Cheating on My Planes - or - The Hand Tool Guy's Dilemma

[Luke Maddux]

There it not a person on this planet that can hand dress timber faster than a machine.

Yeah, I actually was going to post a phrase very similar to that.

In the U.S., we have somewhat specific branch of folklore about mythical figures which we refer to as "American Tall Tales". Paul Bunyan would likely be the most known of any of them.

Second would likely be John Henry. Legend has it that John Henry could drive steel railroad nails faster than any man alive. One day some city feller came 'round with a steam powered engine which was designed to do the same job, and he challenged John Henry to a time trial to see who could drive steel faster. In the end, John Henry managed to barely eke out a win over the steam engine, but it, quite literally, killed him in the process.

A: I don't want to kill myself and

B: There's a reason we call them "Tall Tales"...

[FenceFurniture]

There it not a person on this planet that can hand dress timber faster than a machine.

Oh, come ON Elan, now it's you who is exaggerating:

....Arnie, and with the best planing techniques

Ok,ok he may have to be in a time warp as well, but still....

[FenceFurniture]

Until one day I tried a plane. And it worked and it was quiter, and cleaner and no dust -just shavibgs.

Well I certainly beg to differ there. there is plenty of dust comes out of hand planing, which will vary on the timber species and dryness of the timber. In fact it could be classified as quite dangerous dust - not because it's invisible (the most dangerous of all), but because I don't know of anyone who wears a dust mask whilst planing, mainly because of the extra oxygen required and how quickly the mash would fill up with exhaled vapour.

If you don't think there is any dust then have a look in the nooks and crannies of any of your bench planes.

I didn't say I know to many planers... I worked innitialy nly with the common ones E.g. DeWalt, Makita, Porter Cable, Bosch. Then I tried something probably considered semi-pro: Powermatic, Jet, Shop Fox, Grizzly.

Are you saying you owned all of these machines??? If that is the case then it would confirm what came to mind last night. (sniff sniff) "Me smell Mohican burning" No, me smell troll out fishing for bites.

[clear out]

I have come across this a bit late but here's a few thoughts.
You need to carefully select the species and boards and orientate the grain correctly when using eucalypts.
I would also be roughly dressing it to size and then using a moisture meter stickering it in a weighted stack to stabilise and come to the same moisture content as where it will live as a finished piece. Or a lower level within reason.
I don't know if you have had any training but 3 woodies I know give classes up there in Brisbane. Bob Howard, Robert Vaughan and Roy Schack.
They have quite different approaches and personalities and it may be worthwhile taking a few classes with one of them.
They all have well equipped shops and you could sort out what you need to buy whilst using their gear for a project.
H.

[planemaker]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTc_vE8kYHE

[Bushmiller]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTc_vE8kYHE

Mmmm. One small board, about 37mins!

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

Luke

I am going to stick my neck out here and say that to thickness boards on a large scale your single machine should be a thicknesser.

Whoa, lucky I am wearing my kevlar vest (and turned my back).

Of course we all know that ideally you should run sawn timber over a jointer first to achieve two perfectly flat, adjacent sides and then run the board through a thicknesser.

My contention is that if you only have a jointer you will still have to thickness by hand. Now that is OK if you have the time and energy. For myself, I am running out of both those commodities.

To joint material with a thicknesser there two failings: The first is the relatively short tables and the second is the lack of a fence. However, make up a longer table from two or even three sheets of melamine covered mdf glued together (surprisingly it glues quite well and quite a variety of glues seem to work). Now place your board to be jointed on the flat surface and use a small wedge to stabilise whichever corner is "floating."

Run the whole caboodle through and the surface is flat. Repeat if neccessary. Ok, you still have to joint the edge by hand, but that is normally relatively easy compared to the wide surface.

That technique will get you out of trouble until you can afford the jointer too. It will also allow you to get a dedicated thicknesser that is wider than the combo machines, probably for less money although I have not studied the prices there. I think the combo machine s are commonly 200mm wide.

Just before anybody lets go with their 50 cal, (I don't think the kevlar is up to that) I should point out that the jointer and thicknesser combination is my preferred option. I have had a 12" benchtop screamer (It's the universl motor that contributes to about two thirds of the noise) for years and it finally gave up the ghost this year. I bit the bullet and got a 20" machine. I had a choice of 15" spiral head or 20" 4 blade. I chose the later for three reasons: It was only marginally noiser than the spiral head; I have my own sharpening machine capable of handling a 24" blade or knife; It is bigger so will last longer even when feeding though narrow stock.

My 6" jointer really is hopelessly matched, but I do have a 24" jointer too. The problem is that by an amazingly poor logistical arrangement it is in NSW while I am in QLD.

One day I will get my act together.

Regards
Paul

[FenceFurniture]

Mmmm. One small board, about 37mins!

.....plus camera speed up time, prolly closer to 50 minutes....