Dimensioning Wood Using a Jack Plane

[Russell Cook]

Hi all,

I was hoping to get some advice about dimensioning wood. I have found getting the edges flat generally OK, but faces a bit trickier.

The plane I use is a 400 mm Chinese plane (like the Mujingfang ones called "Hong Kong style") and the blade is about 1 3/4 inches wide.

The wood I have been dimensioning is about 300*80*20mm.

I have 3 specific questions:

1) Should I plane at a slightly skewed angle to the wood I'm planing?

2) What can I do if the one end of the wood is higher than the other (that is, there is a gentle slope across the length of the wood)?

3) What can I do if there is a "hump" in the wood?

Any help would be great:U

[mrmoon]

No one else has answered you, so.....Sharpen the plane
Plane one face
The plane length you have is good for straightening.
Sight down the board and decide if to plane more from the middle or from both ends
With a 400mm long plane when you get a continuous shaving you are good


But you need to check for twist along the way,two short lengths of straight wood resting on each end of the board, sight along the lengths, are they parallel?
Plane , if needed, one corner or two to get rid of the twist (or wind)
With one face straight and flat you can do the edges, you need a good square, then the other face. To do the other face use a marking gauge set to the desired thickness. You plane the face to the mark from the marking gauge.
Simple hey.......

[Russell Cook]

Hi mrmoon,

Thanks for the reply. If possible could I ask a follow-up question?

You said to sight down the board and decide whether wood needs to be removed from the middle or the ends, right?

So, if I decide that the board needs to be planed more from the middle (that is, it has a slight hump), how do I do this? Do I plane the wood at a skewed angle, or even plane at 90 degrees to the grain? How about if the board is "dished", like a waterstone that needs flattening?

Cheers:)

[pmcgee]

Have a look at this thread ... I started looking for videos ... and it has them already :)

I really like Guiliano's video ... he's on the forums here ... and of course the Super-sized one is great too ...

Cheers,
Paul

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f152/flattening-cupped-crowned-board-159298/

also Flattening and Squaring a Board on 6 Sides with a Hand Plane | The Renaissance Woodworker (http://www.renaissancewoodworker.com/flatten-a-board-by-hand/)

[Russell Cook]

Cheers Paul,

I tried searching "dimensioning" on the search function but didn't find what I was looking for. I'll start reading up on the links you gave me.

[DSEL74]

I have no real experience to speak from. But if you very lightly draw lines across the board with a pencil you can track where and how much you have planed off the surface and where.

[derekcohen]

Hi Russell

Before you plane anything, look carefully at the board and decide where the high spots are. Those are the areas to flatten first.

The aim is to flatten and joint one side of the board, then use a marking gauge to score a line around the board to the required depth, and plane away the excess.

A jack plane is to remove waste fast. Only use it in those spots, otherwise the deep lines will take more effort to plane away.

The direction you plane depends on what you want to remove and the nature of the wood. Planing straight across the board is usually a good way to avoid tearout. You need to plane across the board as well as down the board at some stage.

It is essential that you determine whether there is twist in the board to remove these high stops. To do this you need Winding Sticks. Google on them. Look for a DVD by Rob Cosman, "Rough to Ready": Rob Cosman DVDs - Techniques Series (http://robcosman.com/dvdtech.php)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[snafuspyramid]

L

[Russell Cook]

Thanks Derek.

I'll look into getting that DVD - I think a visual guide would be useful. There's probably stuff on YouTube related to dimensioning, but it's still blocked here in China :(

As for winding sticks, I made some from two pieces of equally dimensioned and square pine. I may paint one of them red so that the any twist is easier to spot.

[pmcgee]

Can you see the video on this site?

RWW 30: Thicknessing Stock the Old Fashioned Way | The Renaissance Woodworker (http://www.renaissancewoodworker.com/thicknessing-stock-by-hand/)

[derekcohen]

Hi Paul

Not a great choice.

He has a flat board - or near to dammit - and he wants now to "flatten it" (take out the 1/16" twist) using a scrub plane! Don't do this! All he needed to do was use his jointer plane.

He does use winding sticks, but only at the far ends. He does not check through the length of the board.

Then he pulls out his jack plane (as he now has highs and lows) - and instead of just planing the sections which are high, he planes it all. That would not change the now undulating surface into a flat one.

I stopped at that point.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[pmcgee]

I was wondering if Russell would be able to view a non-Youtube video.
What about Vimeo Russ?

Cheers,
Paul

[Pac man]

Thanks Derek.

I'll look into getting that DVD - I think a visual guide would be useful. There's probably stuff on YouTube related to dimensioning, but it's still blocked here in China :(

As for winding sticks, I made some from two pieces of equally dimensioned and square pine. I may paint one of them red so that the any twist is easier to spot.


Can you access a google drive ?

[Russell Cook]

Thanks for the ideas guys.

I just tried vimeo, no luck this time. I'll do some research into a Google drive, that's the first I've heard of it! (I'm a bit of a behind with this kind of thing...)

Tomorrow I want to plane a piece of wood 300mm long and 85mm wide. The middle is very slightly higher than ends. Using my 400mm plane, how would I best go about flattening it? Unfortunately I have no jointer at the moment.

I'm especially interested in HOW to target the high points. I had previously thought planing was just pushing the plane the whole length of the board every time! Efforts to come at the wood across the grain have caused bad tear-out.

I also tried what I would call "taking gentle swipes" at the high points, traveling along the grain, which did manage to help get one board flat.

Any thoughts/tips would be great, crude and refined both welcome :D

[pmcgee]

The guys have given you pretty good written descriptions, and videos are out, ... so pictures it is :)

A couple of pics here that might help ... Preview - Plane Both Faces Equally When Thicknessing by Hand - Fine Woodworking Question & Answer (http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/qa/plane-both-faces-equally-when-thicknessing-by-hand.aspx)

This is a machine approach but might help convey the ideas ... Stephan Woodworking - Flattening and Straightening Boards (http://www.stephanwoodworking.com/FlatteningAndStraighteningBoards.htm)

again not talking hand-tools but same ideas ... Flattening wide boards (http://woodgears.ca/shop-tricks/flattening.html)

Flatten Wide Boards Despite Your Narrow Jointer (http://www.inthewoodshop.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=157:flatten-wide-boards-despite-your-narrow-jointer&catid=35:tips-and-tricks&Itemid=54)
You can see in this picture from that article that the centre areas have been planed because they were higher.
The thicknesser marks still exist over the rest of the board ...

You can scribble all over your board with pencil or pen to get the same effect before addressing the higher areas.

Planing 90 degrees across removes material fast ... but leaves a rough surface for you to smooth with lengthwise strokes later. 45 degrees should be a little slower and less aggressive.

http://www.inthewoodshop.org/images/stories/woodshop/needno8/2.jpg

[pmcgee]

This is more what I was looking for ... can you see pdfs? We could attach it directly if you have a problem opening the official one ...

Flat and Square by Hand - Fine Woodworking Article (http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/article/flat-and-square-by-hand.aspx)
Login - Fine Woodworking (http://www.finewoodworking.com/membership/fwnpdf/011191032.pdf)

Grrr. Never rains but it pours ...
Preview - Four Squaring with Hand Tools - Fine Woodworking Article (http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/article/four-squaring-with-hand-tools.aspx)
Login - Fine Woodworking (http://www.finewoodworking.com/membership/fwnpdf/011142096.pdf)

Flattening Wide Panels by Hand - Fine Woodworking Article (http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/article/flattening-wide-panels-by-hand.aspx)
Login - Fine Woodworking (http://www.finewoodworking.com/membership/fwnpdf/011118069.pdf)

[Russell Cook]

Cheers Paul :)

Do I need to open an account with fine woodworking to view the articles?

I can read PDFs with my computer.

Btw, read on the wikipedia website that Jack planes can be used as a jointer on smaller pieces. I wonder if anyone has any comments on this?

[mrmoon]

Ok, how about you get some lessons. Learn the basics, some of which are complex, from a teacher. Asking random people will give you random answers.

[derekcohen]

Thanks for the ideas guys.

I just tried vimeo, no luck this time. I'll do some research into a Google drive, that's the first I've heard of it! (I'm a bit of a behind with this kind of thing...)

Tomorrow I want to plane a piece of wood 300mm long and 85mm wide. The middle is very slightly higher than ends. Using my 400mm plane, how would I best go about flattening it? Unfortunately I have no jointer at the moment.

I'm especially interested in HOW to target the high points. I had previously thought planing was just pushing the plane the whole length of the board every time! Efforts to come at the wood across the grain have caused bad tear-out.

I also tried what I would call "taking gentle swipes" at the high points, traveling along the grain, which did manage to help get one board flat.

Any thoughts/tips would be great, crude and refined both welcome :D

Hi Russell

Use a straight edge to detrmine where the high spots are and mark them with a pencil. Use winding sticks to determine the amount of twist.

If the high spot is in the centre of he board, the first thing to remove it. If it is significantly high, use a jack plane with a cambered blade. If it is mild, use a jointer (but only plane the high area).

You are better off removing a little too much off the centre, creating a slight hollow. It is then easy to plane along the whole length and flatten the board. By contrast, if you tried to plane a board with a rise, you will simply follow the curve and retain it.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[ClintO]

Can you see the video on this site?

RWW 30: Thicknessing Stock the Old Fashioned Way | The Renaissance Woodworker (http://www.renaissancewoodworker.com/thicknessing-stock-by-hand/)

Wow, I needed a rest after watching that video :)

[Pac man]

Ok, how about you get some lessons. Learn the basics, some of which are complex, from a teacher. Asking random people will give you random answers.

not sure you realise the OP is in China?

[derekcohen]

Here is a much better video ...

How to make rough sawn wood straight, smooth and four square (part 1) - with Paul Sellers - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl5Srx-Ru_U)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Russell Cook]

Thanks everyone.

Regarding classes, there's not really much going on in Shanghai. The guys at my club taught me how to adjust a Chinese plane, and let me have a go at some Western and Japanese planes too, but they do their dimensioning by machine.

I may have to find someone to help me go around the Internet censors, it seems YouTube is a gold mine for woodworking videos.

I've got lots of info now, inc. some nice PDFs from Paul, so reckon I just need to get back to having a go, getting a feel for the wood and the tools.

[pmcgee]

Look up Virtual Private Network (VPN) ... like Tunnelbear ... see if that can help you.

It helped me .. I need to write that up actually.

How's your download capacity? can you download 50-200meg video if it was available?

Cheers,
Paul

[Russell Cook]

Hi Paul,

Download capacity shouldn't be a problem. Restricted access the only difficulty:rolleyes:

[pmcgee]

Cool. Hopefully you got an email link to download the three videos (30Mb, 30Mb, 140Mb)

Cheers,
Paul