piece of 12/4 beech.

    With a tool tray down the middle my hope is the different thickness of material won't be a problem.

    jtk
    Aha! Ahaaa!
    Fair winds and following seas,
    Jim Waldron

  11. #11
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    Taking on this piece a few hours at a time. One side is getting pretty flat:

    Checking Flatness.jpg

    Having a light behind the winding stick helps to find then mark high and low spots. This face was made square to one edge.

    Next step was to square up and straighten the other edge. The cam set up didn't hold as well with the piece on edge. It would hold for a few passes then the piece would shift, come loose and slide out of the cam. A couple of clamps were rigged up to hold it still:

    Jorge Clampet.jpg

    This is one good reason to have at least a small apron on a bench.

    Still a lot of planing to bring the edges flat and square to the faces.

    After looking at this the hand screw clamp could likely have been held in the tail vise for this work. It seems there are always a few ways to get a job done.

    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 03-11-2019 at 2:07 AM. Reason: After looking at this…
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by lowell holmes View Post
    Jim,
    I noticed your saw bench. I have one and I made a saw horse the same height. It is a tee bench made of 1 x 4. I use it to support
    long boards when I am using the saw bench.

    These are two from a set of three. There are other saw benches and horses around. Mine tend to all be the same height. Here are four of my 'outdoor' horses supporting a beam being worked:

    Scrubbing.jpg

    It is kind of handy to have a few saw benches and horses. If they can work together they are even more handy.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  13. #13
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    The last edge is pretty much square to the faces. Now the straightness is being addressed.

    Here is a string and three blocks method being used:

    String & Blocks.jpg

    Stanley Covington described this in one of his posts.

    It is three blocks cut to the same size. A few shavings are taken off the 'test' block. A string line is strung taught over the other two blocks, one at each end of the work to be tested. Then the high and low spots will be easily revealed.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  14. #14
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    With many things to do in the garden and greenhouse my time has been limited in the shop. Worse yet when there was a few hours available my camera and computer decided to not play nice together.

    An image was taken of planing away the scrub plane tracks, it was lost in translation.

    Then since it is almost natural to end up with a piece that is cupped an image was taken of a #8 being used across the grain to cut down the outsides of the cupped surface, it was lost in translation.

    Anyone who has done this will know the sound of the plane taking a shaving at the first edge, then going over the low spot without the blade engaging, then taking a shaving at the far edge. After a few passes it will take a continuous shaving which tells the operator to move about a plane's width to the next cupped area.

    At least an image of a #4-1/2 doing the final smoothing wasn't lost:

    Smoothing on a Tuesday Afternoon.jpg

    It is beginning to look like a nice piece of wood:

    Smooth Poplar.jpg

    There is some work to be done along the left edge. It may need a piece inlayed to get rid of the cracked area and the divots. This will be the edge against the tool well.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  15. #15
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    Next in Line

    My first thought was to use a piece of European beach that was acquired not long ago. It seems it may be better used for a different project.

    My neighbor cut down some trees and set up his Alaskan chain saw mill. Before he moved closer to Idaho he gave me a couple of planks.

    This one looks like it will work as half of a bench top:

    Large Fir Plank.jpg

    This did have bark on it. My chain saw was used to rip the edges.

    There is a lot of planing to do on this one. The faces are not parallel over the length nor side to side.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

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