Thread: Some thoughts on planing

I missed this whole discussion. I agree with Ian's high spots first (with a small plane like a smoother, that cuts flat shavings - start with a coarser plane only if needed), then the whole surface in general. With a large plane, my final passes at least are always full length - it's verification that the work is true and flat.

On big work, I always work by eye before getting out any winding sticks or straight edges. It's faster, and you train your eye well.

One tip I'd give for looking at the edge of something is that sometimes when you look at an object to see if it's straight, you can't quite tell, but if you turn your object 90 degrees (or your head if it's easier), you can see straight much more clearly. backsaw blades are easily seen like this, especially when fitting a spine. sometimes the blade looks almost straight when you look straight down the edge, but when you turn the saw on its side (still holding it in mid air), you can see the imperfections much more clearly.

it's possible to get everything within a very small fraction of an inch doing this. I just wrapped up a 7 foot bench, and I could see that after glue and initial planing, it has about a 16th of twist and some high and low spots. It only took half an hour to plane those out, and a check with a straight edge confirmed it (but I didn't have to do any additional work to make the straight edge honest - or rather the surface honest to the straight edge).

Trust your eyes, and if you don't, work with them until you do.