Thread: planing angle

The approach I'd take depends on how rough the boards are & how much the joint edges are out of alignment - i.e., how much wood you think is going to have to come off. If the boards were fairly straight & not too rough, and the panel hasn't twisted itself in the glue-up, I'd just start with one of the jacks & plane along the grain, trying to observe the grain direction & not tear it up too much. I keep a #5 with a modest camber on its blade for just such scenarios.

If there is a substantial amount to come off to level the surface, I would plane diagonally across the high spots with a scrub plane. If you haven't got a scrub, it's easy enough to modify an old smoother. Just about any old #4 can be modified by setting the frog back as far as possible & putting a good camber on its blade. That'll tear off a lot of wood quickly. With the high spots.

Once your surface is reasonably level, either by the scrub/jack combination or the jack alone, proceed to the next step. This is where I like to use my 5 1/2. This should have either a straight blade, or just the hint of a camber (I'm a non-camber devotee for this stage, but at least half the planing population put camber on all of their planes), to get the surface flat enough for a smoother to finish.

That's one approach, other mileages will vary.

Cheers,

PS: whatever you do, you're in for a decent workout and a few re-sharpens if the panels are of any size....

thanks Ian,
i havnt made a scrubbing plane yet but did put a slight angle on a blade and it sort of did a similar job.
I just went at it at all angles, luckily there wasnt bad cupping and its only 400 by 500 so its looking pretty good now,
I need to have a go at the camber for my next job I think.
and yes, was a good workout. I did a bit of left handed too, just to balance things out.