Planing

[ssmith1627]

Who knew that planing was harder for the beginner than using any of the power tools ?? haha There must be an art to this but I think some of it is the adjustment side as well.

I bought a jack plane to get me started. I framed out two windows in the house over the weekend with pretty good results. Just had to plane down the back edge of some 1x6's for the side pieces because the windows were just under 6" deep. Just went between planing and fitting back and forth until I got what I wanted and it worked out fine.

But my first big project I want to be a workbench. I am mostly settled on the plans for one in the Dec/Jan issue of Family Handyman. Anyone seen that ? I was a little worried about the bench top which is glued up from 2x4's on edge. I didn't know if I could plane and sand that smooth so I wanted a little test piece. I glued and screwed and clamped five pieces of scrap 2x4 material that were each about 18 inches long.

I tried to use the plane to smooth that and I really felt like I made things worse more than better. The manual for the plane really told me nothing about what the adjustments are for the blade depth and angle. I feel like the plane is digging in way too much and it simply gets caught in the forward stroke and leaves a gouge in the wood. Any suggestions in the form of a tutorial ?

I fought through it and sanded it with a 3x21 belt sander at the end and was actually fairly pleased with the end result. But I know there's a right way to use the plane and I'm clearly not doing it.

Thanks in advance !

Steve

[Tom Miller]

I'm just crawling up the learning curve myself, but maybe that gives me a useful perspective. If your blade is digging in and taking too big a bite, there are a couple things to check.

First, and most obvious, is how much blade you have sticking out of the mouth. But what might be a little less obvious, is how open the mouth is. This is adjusted by moving the frog (the slanted part that the blade slides on). The more the mouth is closed, the more the wood just in front of the blade is supported (pushed down) so that it doesn't have a tendency to get levered up and break away from the board. Another thing you can do if this is happening is turn the board around, as the problem could be the grain is slanting up towards the approaching blade.

[Edit: I see I didn't say how much the mouth should be open, but for fine shavings (1-2 mil), perhaps less than 10 mils or so. I use Post-Its -- one is ~3.5 mils, so you should be able to slide ~2, no more than 3, through the mouth (from the top works best).]
Some key aspects to "fettling" a plane:

1. Flatten the sole. Doesn't have to be perfect all over (i.e. a depression here and there won't kill you), but pay attention to the area around the mouth, in particular in front of the blade.

2. Flatten the chip breaker where it comes in contact with the blade. This is very important, and probably the worst fit of any part of a new plane coming from the factory. Remember that the shaving needs to transition smoothly from the blade, up and over the chip breaker. If there's any irregularity, the chip will jam, especially if the mouth is closed down for a fine shaving. Also, note that the chip breaker flexes a little, so be sure of a good fit when properly tightened.

3. Check/flatten the surfaces of the frog where the blade slides. There shouldn't be any high spots.

4. Check/flatten the surfaces where the frog rides against the body.

5. Sharpen the blade until it shaves arm hair without so much as a tug.

That's all that comes to mind right now. I'm sure other more knowledgeable folks will chime in.

Regards,
Tom

[ssmith1627]

Thanks very much Tom. I've got to get up to speed on the terminology and then try to take the steps you're suggesting. But that certainly gives me a lot to look at tonight.

Steve

[Pappy]

Couple of sites to get you started...

Basic tuning:
http://www.yesterdaystools.com/tuninga1.htm

The Scary Sharp method:
http://www.shavings.net/SCARY.HTM#original

More than you ever wanted to know:
http://www.amgron.clara.net/planingp...planeindex.htm

[monte]

Great links Pappy. Got them bookmarked.

[tomscanio]

When you glued the pieces together, did you have the grain running the same way on all of them? Is it possible the gouging is coming from going backwards on the grain?

Tom Scanio

[kyle.w]

thanks for the links pappy

[ssmith1627]

Tom,

Yes, exactly that. I know that sounds silly but I honestly didn't even think to look at it for that before I put those little pieces together. I'm going to try another little bit bigger test piece this weekend. Looking at it last night there were two that were indeed running the other direction.

But it's also a matter of the adjustments on the plane itself. I think I was taking much larger shavings than what I wanted to be doing.

Just a matter of me reading all the info you guys are throwing at me and keep trying until some of it sinks in.

This is a great site. It's been a great help already. I'm really starting from scratch here so even the tips from Tom Miller on working with the plane take some deciphering ! But I'll get there in time.

Thanks,
Steve

[mdutch]

And, always make sure it's sharp. Here's a great link from a hobbyist at InTheWoodshop.org on how to Sharpen Planes And Chisels Without Going Broke