Thread: Is this what planing looks like?

He's turning a very rough piece of timber into a flat board, by hand. He's actually not too bad, only several light years ahead of me. The big curly shavings around the 12 minute mark is more what people think of for handplaning, but the messy stuff is what used to happen before they got power machinery or where there was no suitable power source.

And that knot is REALLY nasty, no way I'd want to work that in hardwood, pine is bad enough.

He's turning a flat board into a flat board ... and (of the little I watched) made very heavy weather of it. I just saw him struggling to plane across the board.

A scrub plane is designed to remove thick shavings, not the mingy things he was removing.

With the rough sawn board he has, I'd just use a jack plane with moderate camber to remove the hair. I'd use a scrub plane on cupped or warped boards, to regain flatness.

Here is one of my articles: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furnitu...icknesser.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

The video is pretty close to how I do it.

In general the steps are:
Face – get one face flat as per video
Edge – square one long edge to the flat face you now have a reference face and edge square to each other
Width – mark off the required width and saw (if a lot has to come off) and plane to size and square to reference face
Thickness – basicly as per the video
End – square one end to the reference face and edge
Length – cut to length and square

For a board that size, I'd use a highly curved blade in a #6 or #5 – mainly because I have both options – the process is pretty fast
then I'd change to a near square edge blade in a #6 or #7 for the diagonal and longitudional strokes

I'd also check for twist more often that Rogers did – I'd want to be sure the twist was all out before flipping the board over.



ian

I guess everyone uses their favourite variation on the same theme.

I tend not to plane across the grain - I find it hard to avoid tear-out at the far side.

In the past I had used the scrub plane, but I have not done it since I learned how to set the wooden jack. A wooden jack with a moderately cambered blade takes about as much material as a scrub. It is longer which helps flattening the board, and the scallops are much shallower. When I used the scrub I used to spend more time on removing the scrub marks than on getting the board to a rough-flat stage.

There are two reasons for planning diagonally. The first is that it reduces tear out provided you generally plane with the grain. The second is that it helps control winding - if you can take full length shavings on the main diagonals the board is, probably, not twisted. As far as I can tell, when Shannon rotates the board to do the diagonals in a different direction he is continuing to plane the same diagonals, only against the grain. In my experience failing to alternate between the diagonals usually creates a twisted surface even if it was flat to begin with.

Planing across the grain is great for removing cup and getting the board really flat. I tend, however, to reserve this for later than scrubbing.



To prevent breakout on the far side, use a block plane to chamfer the edge slightly. This is the same technique I use on a shooting board when planing end grain - anything, in fact, that is not with the grain.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by javali

As far as I can tell, when Shannon rotates the board to do the diagonals in a different direction he is continuing to plane the same diagonals, only against the grain. In my experience failing to alternate between the diagonals usually creates a twisted surface even if it was flat to begin with.

The first time around he was going against the grain, the second time was along the same diagonals but with the grain. I guess he wasn't too concerned about tear-out on the first pass, as he mentioned he was only removing the high points left by the scrub on that pass and the worst of the rough spots would be cleaned by the second pass

I don't thickness by hand - my planing skills leave a lot to be desired - but it seems to me that you're right and he should've crossed the diagonals.

Originally Posted by derekcohen

A scrub plane is designed to remove thick shavings, not the mingy things he was removing.

With the rough sawn board he has, I'd just use a jack plane with moderate camber to remove the hair. I'd use a scrub plane on cupped or warped boards, to regain flatness.

In all fairness, he did say he'd only received the scrub plane as a birthday present the week before... and I'm sure that he was just fanging to be able to use it sooner rather than later.

Also, I think the idea of the video was to show the "general steps" to flattening/thicknessing a board. (He also mentioned that he was lucky that the board was relatively flat and unwarped.) Sure, he could've skipped to a jack because it was flat but that'd leave beginners like me wondering "but just how would he handle a bow?"

The principles are all sound, but he was making decidedly heavy weather of it. One needs a heavy plane and/or good upper arm strength and stamina to plane down a rough board.

The guy obviously doesn't plane down timber very often as his technique, while theoretically alright, lacked the rythym and continuity of someone who does it regularly or for a living. Anyone can do it; it just requires plenty of practice.

Afro, if you're planning on flattening some rough Elm boards, you'll have your work cut out for you! Its interlocked grain will test you, but the results will be stunning.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

Afro, if you're planning on flattening some rough Elm boards, you'll have your work cut out for you! Its interlocked grain will test you, but the results will be stunning.

Thanks for the warning, but there's no way I would consider hand planing something like that. I can barely joint an edge let alone flatten a rough sawn board. One day perhaps!

The first three minutes of this video nicely illustrates the process of hand planing/thicknessing.

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

Originally Posted by ian

The video is pretty close to how I do it.

In general the steps are:
Face – get one face flat as per video
Edge – square one long edge to the flat face you now have a reference face and edge square to each other
Width – mark off the required width and saw (if a lot has to come off) and plane to size and square to reference face
Thickness – basicly as per the video
End – square one end to the reference face and edge
Length – cut to length and square

For a board that size, I'd use a highly curved blade in a #6 or #5 – mainly because I have both options – the process is pretty fast
then I'd change to a near square edge blade in a #6 or #7 for the diagonal and longitudional strokes

I'd also check for twist more often that Rogers did – I'd want to be sure the twist was all out before flipping the board over.



ian

I'll second that. Javali makes a good point about the Wooden Jack but I tend to use my 5's and 6 for roughing.
Chris Schwartz has a totally different interpretation of the Scrub Plane and it's intended uses and I subscribe to his way of thinking. He believes the Scrub was meant to remove wood quickly from areas where it may not be possible to use a Hand Saw. The Jack, particularly the Wooden Jack, does a more than adequate job planing across the grain.
The only thing I do dfferently is when I have a flat surface and 45 degree sides, I run the piece through my thicknesser to make sure I have parallel faces. I'ts one of the few time I use power.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

The first three minutes of this video..

Nice little mirror trick in that vid.. I have not seen that before, great idea

Great vid WW. Thanks for that. That's more like the planing I had visualised. I'm guessing he's a lot more practiced at this than the first guy.

Originally Posted by Afro Boy

That's more like the planing I had visualised. I'm guessing he's a lot more practiced at this than the first guy.

He's a professional chairmaker, so this would be regular work for him - and it shows.

This is clearly what planing should not look like ...

http://www.expertvillage.com/video/1...er-old-one.htm