Thread: No SCMS; shooting panels to size.

I intensely dislike SCMS.
Whenever a member asks “What SCMS should I buy?” I’ve invariably opined that they are roughing out tools only fit for carpentry and are pretty limited in their capacity and capability. Personally I prefer a simple chop saw, I have a 15yo DeWalt that can handle up to 2x6 and that covers the overwhelming majority of crosscuts I need to do; most SCMS can only manage up to 12” wide and I don’t seem to need that extra 6” very often. I usually need to cut within the capacity of my saw or wider than a SCMS can handle.

My Beloved requested I make a cover for the laundry sink so I grabbed one of those 1200x600 gluelam beech panels from Bunnings; I needed a piece 600x500 and so I thought I’d quickly take photos showing how I shoot panels to size.

Oh, before I forget please note there is NOTHING new here. I’m not trying to teach anyone a new trick; just a reminder of how things used to be achieved quietly, without fuss and to a level of accuracy that can’t be matched without a substantial financial outlay.

Firstly; the panel cuts were marked out using a marking knife. For photographic clarity I have pencilled in the lines but I normally wouldn’t bother. I tend to go fairly heavy on the lines; I like them pretty deep.

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I have a half sheet of formply lying around that I use for shooting as it gives a nice smooth low-friction surface for the plane. All I need is a few pieces of thin scrap to raise the timber up so the edge is inside the mouth of the plane; same idea as a proper shooting board.

Next; the panel was cut clear of the marked lines. I used a cordless circ saw running on a Kreg Accutrac but any method from a handsaw to a tablesaw with slider will work. I deliberately left a good 2mm between the cut and the knife line because it photographs better (and planing 2mm of end grain beech just hits that masochistic button in my psyche…).

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I use a Luban low angle jack plane for this work. Normally it only takes a few minutes to plane to the line; but then again I normally don’t try to leave so much bloody wood to plane away…

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I plane from both ends, alternating every few strokes. Waxing the plane and the formply helps although you can see I did put a bit too much down as it has built up a layer just below the front knob. I scraped it off while I paused to hone the blade halfway through the job…

As the cuts get within a mil of the knife line you start to see some breakout; this is really useful as a clear visual aid to how much wood is left to plane away and explains why I like to make my knife lines fairly deep. In this case; “too much wood to go, need to hone again…”
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Until finally the sole of the plane is now flush with the knife line. Looking at the cut edge you can sometimes just see the ghostly remains of the knife line but in this case it’s either gone or the light was too poor to pick it out. The length of the plane’s sole helps keep the edges very straight; any deviation would have to be measured in hundredths of a millimetre.
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And there you have it; one panel accurately dimensioned without a super expensive SCMS (that wouldn’t have the capacity anyway), or a table saw with a slider/crosscut sled, or a quality tracksaw. And by “accurate”, I mean within a few 100th’s of a mil of my marked lines. The resulting edge is also clean and free from saw lines.

Cheap and accurate; just not particularly fast.