Thread: Flattening advise

I will confess to not having viewed either of these videos, but I did see them pop up at one time as I subscribe to each of their channels.

Having the luck of having a planer/thicknesser myself, I've not explored the technique, but both of these folks have some other interesting projects and tips, so I hope these might help!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uYRMAMGrXE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojeul33vXL4 - this one is from Wood and Shop - you should probably check the website and other videos for this one, as Joshua is pretty much a hand tool guy, and you might find more of interest.

Thanks.

I'm lucky enough to have a thicknesser, but until sydney house prices drop I don't think I'll have room for a jointer.

Its flattening the initial two faces which is causing me no end of frustration.

I have seen somewhere, maybe on Fine Woodworking, a way of setting up to flatten the face of a board with a thicknesser.
I think that you use a sled and have wedges to support the board to be flattened. It may be worth a search.

Regards
Keith

Originally Posted by taz01

Thanks.

I'm lucky enough to have a thicknesser, but until sydney house prices drop I don't think I'll have room for a jointer.

Its flattening the initial two faces which is causing me no end of frustration.

Where are you in Sydney, perhaps someone could run them across a jointer for you, I'll do it if you want and you don't mind a country drive.

Does this video give any help that you haven't seen elsewhere? Phil Lowe has a full series of these videos on youtube.

taz01

You can use a thicknesser in conjunction with a flat board (couple of bits of mdf glued together will do the trick) and place a stop at the rear of the flat reference board and a small timber wedge under the highpoint of the board you are straightening. You may have to tack bits in place to stop them moving. OK for a one off but a PITA for volume work.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Where are you in Sydney, perhaps someone could run them across a jointer for you, I'll do it if you want and you don't mind a country drive.

Thanks for the offer Chris.

I'm sure I could find a local men's shed if needed, but I'm interested in understanding the technique top help develop my skills.

Originally Posted by taz01

Thanks for the offer Chris.

I'm sure I could find a local men's shed if needed, but I'm interested in understanding the technique top help develop my skills.

Get a slightly bigger board, set up you board to be straightened on top of it with chocks and wedges and perhaps glue those to the parent board, fasten the board to be straightened on the wedges with deeply countersunk screws and feed it through the thicknesser, lots of double sided tape would do the same thing or you can have a look at this video, he explains it simply I think and raises some really good points about over working the board..

taz01, you didn't specify what's going wrong - are you getting uneven or twisted surfaces or are you just finding it impossibly hard yakka? The planes you have should be fine for 'light' flattening of stock, but for serious preparation of really rough stock I'd be starting with a scrub plane to knock off the high spots quickly. The scrub is usually followed by a jack plane with a moderately convex cutting edge, then the long jointer, & finally the smoother. Your bevel-up jack isn't what I'd use in this context - much more work involved in putting a convex cutting edge on a BU blade. I much prefer something like an old #5 bevel-down plane for this sort of work, but the LAJ would still do the job.

Like any process, you get much better with practice, but eventually you can get pretty slick at preparing a good face & edge on a board. If you select one of the methods in the videos or books & stick at it, it should eventually become second nature....

Cheers,

You need a pair of winding sticks and learn how to use them

Thanks everyone, there is plenty of useful advise above.

The project I'm working on is a box to hold my daughter's collection of semi-precious stones. 24cm x 24cm x 24cm. It will have 4 small drawers, each to be partitioned into 16 compartments for the stones. A bit of an ambitious goal! This requires my first attempt at jointing as I'm still using lumber from Bunnings.

My issue has been the final removal of twist in the jointed panels, plus other similar issues. I was finding that I would make adjustments but it would make things worse, not better.

In regards to winding sticks, it's learning how to read them properly, plus adjust based on the reading. Guess I better rewatch some Paul sellers videos.

That Shannon Rodgers video looks interesting and I'll give that a try, plus they Phil Lowe one also will help.

If the twist is too bad it's best to return it and swap for a flatter one.

Ok, the plot becomes a little clearer. Short pieces can be tricky, though you might expect them to be easier to flatten. If your board is a bit convex end to end, you have to remove the hump in the centre or it just tends to get worse, whether you use a long or a short plane.

Winding sticks are useful on long boards, but for short boards, I just lay the board, planed-face down, on the top of the tablesaw (a piece of melamine board or any reliably flat surface will do). If it rocks end to end, the surface is convex, if it rocks side to side, the centre is high, & if it rocks diagonally one or both corners needs to come off. Take off the high spots, which is generally accomplished by planing at an angle across the grain over the high spots. You should soon have the board more flat, but a little 'lumpy'. When it no longer rocks on your reference surface, you can switch to the long blows & plane the length flat & smooth. Pay attention to keeping the toe registered at the start of the stroke, but ease off & transfer the bulk of the pressure to the rear as the plane nears the end of the board.

The same principles apply when jointing the edges of a short boards - if it's convex when you start, lower the centre first.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by taz01

Thanks.

I'm lucky enough to have a thicknesser, but until sydney house prices drop I don't think I'll have room for a jointer.

Its flattening the initial two faces which is causing me no end of frustration.

Taz01,

where are you based? I too until recently, just had a balcony, i now have a garage, but no major tools. I am however a member of The NSW woodworkers Association and we have a workshop in Abbotsford. Its not sheltered and its definitely not a men's shed (although I do wonder sometimes with all the wheel chairs and walking frames lined up out front, just kidding, no walking aides in sight). The association caters for DIY, Hobbyists, professional's semi or otherwise. There is great advice, help, support, a bit of banter thrown in, there are also in-house course's, links to prominent woodworking schools etc. Send m a PM and we can T something up. Yes we have a jointer.

Fumbler