Ive decided on using the two slabs in the photo as my bench top. I have read the various workbench books eg 2 x Schwarz, Scott Landis and Tolpin.
My plan is to use the 2 slabs for the top joined together.

My issue is that have never hand planed anything to square before and the books cant do it for me . So i thought i would put a post up and ask for guidance.

I thought i would start by first planing the edges that would be joined and then glued them together as i read in a Schwarz book. I have started doing this and using what i call my Groggy level am slowly getting there.

My concern is if i glue the two edges together and the other faces are not flat then this will be a PITA later. The flipside of this is that if i 4 square the timber i may be dimensioning stuff i will not use.

I know the timber wont care if i take it to a club and use a thickenesser but I will as my plan was to learn how to hand plane and improve my skills.

thanks in anticpation.
Pac man.

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Groggy Level

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Way to go Paul.

I was taught to clamp a piece along one side of the plane to help square it to a face. Of course if the face is not square or is wavy

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Good luck with the build Paul. If you feel the need to use a jointer/thicknesser your welcome to use mine. My whole workshop is not going to be used until the end of the year and it's only around the corner!

Andy

Although planing slabs by hand SOUNDS like fun and the experience would be invaluable, I suggest if you haven't left for Andy's workshop already you should get a move on.

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Thanks to all for the encouragement and kind offer.

Andy i'll see how i go and let you know.

Who said "Thank god for Tony" .

Just along for the ride Paul......
Watching with interest, Cheers, crowie

Looking forward to seeing the build Paul

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Another workbench to watch...cool

I have been using my bench as a learning curve in hand planing. Especially when it took me 2 or 3 days to hand plane the side stretchers, when I could have done in a thicknesser in about 5 mins. It is fun tho, & gives u a sense of achievement. It also has been teaching me how to sharpen my tools...and when planing seasoned jarrah, that's very often!

Give it a go & see what happens.

If you still want some advice on hand fettling a joint of this size, I've done a few during my bench build and can give you some guidance. This assumes of course that you have a well tuned jointer/trying plane and can wield it with some confidence.

I always start by planing one face of the boards flat. This is mostly so that when the edges are layed together you can check whether the resulting board will be flat on one side.
Next I'll roughly straighten (eye-ball) and sqare the gluing edges with a jointer.
Once they're roughly sqaure I'll set a fine cut on the jointer and proceed to hollow the glue edges. Check for hollow with a straight reference edge; you should see a very slim slit of light come through at the centre of the glue edge. Your straight reference edge should ride on the outsides only.
Stack the boards together to test the lamniation. Getting the glue faces slightly concave is crucial to testing the joint because any faults in the joint will clearly visible. If the glue faces are convex it will be far harder to diagnose the issue.
Mark any high areas with a pencil and plane them down only a couple of shavings at a time. Ensure that the glue face is slightly convex and test again. Repeat... a lot!
Once you're satisfied that the visible parts of the joint are perfect, you'll then need to flatten the glue faces. Now, when I've made joints this big the resulting glue line is never quite straight and I think this is the reason that flattening out the glue faces with the jointer has been harder. Lately I've been doing this with a smoothing plane set *very* fine and the results have been better. I can only assume that this is a result of the smoother following the imperfections in the glue faces better.

Lastly, I've also tested a few joints to see which methods produced the best results. What I found was that the joints which were still the slightest bit hollow, rather than completely flat, were stronger. I tested using a small cross-sectional cut of the joints and torque tested them. I can only assume that the glue in the centre of the joint stays wetter for longer and expands the timber fibres into the joint.

Hope this has been helpful.

Dave.

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