Thread: Planing thin strips.. how I do it.

I often have this issue myself, using benchdogs that are higher than the piece of wood that I'm planing. I have been planning to make some really low profile bench dogs to end up with a solution like yours.

However, the main problem still there is how do you stop the piece from slipping sideways? I can get the end to stay against the dog, but the other end of the piece is open, and slides around. After every plane stroke, I'd be picking the piece up off the floor and putting it back on! I have a long bench dog that fits over several holes, and supports one side of the piece, but I don't really want to try to make a low-profile one of these. Love to hear how you get around this.

I screw small flat headed screws into my bench one in front and one on the side, works a treat unless your precious about your bench )

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I often use a piece of 30x30x1mm aluminium angle with one leg held in my Dawn bench vise and the other lying against the bench top. Allows me to plane down to 1.2mm for lengths up to 300mm or so on stiffer timbers with my Stanley #5.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

I often use a piece of 30x30x1mm aluminium angle with one leg held in my Dawn bench vise and the other lying against the bench top. Allows me to plane down to 1.2mm for lengths up to 300mm or so on stiffer timbers with my Stanley #5.

Hmm, you are braver than me. I wouldn't send a plane hurtling toward a piece of metal that's going to come within .2mm of the blade! I like the idea though.

When I make some super-thin bench dogs, I think I will dowel joint them, rather than screwing the top-plate to the pin underneath. LIke I said, I don't want metal in there!

Originally Posted by surfdabbler

Hmm, you are braver than me. I wouldn't send a plane hurtling toward a piece of metal that's going to come within .2mm of the blade! I like the idea though.

When I make some super-thin bench dogs, I think I will dowel joint them, rather than screwing the top-plate to the pin underneath. LIke I said, I don't want metal in there!

Good Morning surfdabbler

Have you tried a thin spacer between the workpiece and the dog? That's what I do, and usually it works.



Fair Winds

Graeme

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Have you tried a thin spacer between the workpiece and the dog? That's what I do, and usually it works

Good idea. I am not sure i could do it for the single dog - i have enough trouble keeping one loose piece of wood against the dog, let alone two. But it might work very nicely for the multi-dog jig that I have.

It has given me a few more thoughts though...

Originally Posted by surfdabbler

Good idea. I am not sure i could do it for the single dog - i have enough trouble keeping one loose piece of wood against the dog, let alone two. But it might work very nicely for the multi-dog jig that I have.

It has given me a few more thoughts though...

Yeh, that's why I said it usually works. Some work pieces seem inherently less stable than others for no apparent reason.

My solution is two pronged:

• Use a hold down rather than a dog, and
• Put a V-slot in the spacer that the work piece slots into.

The latter is particularly effective in stabilising narrow work pieces.

I also use some non-slip "drawer liner" stuff that I get by the roll from Big-W (kitchewares section) - thrown away the packaging of my current roll so I don't know what its called. Its also really effective in stopping stuff slipping in the vice.



Fair Winds

Graeme

Made myself some mini-dogs last night. Very simple design, with a dowel through the middle. This means the whole thing is wood, so if it's too big for a particular project, I can just plane it down to suit the piece I'm working on. I made two, but in hindsight, I should have made about ten, so that I can plane them down as needed, and have lots of different thicknesses. However, I think that once they are quite thin, they will probably do the job quite well for thicker work pieces anyway.

photo.JPG

Thanks for sharing. I'm planning on building some legs for some furniture using tapered laminations and have been pondering how best to prepare them. This thread has given me some more things to consider. Thanks

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Yeh, that's why I said it usually works. Some work pieces seem inherently less stable than others for no apparent reason.

My solution is two pronged:

• Use a hold down rather than a dog, and
• Put a V-slot in the spacer that the work piece slots into.

The latter is particularly effective in stabilising narrow work pieces.

I also use some non-slip "drawer liner" stuff that I get by the roll from Big-W (kitchewares section) - thrown away the packaging of my current roll so I don't know what its called. Its also really effective in stopping stuff slipping in the vice.



Fair Winds

Graeme

I've tried a few things including thin bench dogs, drawer liner material, I don't think anything has been super effective when planing thin pieces. Graeme have you got a photo of your 2 prong set-up, it sounds promising, can't visualise how the v-slot in the spacer works.

Originally Posted by Tiger

Graeme have you got a photo of your 2 prong set-up, it sounds promising, can't visualise how the v-slot in the spacer works.

Good Morning Tiger

Sorry, I forgot to recharge my camera batteries. Here is a quicky on SletchUp.

Dimensions are 300 x 100 x 5 mm. Just firm it with a hold-down and slide the work piece into the v-slot. The slot holds things better than just resting them up against a bench dog or spacer.



Fair Winds

Graeme

V-Spacer.png

Originally Posted by surfdabbler

Hmm, you are braver than me. I wouldn't send a plane hurtling toward a piece of metal that's going to come within .2mm of the blade! I like the idea though.

When I make some super-thin bench dogs, I think I will dowel joint them, rather than screwing the top-plate to the pin underneath. LIke I said, I don't want metal in there!

Not very often I go to 1.2mm but it can be done. Its more like 2 to 2.2mm strips that I do regularly. Great to hear others solutions though so thankyou for sharing ideas. Have a look at what some of the Japanese Yosegi makers do http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llfM0...ature=youtu.be

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Good Morning Tiger

Sorry, I forgot to recharge my camera batteries. Here is a quicky on SletchUp.

Dimensions are 300 x 100 x 5 mm. Just firm it with a hold-down and slide the work piece into the v-slot. The slot holds things better than just resting them up against a bench dog or spacer.



Fair Winds

Graeme

V-Spacer.png

thanks Graeme, get it now .