Thread: Reference for square edge

Originally Posted by derekcohen

The first thing is setting up your plane correctly.

This part is ok

The second is the technique required to plane a flat edge. Keep in mind that the plane will follow the line of the wood, which means that one is likely to plane an arc if there is already one present. Use a straight edge to determine where there are highs and lows, and remove the highs first. You are also better off taking a few swipes off the centre of the board to ensure that you do not inadvertantly create an arc. Scribble lines on the edge to see what you are doing.

This may well be the problem ie the plane tends to follow what is already there, so you're suggesting that I run the plane down the centre but if the plane is cutting slightly off-square you won't necessarily be helping things, I'll try scribbling lines to see if that helps.

The feel in planing an edge is similar to the feel in sawing a dovetail or tenon shoulder. You practice until the angle you hold the saw just feels right. You are able to place the saw on the wood just so, and it naturally saws at the desired angle. This is a combination of hand memory and spatial orientation.

I find cutting a straight line with a saw a lot easier than planing a square edge, first of all you do have a line to work with and you can correct if the blade moves off the line.

The accurate feedback is critical and that's what I'm unable to zero in on, again I'll try the lines.



Derek

Thanks for the detailed response Derek, I have spent many hours practising this skill but not quite there yet.

That raises one other 'option' that might also help (?) or just be another skill to practice.

I was intrigued the first time I heard - probably from Chris Schwarz I'm guessing - of marking a board (with 5 flat square sides) to depth and taking the last side down to that mark with a handplane. I really struck me that that was even possible, and I was really pleased when I tried it and it worked.

In particular when you are "inch"-ing down to a knife mark and it starts splitting that mark.

So I thought, even for an edge (on 300mm), you could mark across your board on the flat side, continue the mark across the two edges, and join them on the far side. Then if your marking-out is good enough, you will have to have a square edge by carefully removing material down to your knife mark.

The sides themselves wouldn't even need to be square, you just need to make them square where the mark will be.

I don't suggest it as "the way to plane a square edge" but might be a useful exercise, change of pace if you've been doing the same thing a lot, and the mark all around would give you a goal to get to and an indication of progress.

Plus, if you mark it so there's 10mm or so of wood to remove, you can get out the scrub plane and have some fun hunking off some fat chips before going back to a 4/5/7.

BTW - did you say the dimensions of the board? 300mm x ? x ?
Are you working on something roughly like in Derek's photo?

Cheers,
Paul

BTW - I thought it might have been the video "Coarse Medium Fine" by CS. It wasn't, but he does use a scrub and a rasp in that video to come down to a (curved) edge. A plane or spokeshave would follow that up.

Hi,
Rather than take some pics i did a quick video. You'll have to turn your sound right up to hear me explain though, it was pouring with rain and any of you with a tin shed knows what that is like!

Hand plane grips - YouTube

hi Tiger
one additional technique is where you place your index finger of your dominate hand
I find I have most control when I hold the rear handle with my middle, ring and little fingers -- I place my index finger alongside the blade, and my thumb sort of rests on the fingers holding the rear handle
I'm not sure of the biomechanics but it's something to do how extending your index finger acts to partially lock your wrist

Originally Posted by ian

hi Tiger
one additional technique is where you place your index finger of your dominate hand
I find I have most control when I hold the rear handle with my middle, ring and little fingers -- I place my index finger alongside the blade, and my thumb sort of rests on the fingers holding the rear handle
I'm not sure of the biomechanics but it's something to do how extending your index finger acts to partially lock your wrist

Originally Posted by ian

.....I'm not sure of the biomechanics but it's something to do how extending your index finger acts to partially lock your wrist

Ian, I tend to agree with you on many things (must be something to do with the name ), but not on this one. Without boring you with an anatomy lesson, let me just say that pointing your index finger does little or nothing to 'lock' your wrist, though it probably helps by contibuting a little more information to your brain about where your wrist is in space, as when holding a saw with the same '3-finger' grip. I think the reality is, that's how you were shown to hold the rear handle/tote, & that's what you grew used to & what you are now comfortable with. It's certainly the case for me - I feel quite lost with nowhere to place my 'spare' finger on Veritas BU planes!

I think the variety of answers might indicate that there are several ways to hold a plane for jointing, & they will all work, it's a matter of what suits you. The important message is that you need to persist & practice 'till the muscle-memory (aka 'skill') arrives, & you can plane a square edge without thinking too much about it.

Cheers,

PS. While I'm sure Uee's 'double fence' hand-hold works, I think I would prefer to collect the occasional splinters in one hand only......

Thanks Paul, that may be a useful exercise, will try that and see. Also big thanks to Ewan for making that video, I can clearly see what you're doing and will give it a try nothing to lose and I've tried just about everything else anyway.

Ians, you're right, there are many ways of holding the plane and getting an acceptable result, I'll keep trying but probably need some more exercises so if anyone knows of some exercises that develop all-round planing skills please let me know.

BTW if you're thinking of getting a video to help you with your planing skills Using a Hand Plane by Ian Kirby is not the one. He spends approx a minute on planing an edge, sets it up on his bench against a planing stop, a couple of swipes with the plane and then says it's square, not much about the body mechanics or anything else, it may be the most useless video I've seen.

Its just like the old saying, "There is more than one way to skin a cat" you just need practice and a technique that works for you. I will say, on shorter work i don't really use the double fence technique (as IanW called it) , but it comes in handy on longer work especially with a no7, and work that approaches the width of the blade.
If your worried about splinters, i would say find another hobby! My evening ritual used to be come home, pour beer(medicinal of course, used as a numbing agent), sit with tweezers and a pin and pick out the splinters! As much as they can hurt i'd much rather have splinters than cuts from melamine!
The other thing that makes it a lot easier is to wax the sole of the plane. Not just any old candle wax either, get some paraffin wax, the hard stuff. It removes the need to push as hard an therefore allows better control.

Originally Posted by Ueee

......If your worried about splinters, i would say find another hobby! ......

Not afraid of 'em Ueee, I just prefer to keep them localised to one hand, if possible.....

I do agree, whichever way gets the skin off the cat for you, that's probably the best way.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Ian, I tend to agree with you on many things (must be something to do with the name ), but not on this one. Without boring you with an anatomy lesson, let me just say that pointing your index finger does little or nothing to 'lock' your wrist, though it probably helps by contibuting a little more information to your brain about where your wrist is in space, as when holding a saw with the same '3-finger' grip.

you could be right
However, I remember a Veitnam vet showing me how extending the left index finger along the barrel of an F1 machine gun really helped with controlling where the bullets went.

It's certainly the case for me - I feel quite lost with nowhere to place my 'spare' finger on Veritas BU planes!

same here

I think the variety of answers might indicate that there are several ways to hold a plane for jointing, & they will all work, it's a matter of what suits you. The important message is that you need to persist & practice 'till the muscle-memory (aka 'skill') arrives, & you can plane a square edge without thinking too much about it