Before I Put the [redacted] Plane Through the Window

[GizmoDuck]

Hey, all.

I'll admit, I've given myself the ragin' 'ump and before I put the &^%£#@!&^% plane through the window I thought I'd take a break and put the kettle on.

I really thought I had this down, but I'm struggling with Edge planing.

It doesn't matter how carefully I setup the plane - or what plane I use, I always plane at an angle, and it's getting boring.

I try to set up the plane as best I can, but I must own the most accurate adjustment device known to man as one side of the cutting iron will take off one tenth of a millimetre, and the other will take a shaving as thick as your winter duvet. I move the adjustment lever over half a hair's width and the opposite is now true.

Below is what I normally get

Then I think I cracked it as I get a bit of the board's Edge dead square, but the back is out. The below two photos are the same board

How do I correct this nonsense?

 

[HOJ]

Before you get too peed off, I suggest you have a look at one of @custard's posts, I thought it was a sticky but found the link back: Jointing Boards easier to read that rather than all of us giving you our views.

 

[Ttrees]

Himself and David Charlesworth's videos is good info.

 

[Ollie78]

Joint 2 together flipped back to back then it shouldn`t matter if they are off because once you flip them it will cancel out.
This is not the real answer but it does work.
It is technique and takes a bit of time, it is super easy to be leaning more on one side even though you don`t feel like it is, try skewing the plane I find this helps, you could get a magnetic jointing fence or make a wooden one.

Ollie

 

[GizmoDuck]

Thanks, all.

I just had a look as I had a feeling.

The edges of my cutting iron were higher than the centre, the damn thing is concave. How? I've sharpened this dozens of times and even had it on a wet grinder.

I took the blade to my bench grinder, as I can't find the water trough for the wet grinder, and tried to grind out the concave, ended up ballsing up the blade, it's got 27 bevels now.

A problem for tomorrow.

 

[Fitzroy]

It’s really not as easy as it looks so give yourself time to build the skill.

Personally I’ll get the board off the table saw with the edge good and perpendicular, then after getting the plane well set on a spare board I’ll plane the saw marks off the workpiece.

If I have to take more than a few shavings then it often ends up as you describe and I struggle to get it back square.

Fitz

 

[paulrbarnard]

Thanks, all.

I just had a look as I had a feeling.

The edges of my cutting iron were higher than the centre, the damn thing is concave. How? I've sharpened this dozens of times and even had it on a wet grinder.

I took the blade to my bench grinder, as I can't find the water trough for the wet grinder, and tried to grind out the concave, ended up ballsing up the blade, it's got 27 bevels now.

A problem for tomorrow.

You should start a thread on sharpening. I’m sure you’ll get some good advice.

 

[Adam W.]

We haven't had a proper one for a while.

 

[Jameshow]

We haven't had a proper one for a while.

I use some 240 wet and dry paper job done!

 

[GizmoDuck]

45 minutes on 120 grit wet-and-dry paper and I'm back to one bevel again.

She looks flat across the whole bevel now.

Sharpened her up and tried it. My engineer's square says I'm square, so I shall we taking this opportunity to retire from woodworking on a high.

Would a concave blade really cause that much issue?

 

[paulrbarnard]

45 minutes on 120 grit wet-and-dry paper and I'm back to one bevel again.

She looks flat across the whole bevel now.

Sharpened her up and tried it. My engineer's square says I'm square, so I shall we taking this opportunity to retire from woodworking on a high.

Would a concave blade really cause that much issue?

It will certainly exaggerate the apparent angle you see on the wood as you move the lateral adjust lever.

 

[Ttrees]

Yes, pretty much impossible to hollow out anything, and retain the perimeter, using a plane what takes more off each side.
Thus to ensure there are no visible gaps around the whole joint when paired.

Some even make a point of this, take some folk working in damp environments,
or working stuff what might not be as dry as they'd like, they might prefer more camber for more scooping factor.
Having the outer surface proud ensures there's much less chance of the joint "opening up"

And regards the length, i.e stopped shavings to hollow out the joint,
this is important for marking out the tenons, for ...
"If I've got a bump, it's quite possible for my square to adopt two completely different positions!....can you hear that rocking?"....
"Now you see, why I like slight hollows rather than slight bumps"

Some loose quotes above going from memory, taken from Charlesworth's videos out there.
Best lessons regarding planing technique there is, by a long shot.
An overnight learning kinda thing, with no bad habits.

David was not only a master of the plane, but also of communication,
the latter comes a dime a dozen on youtubes,
but try finding an honest person at the same time, (with close ups of the finished article),
That surely thins things out quite substantially, and makes it instantly apparent who plays by the rules, and who doesn't!
Breaking the rules generally means you don't get to see the end result, from every angle
and not just a brief glimpse at that.

 

[GS42]

I can recommend this hand plane book https://amzn.to/46PkEt6 by Schwarz helped me a great deal on setting up my planes and techniques - some of it is about fancy planes costing the same as a used car which I’ll never need but the rest is good

 

[Fitzroy]

One other tip that could help is not to have the lever cap too tight. I find that with it too tight the iron sticks then jumps when you get sufficient pressure on the lateral adjust lever, making it hard to adjust fine amounts.

Fitz

 

[Tris]

This thread seems very quiet given the subject

 

[niall Y]

We all have a natural bias when planing, so it is going to be hit and miss as to whether we end up with a square edge. Using the correct plane is also helpful. A jack, fore or tri-plane is the one to use - not a smoothing plane.

There will be a slight camber to the blades of these planes. So, if you move the plane so it overhangs the right of the edge - the cut will slope to the right Likewise, overhanging it to the left- where the cut will slope to the left. Then straight down the middle for the finish cut.

. You can use a thumb and finger of your left hand to grip the front of the plane and this will help to hold and steer the plane in its required position along the edge. Once you have mastered the fact that it is which part of the blade you place on the edge ,that determines the slope, then it is a lot easier to plane square.

 

[segovia]

It's not uncommon, if your edge isn't square to start with the plane will just follows what is sees. This is my approach to getting a perfectly square edge.