Shopsmith Forums

charlese wrote:Just can't pass up an opportunity to enumerate the method of hand planing a board to any given size using only a hand plane and a try square.

No need to scribe the piece using this method, but you will have to measure the desired thickness, width and length. If this method is done with care, all sides of the board will be flat and square.

Start with a board that is slightly larger than the desired size. Make this at least 1/4" wider than desired and close to the desired length (about 1/8" or so).

1) Plane the one face to make it flat.
2) Plane one edge to make it square to the planed face.
3) Plane one end to make it square with the two planed surfaces. (In order to avoid splintering, chamfer the corner at the unplaned edge and the end to be planed.)
4) Plane the other end square to the planed face and edge using a chamfer at the corner of the unplaned edge. Also plane to the desired length.
5) Plane the unplaned edge, making it square to all planed surfaces and to the desired width.
6) Plane the unplaned face making it square to both edges and ends. Also plane to the desired thickness.

This is why it took us so long to make a project in High School shop. All wood had to be squared this way. Oh Well! After doing this method 20 times or so, I'll never forget!

Done it lately????:D Yer plane iron had better be veerry sharp! That end grain operation is impossible if not sharp.

I be with Farmer re it is a pleasure to do work with a properly adjusted/sharpened hand plane. By the same token, a SOB if it ain't!:eek:

JPG40504 wrote:Done it lately????:D Yer plane iron had better be veerry sharp! That end grain operation is impossible if not sharp.

I be with Farmer re it is a pleasure to do work with a properly adjusted/sharpened hand plane. By the same token, a SOB if it ain't!:eek:

As a matter of fact I have not squared a whole piece like that since High School. But the method has stuck!

In order to square the ends of the top of the white oak coffee table project, I recently planed the the ends with both bench plane and block plane. (The skill saw with guide turned out less than good enough!:( ) Yes, the blade has to be sharp! and the top is now straight and square.

I thought sharp blades/cutters are always necessary, no matter what the woodworking tool. I know we can get by sometimes with almost sharp, but it's a lot easier with really sharp.

heathicus wrote:I actually have a Wagner Safe-T-Planer that I got with my recent Mark V acquisition. I sharpened the blades and tried it a few times, but I've had a lot of problems getting consistent results with it on my practice pieces.

I also had inconsistent results for a long time. I finally attributed it to the inconsistency in the heights of the table and the table inserts where the wood passed over. I purchased a thin sheet of aluminum that covers the table to give a surface of consistent height. Check the accuracy table being perpendicular to the quill shaft (the method I saw in a Saf-T-Planer demo using a bent coat hangar in the drill chuck seems similar to what I saw in a Sawdust Session). I also found I was running the cutter at too slow a speed, which led to too large a chunk of material being cut, resulting in tearouts. I found with these changes I get much better results. As long as you understand that this tool will not produce perfection, but get you really close, it turns out to be a really good tool.

Some interesting reading to pass along:

(a.) I forget where I read it, but I read lately that a well-executed job with a (LONG) "Jointer" hand-plane can get a board edge flatter than almost any power jointer can. A case of taking the tool to the work rather than the work to the tool.

(b.) Along the same lines of "taking the tool to the work," here is something else I found very fascinating -- in metal working:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_scraper
Of course, in woodworking the marking of the high spots can be done with pencils rather than blue dye.

The editor of "Popular Woodworking" magazine, Christopher Schwartz, has written an excellent book, "Handplane Essentials". He also has a DVD on handplaning. For a rough board he uses three hand planes, a #6 fore plane with a curved blade that he runs across the grain on the board. Then he selects a #7 jointer plane pushed down the board with the grain to flatten it. Finally, a #4 smoothing plane puts the final "finish" on the board, which then doesn't need any sanding. A marking tool then can be used to scribe a constant thickness all around the board, which is then turned over and planed with the same proceedure as above.

While hand planing all the boards for a project was a fact of life 100 years ago, today, the hand planes have been gathering dust.......or have they? Now many woodworkers, myself included, have become "re-introduced" to this tool. Hand planes are definitely on the comeback. Just look at woodworking catalogs and magazines - more and more presence. And why is this? Simple. The tool is effective, can actually save time, and do work that no power tool can. Schwartz mentions that no other woodworking tool can consistantly remove .001" shavings from a board.

Since I dont have an 8" or 10" jointer, and frankly don't want one, I use my hand planes to remove twist and high spots from a rough sawn board as a prep for the planer. I don't have to smooth the entire face, just remove the glaring imperfections. The planer does the rest.

After reading Schwartz's book (I've also ordered the DVD) I am going to tune up my #6 fore plane and purchase a #7 Jointer. I think I'm on to something here.

Besides everything 8Iowa said and to which I agree there is nothing quite as satisfying as hearing the wooosh of sharp plane working the wood.

I actually enjoy making the ribbons of shavens