Hand planing a board best approach

[Tiger]

I have taken to planing boards by hand because they're too large for jointers etc.
I thought I would try small boards first eg 600 mm by 125 mm and 18 mm thick. I'm having trouble getting the first face flat. What tends to happen is that I get the board pretty near flat at the beginning of the board and then plane with the grain. As I progress, the far end is thinner than the end closer to me which means that I have taken too much off the far end. I don't feel that I'm pressing too hard at the end of the plane stroke but I guess I must be.

I have a no 4, 5 and 6 Stanley plane and no matter what combination I use the result is much the same. Any suggestions?

[Polie]

The method I use is to use chalk to mark out the areas I want to take off (or conversely mark out the areas I want to keep).
I plane off these areas first getting the board pretty flat (keep checking as you go) then at the end I use a smoother (use your No 4) set for a very fine shaving to clean up any track marks by taking end to end shavings.

Regards,
Polie

[pmcgee]

I have a no 4, 5 and 6 Stanley plane and no matter what combination I use the result is much the same. Any suggestions?

How are your blades and mouths set up on the planes you have?
(Fine/medium/rough)

and when you began that board, what areas did it need knocking down?

Paul McGee

[Tiger]

Thanks Polie, I'll try marking as I go. I have tried using a pencil as I go but I often lose patience and stop marking. I have tried again tonight and am still ending up with a tapered board ie thinner at back end.

[Tiger]

How are your blades and mouths set up on the planes you have?
(Fine/medium/rough)

and when you began that board, what areas did it need knocking down?

Paul McGee

Hi Paul,

Generally a fine to medium set-up on blades.

Areas that needed knocking down, best way to describe is that I usually end up with a somewhat bowed board that is a bit wavy in parts across the board.

[thumbsucker]

I am exhausted so I may not understand your problem. But it sounds like. Glue on packers to the underside of the board were the board is low, cupped or twisted, This levels out the low spots and stops the board from distorting under planing load. This should allow you to get a flat face, you then flip over and do the other side.

This trick is used for situation when you do not have a jointer/buzzer and need to machine using a thicknesser. Shim board up, place board on the a thick backing board of MDf or particle board. Run through thicknesser. Result one flat face.

[IanW]

Tiger - if this is happening with several different planes, it seems to me that it points to your technique, rather than the plane. My guess is you are indeed leaning too hard on the toe end of the plane as you suspect. As well as the advice given above, take a look at how you apply pressure during each stroke. As you start, a little pressure is needed on the toe end so that the blade engages the edge of the board. As the rear tote comes over the edge, ease off pressure on the front, and put all your effort into pushing from the rear position. By the time the plane is exiting the stroke, you should have no weight at all on the toe end. With a good sharp blade, you need little or no downward pressure to keep the plane cutting evenly, but as it dulls, you need to apply more & more downward force to make the blade bite, and it has to be maintined through the stroke. These factors could both be contributing to your tapers.

It requires a bit of concentration at first, until you develop the smooth transition of forces, but it will soon come naturally & you don't need to think about it once you develop the right style.

When I first started doing a lot of hand planing, I would grasp the front knob in a death-like hold, to the point I frequently got blisters, but after a while, I learnt not to hold it at all, just push down on it with the flat of my palm at the start of the stroke, and only keep enough pressure on the knob to guide the plane. The high round knobs adopted in the 20's of last century aren't as comfortable for this style of 'grip', so I changed all my front knobs to the old low, flat-topped style of the pre-1920s Stanleys, which are much more suited to it....

Cheers,

[Tiger]

Thanks Thumbsucker and Ian for that advice.

I have considered running boards through the thicknesser with shims but my boards were too wide to fit into it.

I have tried to develop my planing technique and although it has improved I still seem to end up with a double tapered board ie tapered toward the far end of the board and tapered across the grain where the part nearer to me ok but the part across the grain further away being slightly more narrow.

I have realised that my bench top which is 2 laminated sheets of particleboard with a combined thickness of approx 35 mm is very slightly bowed where I plane. My bench was okay before I started to do all this planing, I may have to change the top to something more solid, got a bit of 2 by 4 radiata pine around that I could laminate, probably not perfect but better than what I have.

[pmcgee]

Some videos that might be helpful ...

Jim Tolpin
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzJNQAdJ2nI&feature=related]Jim Tolpin flattening boards with Handplanes (Part 1) - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDiPcTZBqpg&feature=related]flattening - YouTube[/ame]

This video is about using a machine jointer on an uneven board. Particularly from the 5:00 point, it gives an pretty good demonstration of using a machine to do just what you want to do with a handplane - except it is the upside down version to what we do with handplanes. You can see that the board is "tippy" and he removes those high points first to get to it flatter and flatter.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-2ZTHez1_s&feature=related]Milling Four Square - Face Jointing - YouTube[/ame]

I also came across the article - not sure if it is ok to put it up here.

Paul McGee

[Tiger]

Thanks Paul, useful info there. Out to the shed to try again.

[rhancock]

Thanks, Great links. Loved the article too. I'll be out in the workshop on the weekend trying out the planer and then going back to the hand planes too.