Thread: Squaring up the ends of timber

You can do it with a hand saw (a tenon saw is best) and a mitre box. If you want a nice finish, then a block plane is the way to go, or you can use sandpaper wrapped around a block to stop it rounding the edges or creating a dome. If using a block plane, you either need to chamfer the edges or clamp a bit of scrap against the face of the board to stop it splitting out.

What dimension of timber are we talking about?

The timber I am using at the moment is about 200mm wide x 12mm thick (pine). I have a mitre box, but it is too thin for the timber, so I had just been using a tenon saw (or jig saw) to try and cut square. Oh well, at least i am on the right track.

How would you deal with squaring larger pieces by hand? say 100x100mm?

Are those $50 mitre saws (the manual ones) much good?

What you probably need then is a shooting board. You use this with a hand plane to square the ends after cutting.

Mark your layout lines all the way around and cut as close as you can to the line, then use the hand plane with the shooting board to trim up to the line.

A shooting board ay? Is this set up in such a way that lower end of the blade of the plane is level with the surface that the timber for squaring is sitting on?

Also...(and don't laugh)...how do you square up the edge of the shooting board? Is it a case of getting a sheet of mdf that it is already square?

Yes, the timber being squared sits on a raised section that is a few mm higher than the ramp that the plane runs on. The first time you use it, the blade cuts into the edge of the raised platform, that creates an edge for the body of the plane to run against.

Yes the edge needs to be straight - you can buy something that is already straight, or you can straighten it with the hand plane. It's also important that the stop that the work piece rests against is perfectly square to the edge of the shooting board so that you end up with a 90 degree angle.

Making a shooting board is a good way of practising some of these techniques. You can also make yourself a bench hook which helps with cross cut sawing.

thanks SilentC! It will be a fun little project.

I was wondering, what plane is best for the job? Seeing I will be working on end grain should I be using a low angle block plane, or would a no. 4 bench plane with a sharp blade be suitable?

This technique sounds like it would also solve my next problem, which would be making sure timbe is square for joining - though I guess you would need a slightly different shooting board? Something quite long and probably with clamps to hold the piece of timber I am working on?

You can use either. I usually use my low angle block but have used a #4 with a sharp blade as well.

Some people do use long shooting boards for jointing edges. I guess most people just clamp the board in a vice and use a #6 or #7 by hand. You can clamp a wooden fence to the side of the plane to help keep it square to the face of the board. The fence needs a rebate to allow for the distance between the side of the plane body and the edge of the blade. I use my 8" jointer

Another thing - if you clamp both boards to be jointed face to face in the vice and plane both edges at the same time, any errors in your angle will cancel each other out when the edges are brought together.

Thanks for your help - it is most appreciated.

Just out of curiosity - how would one square the end of timber with power tools? I imagine there is probably a multitude of ways!

You would use a mitre saw or a table saw with a mitre gauge. I've got an SCMS (sliding compound mitre saw) which allows you to cut compound mitres. Of course it can also cut square I use that for material up to about 100mm x 300mm. For sheet goods like ply or chipboard or for wide boards, I use either the mitre gauge on my table saw or I use a cross cut sled. All of these will give you clean cross cuts that are square. I usually take them straight off the saw, but I tend not to have exposed end grain in most things I make except for dovetails or box joints. I cut those a bit longer and use the block plane to fair them.

A SCMS was something I was looking at getting - though from the posts on here I wasn't sure that the ones I could afford ($300-$400) would give me nice reproducible results. For that reason i stuck with hand tools. Mind you i didn't realize how much a good plane or two would cost at that stage!

I guess there are a few trade offs between each method. A SCMS opens up possibilities for cutting, but a suppose a hand plane has its place also!

The reason I started this thread was cos I was practicing my dovetails but was finding they were a little messy cos I had trouble marking out over the unsquare end grain!

Yep well I think that a shooting board will solve all your problems there and it will cost very little to make. Maybe even free if you can source some off cuts of MDF or something. Let us know how you get on.

I hate to disagree with the hand-tool proponents, (cos I love handtools!) but if you are starting out woodworking, there is nothing more frustrating than spending all your time squaring up simple joints or trying to square up simple joints and failing and having your project not turn out as hoped.

The best investment I ever made was buying a Dewalt compound mitre saw, it cost around $420, but it was the saving in TIME that was most important. Now I can quickly cut all my stock "perfectly square" (if there is such a thing), then get down to the business end of the project.

I guess what I'm saying is, if you are like most people and don't have a huge amount of spare time, you'll probably get more enjoyment out of your woodworking if you use a couple of power tools to get things up and running.

(also, I read a post somewhere that said 90% of jobs don't require the extra capacity of a sliding compound mitre saw - that's been my experience as well, and I'm glad I took that advice.)