Thread: Am i doing it wrong?!

G'day, Wil. Welcome aboard.

Yes, it's possible to use a hand plane to achieve (almost) perfect joints. You might consider "blueprinting," a term borrowed from the metalworking trades, and sometimes heard with regard to racing engines. This has nothing to do with pretty pictures. In the art of mating parts, one part is coated with thin fluid, which need not be "blue" in colour, but usually is. The part to be mated is rubbed against its mate to transfer, or "print" on the high spots of interference. Then file down the transferred print. Repeat as necessary.

In woodworking, a similar technique can be used. The downside is that fluid on the first piece would have to be removed. I've often used plate glass for a reference surface and acrylic paint, which dries reasonably fast. Almost always, several cycles will be needed.

Another method I've used for matching planks is to secure all the planks in close abutment, to sawhorses or such. Run a circular saw along the mis-matched joints, so that the kerf engages both pieces; if any joints are so imperfect, a second pass may be needed. Imperfect mitres can be made perfect by a similar technique using a hand saw along the joints.

In any of these, pencil match marks on the pieces, or add joint numbers on masking tape, so they don't get out of order.

Joe

Wil,

Joe's technique may be right, but you are starting out at the "hard end" of woodworking. In effect, you are trying to replicate with an electric plane what others did a century ago with a jointing hand plane. Two years of practice before you went any further.

Good luck to you if you can figure it out - and have the patience to plane edges flat and square. Most of us these days use different equipment!

I think you are biting off more than any or most can chew. Either buy timber that is straight - and then glue to make your top - or have someone plane and thickness to get both sides straight and parallel.

Don't be discouraged though. Once you learn to pick over the timber racks and glue a few panels up, you'll be on your way to making something useful. After that, you'll be looking for some more equipment....

Jeff

I prefer to use a handplane and for this jointing operation a longer than shorter one.

Lay out your planks so the grain and colours match. It can be advisable so the growth rings on the planks alternate.

Number them and draw marks so you know how they will be glued.

Plane the boards flat and square, check with a straight edge so no light appears between the straight edge and the plank.

Sit adjacent planks on top of each other to ensure that no light appears on the join. The joints can show a tiny bit of light in the middle of the joint but not at the ends.

Glue and clamp them.

You won't be able to purchase timber of the shelf with straight and square edges.

If you insist on going down the electron burner path, purchase a thicknesser planer but I feel you get better results with a hand plane.

You will know when you have done it correctly when the only way you can tell there is a joint is by looking at the end grain.

It will take you a little time for the first few but keep at it and you will be rewarded with wonderful joints.

Originally Posted by Wood Borer

I prefer to use a handplane and for this jointing operation a longer than shorter one.

Lay out your planks so the grain and colours match. It can be advisable so the growth rings on the planks alternate.

Number them and draw marks so you know how they will be glued.

Plane the boards flat and square, check with a straight edge so no light appears between the straight edge and the plank.

Sit adjacent planks on top of each other to ensure that no light appears on the join. The joints can show a tiny bit of light in the middle of the joint but not at the ends.

Glue and clamp them.

You won't be able to purchase timber of the shelf with straight and square edges.

If you insist on going down the electron burner path, purchase a thicknesser planer but I feel you get better results with a hand plane.

You will know when you have done it correctly when the only way you can tell there is a joint is by looking at the end grain.

It will take you a little time for the first few but keep at it and you will be rewarded with wonderful joints.

Very nice advice Woodborer,
Wobblerfist, if I could throw in my own two cents (I'm going to anyway just follow Wood Borer's advice and expect your benchtop to come out slightly shorter in width than expected. Possibly try to allow for this, or save on materials for the legs and rails

Oh and also, I have 6 years of experience, and I would have a lot of trouble getting an egde straight with an electric planer, if I could at all. It's either use a hand plane and take a while to learn, or use a jointer. I think it's nicer to use a hand plane first though. I think most people in this forum would have started that way. Enjoy woodwork. It's great.

BUT USE RENEWABLE SOURCES! SAY NO TO FOREST TIMBERS!

Welcome

As far as I am concerned (and many will argue in following posts) the electric hand plane is the single greatest woodworking joke perpetrated on people not familar with tools and their usage.
With a few exceptions (and none for the beginner) thay are far better as paperweights than as wood working tools. They are actually far better at freehand shaping of convex shapes that ever getting a straight edge.

Buy yourself a decent collection of handplanes at a least a number 4, 5 & 7 !



Ross

If I lived in melbourne I'd be inclined to come round and give you a hand.

Although you have bought a decent electric plane, it's sole is not long enough to joint boards for a table top.

You will also need a long straight edge – a 1.5 or 2m long aluminium spirit level is probably the easiest to obtain. This and a soft pencil will allow you to identify and mark high spots to be planed off the edges before you joint them.

putting the boards back to back or front to front as you plane them will "correct" for any out of square along the edge

checking for and correcting wind and twist is a separate subject.


what timber are you using?
where did you buy it?
how straight is it?


ian

Hi Wil, Welcome!

Don't despair, joining up panels can be tricky but sanding it back after the glue is dry and seeing what comes up is very rewarding.

Jointers were built because of this very problem! the attached is a simple diagram of why they work so well. It is all in the orientation of the fences.

if the piece is curved outwards you can feed it through so that the edge of the board actually starts up on the outfeed fence. As it feeds through it should only start to cut near the bulge.

if the boards are curved inwards the plane will start to cut at the end of the board and then this freshly cut end will be supported by the out feed fence.

the two fences work together and you can get perfect joins out of it if they are long enough. Make them at least 2/3 the length of your boards to be planed or ~600 long, whichever is smaller. I use this setup over a router but the principle is the same.

Can you post a picture of your plane? Does it have removable sole plates? If so it might be possible to attach longer supports to it and fix it to the bench as a makeshift jointer. Not the simplest thing and it would have to be done VERY securely for safety. Just trying to make the most out of what you have. In the long run it will mean less trips to your wallet.

Hope this helps.

(do you have a router? and where in Melbourne?)

Originally Posted by Wood Borer

I prefer to use a handplane and for this jointing operation a longer than shorter one.

Hi Wil

The Borers spot on. Most electric planes are too short to do good jointing work with.

A refinement of Joe's method is to run a strait cutter router between the planks - a router cuts smoother than a circular saw.

IMHO good accurate jointing is one of the hardest woodworking skills to master; we all have had difficulties.

Cheers

Graeme

Trying to get a straight edge that is also perpindicular to the face with an electric hand plane is a tall order for a seasoned WW let alone a novice.

If you are intending to do some more woodwork I would suggest (IMHO) buying a Router with a straight bit to do the edge planing job. You can then clamp a straight edge to the job and run the straight cutter down the length to get a near perfect edge.

The other bonus is that the router can be used for many other jobs once you find the multitude of jigs available on the net.

Again, IMHO.

As has been said, freehanding with an electric plane isn't a simple task... but you can get good results with a couple of straight edges.

For one rush job I used a couple of long lengths of 4"x1.5" aluminium box section, (actually, I'd bought 'em to use as profiles for brick-work, but when needs must... ) clamped to each side of the board with about 12" overhang at the end I started planing fromn.

Then 'twas just a case of planing the exposed timber until the heel of the plane sat flat on them for the full length of the cut. Aren't jigs wonderful things?

Provided the cutter depth is set spot on, it'll only put a "polish" on the aluminum at worst... and even if it does somehow dig in it won't damage the blades.

(And if the blades aren't set spot on, you'd never get a good finish freehand anyway. )

Thanks alot guys for all of your opinions - seems as if i was barking up the wrong tree with the electric planer. As i said i'm new at this and thought i may be able to get the job done using this and some skill... without now trying to master the hand plane skill in jointing ( i have a time frame for the table) i'll now see if i can find someone with a proper jointer that can help me out - can anyone recommend someone in Melbourne who can help me out?

I've got some timber from Bowerbird in Millgrove for my final piece (jarrah edges, rails and legs with yellow stringy bark for the inner of the top) but at the moment i got some cheap redgum from bunnings to practice the top. this is where i'm stuck at the moment.

again thanks to all for your help!
great forum to be a part of.

Wil

Wil,

Good luck with your project.

A word of warning though, just watch those dark siders! The rest of us continue to watch is awe at that they do - and stick to what works with machines!

Jeff

Good luck Wil.

Send photos including your mistakes so we can give you as much help and praise as what you need.

Machines indeed!!! - you'd think someone from almost God's own country would know better.