Squaring Boards by Hand

[Will Blick]

you got some great advise here, and the usual bickering, welcome to SMC
Just a few bits of input after tackling this myself...
1 Much depends on what u start with, wood type, and size of wood, this dictates how hard. Obviously a large piece of wood or glued up panel will be much harder than a small board.
2 not all wood handles cross planning..
3) the technique in the video of getting both ends of the face flat..that does not make them co planar, hence winding sticks.
4) Love the post about references, totally agree. No reference is better than a flat surface bigger than the board u are working on...the carbon paper works wonders if you can keep the work piece steady when rubbing it...its easy to cock if the work piece is very crooked, twisted, etc.
5) Once u get one side flat, the other side is much easier, as you have a new reference...

I often wondered why a jig would not be a better way for this task, similar to a router sled jig, but used for hand planes. Same proven process at work Neander style.

For me, I gave up on large flattening by hand... I do find it quite challenging and quite the mind bender, but I also find I waste a ton of wood. If I was to continue flattening Neander, I would develop the sled system.