Thread: Newbie Q - What do you do without a thicknesser

Its called hard work with resawing and hand planes lol

Hi there,

I also don't own a thicknesser. I do resaw some boards with my bandsaw, but all are dressed with hand planes.

Derek Cohen has a good tutorial on preparing timber here...

The tools I use to prepare timber by hand are,
4 1/2 TPI panel ripsaw,
scrub plane,
jack plane,
and finish up with a smoother (4, 4 1/2, or 5 1/2)

Have a look at Derek's tutorial, it covers most things you will need to know (and more).
Just substitute the bandsaw for a hand rip saw for resawing larger bits.

I can be hard work though

Hi Skygazer - it's tough to go back to scratch when you've been a little spoilt.

You can minimise the amount of hard yakka by buying dimensioned stock as much as possible. Unfortunately, that means you sometimes have to compromise a bit, e.g. using 19mm stock for drawer sides where 15mm or something else would look better, but by & large you can get by without a planer/thicknesser - I managed it for 20 years or so. It's also possible to do a lot with good hand tools, especially if you stick to more conventional cabinet grade woods & leave the Ironbark slabs 'til you have a shed full of heavy-duty machines.

It may be surprising to you what can be done with a few good hand tools (& how quickly skilled hands can do them). You can teach yourself through books & finding other woodies and this BB - a gret resource for people of all skill levels. Specifically - a scrub plane (which can be made easily by modifying the blade on any old, cheap #4 or #5) and a decent jack plane can thickness smaller pieces very efficiently, and good handsaws can cut a lot of wood in jig time when sharpened & set well.

Even with machines, you still need hand tools for fine work, as you no doubt know already. You don't have to buy expensive boutique tools to do a very good job - with a bit of patience & a sharp eye, I reckon you can still put together a set of basic tools to do the sorts of jobs you mention for a few hundred $$s. A good tool kit will never be redundant. And I know this sounds sanctimonius, coming from a bloke who now has a shed-full of machines, but the years of hand work taught me skills that are essential.

I guess the real question is, are you getting into this as a hobby, or purely to make things you need? If the latter, just go & buy your furniture - it will be cheaper & easier & you will have it sooner! But if this is to be a hobby to help preserve your sanity, then productivity isn't the issue, so plug along, build up your kit as your resources improve, and most of all, have fun.....
Cheers,

Thanks for the comments Ian, As a newbie as well faced with a similar dilema, I am getting into furniture making entierly for the hobby and to try to gain hand tool skills over time. I have got a couple of hand planes and a few old saws but have yet to purchase my first lot of chisels!

Originally Posted by IanW

Hi Skygazer - it's tough to go back to scratch when you've been a little spoilt.

You can minimise the amount of hard yakka by buying dimensioned stock as much as possible. Unfortunately, that means you sometimes have to compromise a bit, e.g. using 19mm stock for drawer sides where 15mm or something else would look better, but by & large you can get by without a planer/thicknesser - I managed it for 20 years or so. It's also possible to do a lot with good hand tools, especially if you stick to more conventional cabinet grade woods & leave the Ironbark slabs 'til you have a shed full of heavy-duty machines.

It may be surprising to you what can be done with a few good hand tools (& how quickly skilled hands can do them). You can teach yourself through books & finding other woodies and this BB - a gret resource for people of all skill levels. Specifically - a scrub plane (which can be made easily by modifying the blade on any old, cheap #4 or #5) and a decent jack plane can thickness smaller pieces very efficiently, and good handsaws can cut a lot of wood in jig time when sharpened & set well.

Even with machines, you still need hand tools for fine work, as you no doubt know already. You don't have to buy expensive boutique tools to do a very good job - with a bit of patience & a sharp eye, I reckon you can still put together a set of basic tools to do the sorts of jobs you mention for a few hundred $. A good tool kit will never be redundant. And I know this sounds sanctimonius, coming from a bloke who now has a shed-full of machines, but the years of hand work taught me skills that are essential.

I guess the real question is, are you getting into this as a hobby, or purely to make things you need? If the latter, just go & buy your furniture - it will be cheaper & easier & you will have it sooner! But if this is to be a hobby to help preserve your sanity, then productivity isn't the issue, so plug along, build up your kit as your resources improve, and most of all, have fun.....
Cheers,

Originally Posted by mpatman

Thanks for the comments Ian, As a newbie as well faced with a similar dilema, I am getting into furniture making entierly for the hobby and to try to gain hand tool skills over time. I have got a couple of hand planes and a few old saws but have yet to purchase my first lot of chisels!

No need to buy a lot of chisels, once you've got you're first breeding pair just let nature take its course.

The "what do I do without a thicknesser?" question has been giving me some pause for thought recently and there are ways around it, so I've seen. I've got a lot of shed organizing to do but once that's out of the way, I'm really looking forward to making things from wood from start to finish with only handtools.....everybody's got to have an ambition.


Of course my interest in handtools vs powertools has nothing to do with my budget.....not a thing I say.

Originally Posted by seanz

No need to buy a lot of chisels, once you've got you're first breeding pair just let nature take its course.

Often seems that way, but to make it work properly, you also have to take a few $50 notes & cast them into the sea at midnight.........

Originally Posted by seanz

Of course my interest in handtools vs powertools has nothing to do with my budget.....not a thing I say.

I remember the feeling, drooling over tool catalogues & deciding what to buy when Lotto finally comes good! The good thing about being poor & working with hand tools is that you don't ruin as much good wood so quickly. By the time you realise you've stuffed-up with machines, you've usually done way more damage.

Poor consolation, I suppose....

Always a tricky one. Most folk start off with a collection of hand tools which seem to increase exponentially for some strange reason I used to do all my stock preparation by hand and still do for teak. I'm starting a coffee table tonight and will have to do all the planing by hand as the stuff just ruins planer blades.
That aside, planing stock by hand is benificial for your hand skills and is a good 'work out' but it soon becomes very much a chore so I bought a decent p/t as soon as funds permitted...and have never looked back.
The very best tool for to remove large amounts of material pronto though is an old wooden jack plane with a cambered blade...plenty around in the UK and I would expect you have something similar in Oz - Rob

See if you have a Woodcraft Guild in your area. Many have well equipped workshops and many of the members have machinery in their own workshops. You have to have a planer and a thicknesser as you will be aware of from the instruction you have received already. It's also a bit difficult to prepare timber from rough saw without a table saw to straighten and dimension your stock.

I don't think the response re using hand tools is all that viable or realistic in 2009. I started that way in the early 60's and I think that that's where it needs to be left ie as a bad memory!

From my experience with teaching Grade 10 students I know its near impossible to get them to prepare timber with hand tools when they can look into the machine room next door at the easier route. Its also near impossible in a school situation to keep hand planres sharp enough to do the job effectively.

Good luck you will find a way without having to have all the gear yourself which is a great waste of financial resource if you aren't operating commercially to make it pay its way.

Old Pete

If you have a serious lot of wood to come off then a hand held electric plane can be used for the bulk and just finish off with a hand plane. I did this for many years before I had a thicknesser. In fact for recycled wood an electric plane will save your thicknesser blades being damaged by nails. They are reasonably cheep and still have a place in the shed even after you get a thicknesser.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by orraloon

If you have a serious lot of wood to come off then a hand held electric plane can be used for the bulk and just finish off with a hand plane. I did this for many years before I had a thicknesser. In fact for recycled wood an electric plane will save your thicknesser blades being damaged by nails. They are reasonably cheep and still have a place in the shed even after you get a thicknesser.
Regards
John

Same here with recycled stuff. Power planes tend to be cheaper than a good hand plane. Mind you it doesn't seem that long ago that timber could be bought not dressed or dressed two sides. Saved money that way.
Jim

I currently don't possess a jointer, though I do own a H&F T-330 thicknesser. My body doesn't share my mind's enthusiasm to continue woodworking, so I recently bought one of these to make preparing chainmilled stock somewhat less fatiguing.

Not having owned one previously, I have nothing to compare it with, but I believe it represents incredible value for money in anyone's book.

I'm glad you asked that question. I was awake in the middle of the night last night thinking about just that!

I'm glad the answer includes hand tools. I think I've got everything I need, and the electric planer is a good idea for removing lots of material, although I can see it'd be easy to make a mess of a board very quickly.

Now all I need is some reasonable timber...

Originally Posted by rhancock

I'm glad you asked that question. I was awake in the middle of the night last night thinking about just that!

I'm glad the answer includes hand tools. I think I've got everything I need, and the electric planer is a good idea for removing lots of material, although I can see it'd be easy to make a mess of a board very quickly.

Now all I need is some reasonable timber...

Yes but gardens needs lots of mulch.
Jim

I believe a good bench saw is a must, then a thicknesser. I have a jointer, but you can build a clamping device to clamp the board to and pass it through the thicknesser. I dried redgum boards and some bowed quite a bit. passing them through the jointer didnt quite work as you couldnt pick the best way to plane for the least waste. Jointers are great for finishing touches but not good for rough cutting. So miss the jointer you can do without it. The thicknesser I bought off Ebay, looked for some time before one came up but she is a good tool and worth the money.