Thread: Planing For Edge Joint - How Best?

How long are your boards a no 6 bench plane will do most lengths, is the "hair crack" in the center along the edge at either end, if you a using a hand electric planer then it is most likely just a case of practice
if you are not experienced in using such a beast they can be very unforgiving.
Take it slow, with minimal depth cuts on each pass, try and keep the same pressure at the start as you have at the end, position the board so you can walk along it's length rather than extending your arm out, pay particular attention not
not to rock the planer side ways a fence will help if your planer has one.

Like what I'm going to do next the boards are only 4' long. 1" wide.

Yes, it's a hand electric planer.

Been looking at some youtube vids and wondered if perhaps I ought to build some kind of jig that make the planer able to do a better job.

Wondered if maybe for such little jobs an old fashioned jack plane might be best really.

Just thought I'd ask.

It is not critical. I do very little and what I do usually doesn't even have to be very good. But it'd be nice to get better.

So just practice then. Okay. Thanks for those tips, I'll remember/use them: walk the length, go slow, minimal cuts. They're actually three things I haven't really been doing.

And I generally set the planks up in the bench vice. Makes them a little high for comfort.

Do you think it'd be a significant factor maybe? Help somewhat if I set them up lower down that couple of inches, down on the bench top?

And I thought of sacrifical pieces. Would they help a poor operator like me, maybe?

Extensions at each end of the plank so's the ends of the plank are neither the beginning of the cut nor the end?

Even sacrificial planks at each side - making the effective width greater and helping stabilise the planer so it doesn't rock laterally so easily?

Like I can sometimes (in the past, don't do much, as I say) find I've planed to perfection when I put two planks together only to find a crack when I turn them over: because it wasn't planed at 90 properly, I've rocked sideways.

Going to do a bedside table for the young fellow. Ought to try make it good and he's doing it with m so I ought to have all the clues I can get to pass onto him.

But good fun. No drama.

If you used a jointer hand plane, such as a #4 (which is a smoother) or #7 (a jointer and my preference), then you can attach a board to the side of the plane and create a vertical fence.

Here is the Stanley #386 Jointer Gauge on the Stanley #7 plane together with the Veritas Bevel-Up Jointer Fence (BUJ Fence) on the LV BUJ.



This may also be possible with a power planer.

Always hold a straight edge over the top to find high spots, and remove these first. Then it is easier to retain a flat surface.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Two ways that you can be 'out' to create the gaps that you are trying to avoid, a minor rock or wobble side to side as you plane, so the edges are not square to the faces, and see sawing as you plane, so that the edge is not dead straight when checked with a straightedge.

To achieve a perfect edge joint the two edges have to be perfectly complimentary to each other, so any deviation from straight and square on one edge is fully compensated for by an equal but opposite deviation in the other edge.

I have hand planes (#7 ,#41/2, block plane and razor plane), two electric planers, a 5inch buzzer/jointer and a 15 inch thicknesser. I have a reasonable understanding of each, and how to set it up and use it, but would not claim to better than a hacker with any, due to a lack of experience and current practice. But I have a healthy respect for the electric planers ability to remove material faster than I want, and from areas that I don't want it removed from. I know that people with experience can make them work well, but I suspect that either they had a lot of hand plane experience first and were able to apply that knowledge to the new technology, or they produced a lot of not quite perfect work learning the power plane from scratch.

Probably the best advice I could give from a hackers perspective is to continually check your edges with a straight edge and square after every pass so that you know what is happening, and can correct your technique to overcome the issue on the next pass. If the issue is one of rocking side to side,, you may find the guide fence that normally comes with a planer helpful in achieving a consistent (if not perfectly square) edge. Another trick that works for both hand and power planing is to mount both pieces to be joined side by side in the vice and plane them together. This gives a wider surface for the planer to ride on, reducing the chance of rocking, and provided that you can achieve a straight edge, they will be at complementary angles even if they are not dead square.

I can't suggest an easy fix for getting the edge straight, other than a lot of practice and checking regularly as you work to identify issues as they arise. But remember the old saying, the difference between a craftsman and an amateur is that the craftsman knows how to fix or hide his mistakes.

Originally Posted by malb

Another trick that works for both hand and power planing is to mount both pieces to be joined side by side in the vice and plane them together. This gives a wider surface for the planer to ride on, reducing the chance of rocking, and provided that you can achieve a straight edge, they will be at complementary angles even if they are not dead square.

Sounds like you're very close to achieving the joint that you want, this will help you get that last little way there.

A hand electric planer isn't much good at jointing; even a quality brand model is very difficult to set up and adjust to give a flat and square edge. I usually use mine just to take the rough sawn edges off of planks before I turn to a real (hand) plane. Plus the electric planer will leave a rippled surface; a better glue joint is made with flat surfaces.

I recommend you finish with a hand plane. 1.2m long planks can be jointed with a number 4 smoother but a 5 or preferably a 6 would be better. You can pick up a serviceable 4 for around $20 at flea markets (there have been millions of the things made) but try to find a 5 if you can. Sharpen the blade so it is sharp (I think there may be a post of two on these forums about sharpening ) and adjust it to take the thinnest shaving you can get (again; I vaguely remember a thread or two about setting up planes) then just go for it.

Malb's suggestion regarding putting the two planks together and planing the matching edges is gold; but only if the plane blade can span both edges. When you said 4' 1" wide; did you actually mean 1 inch thick? If so then you'll need a wider plane, such as a 4-1/2, 5-1/2, 6 or 7. These have 2-3/8" wide blades which if used with care will span a 2" thick pair of planks.

Sharpening blades, adjusting frogs, setting blade projection and lateral adjustments and actually producing a pair of jointed edges won't come in five minutes; but if you allow yourself a whole day to play you'll get a series of functional joints on your test pieces prior to having a go on the real wood. It's fun to bury the shed cat in shavings and you can do the whole thing while listening to the radio.

Last thing; if you have a slight gap between the planks it's not the end of the world; in fact in can be beneficial providing it's in the middle; not the ends! A minuscule gap will require clamps to make the edges meet but it means the ends may not need clamping at all; this is handy when clamps are scarce. Remember though that a slight gap translates as no more than the thickness of a piece of paper.

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

Plus the electric planer will leave a rippled surface; a better glue joint is made with flat surfaces.

While this is technically correct, the ripples are on the order of a few hundredths of a mm deep which is both well within the bridging capabilities of glue and pretty much imperceptible to the naked eye. As long as the board is flat over its length, those small ripples are not likely to make any real difference.

If you're getting to within a hair crack gap with an electric planer you're doing well. I find a No. 5 Jack plane to be good for jointing. I think if you can start with an edge which is straight and square off the saw you're half way there.

As mentioned take very light passes and check often. Make sure the blade protrudes evenly so it's parallel with the sole (no use keeping the plane straight and flat if the blade isn't) I aim to take a full shaving along the entire length of the board with the final pass and you should be very close.

Once you are used to it a hand plane is a joy to use so enjoy the challenge!

Peter

Good Morning abrogard

Many of us have been in a similar position to you. Many of us started with cheap power tools, then progressed to better tools and expensive machines. As I get older, I use more hand tools.

An electric planer is not a precision instrument and it is virtually impossible to get a flat surface using it, in spite of the manufacturer's hype. As you say that you "..... do very little woodwork and even less joinery....." it is hard to justify the cost of a reasonable quality "planing table", usually called a jointer or coloquially a buzzer, and then you need to learn how to use it safely.

A cheaper option is to buy an appropriate hand plane, the longer the better, but a number 5 is probably a good compromise:

• Lee Valley, Lie Nielsen and Luban are good modern planes, the latter will probably require a little tuning,
• Avoid modern cheap planes, too much expertise and time is needed to make them usable,
• Buy a good quality used plane and tune/fettle it. Hint: if it has a plastic handle it is probably crap.

Personally, I think the latter is the best option. Read what you can on tuning or fettling planes - heaps on this Forum written by Derek, the Ian's, Elan, Lappa, Planemaker, RayG and a host of others - then buy a used wooden handled #5 and fettle it. By the time you have it working well you will know enough to get those edges shot properly, or you will have decided that you do not want to do woodworking.

Warning; it is addictive.


Fair Winds

Graeme

If you have access to a jointer and a thicknesser. Use the thicknesser to get both sides parallel. Then on the jointer, run one edge through with the face against the fence. Run the mating edge through with the down side against the fence.

OR

Put both pieces in a vise with the edges to be glued up. Use a hand plane across both edges simultaneously.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Personally, I think the latter is the best option. Read what you can on tuning or fettling planes - heaps on this Forum written by Derek, the Ian's, Elan, Lappa, Planemaker, RayG and a host of others - then buy a used wooden handled #5 and fettle it.

Don't read my stuff on it, I'll just be saying that the tradesmen of old didn't do much of it, so you don't need to either

I understand you are using a handheld powered planner. I regard these as great machines to get you close but not easy to sneak up on an exact result. OK I do not have the skill with them. Machines can take me from hero to zero in the blink of an eye.
I and others I know will use a surface planer, large stationary jointer machine, to get edges reasonably true. Good enough for most uses. But when you are pushing for crack less edge butt joints we do an extra step. We use a long hand plane with a smoother (square not cambered) blade. Here is how I go about it.
I take a long plane and start a fine cut in about 1" and end about 1" before the other end. I may repeat this once. Then I take one full pass. Check for gaps by placing boards edge to edge with light behind. Also try rocking or rotating top board as it rests on bottom board. If you see no light and have no rock or cannot easily rotate the top board you are pretty well done.
Couple of other points. Doing edges for an edge butt joint was called "jointing" and hence "jointer". The longer the sole or bed (machine) the better hence the old #7's and #8's and the longer wooden bodied hand planes. A rough rule of thumb is a hand plane will easily true an edge twice its sole length and longer with a bit of care. So length is nice but not an absolute. A #5 will handle many cabinetry size tasks without too much difficulty and these are pretty cheap. See other posts.
Stating the obvious but a sharp blade helps a lot. Slowly I am realising that that is the fix to most things and what I thought was sharp now is not.
A variation on the above is to get true as above then deliberately add a little concavity along the length. Just repeat the first step perhaps once. This is called a spring joint and when you clamp and glue up the board the gap (thin - perhaps hair like) is taken up with clamp pressure and the ends are placed under greater pressure so tending to keep the joint tight at the ends.
Another trick, if possible, is to true abutting edges at the same time. Place abutting boards face to face with edge upmost in a vise etc and then hand plane if your blade is greater than twice the board thickness. This makes off vertical/horizontal in your holding of the handplane cancel out.
Finally, and I apologise if this is teaching you to such eggs, but handplane use is a deliberate and controlled action not a fast slashing sort of action. The pros make it look easy but you want a deliberate consistent push and cut. Often an inexperienced user will get an inconsistent cut due to rushing things. When planning an edge use your fingers of your front hand under the sole as a fence against the near face of the boards. This will help reduce left/right wobble across the edge.
With care using the above I get butt edge joints that can only be deduced due to grain variation. The actual joint is not visible in the sense of there being any gap.
Hope that helps.
Richard