dimensioning wood by hand

[mickthetree]

Hi All

With my lack of power tools I am trying to dimension my wood by hand.

I have setup my plane (#5) to take a pretty fine shaving and using my workmate and shooting board, I can joint an edge quite neatly and shoot an end at 90 degrees pretty accurately now.

My issue is flattening the face and thicknessing the lumber.

I can get the face somewhere near flat and I can get the faces pretty well parallel, but this part is no where near as accurate as my jointing and shooting.

Any tips on how I can improve my skill / setup in order to get my stock nice and flat and parallel?

I can certainly see the benefits of a jointer / planner / thicknesser right now, but I am enjoying doing as much as I can by hand.

Cheers for any suggestions

 

[MikeG.]

Honestly, I can't see how you will do this properly until you have a bench to work at. This is all about having a really secure workpiece on a flat unmoving surface.

I start with a pair of sighting sticks (are they called "winding sticks?....not sure). Any old straight pieces of batten will do as long as they are properly square and parallel themselves. Lay them on the face for surfacing at right angles to long edge, one at either end, and sight along. Mark what you see on the face of the timber, and move one of them closer to the middle and resight......and so on until you have marked out all the areas you need to remove to get the timber untwisted. You may even need to pack underneath the board as you plane to prevent it rocking. Then start working up a sweat! Repeat the sighting/ marking/ planing until that side is perfect........turn over and repeat, but using the reference face as a depth gauge.

Sorry if the is TYGTSE !!! (Teaching----eggs!)

Mike

 

[wizer]

Well that Japanese guy managed to do it sitting on the floor holding the wood with his bare feet.....

 

[Paul Chapman]

You would probably learn better by seeing it done. If you can't get anyone to show you, there are some good DVDs out there. Rob Cosman's "Rough to Ready" shows how to plane up a rough, sawn piece of wood to finished size http://www.classichandtools.com/acatalo ... n_DVD.html

The are plenty of others by people like Chris Schwarz and David Charlesworth, but the Cosman one is quite good for what you want.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[mickthetree]

Hi Mike

I'm sure my grandma wont mind ;-)

Yeah I'm pretty bored of pulling the workmate back across the room after its skipped and danced its way along with every stroke of the plane.

I would love a descent bench to work at and have a multitude of plans all ready when we have some more space ;-)

Tuning up my plane (a pretty newish stanley) has made a huge difference to the amount of effort required for each stroke and fortunately my stock is not too bad to start with.

I will give the winding sticks a go now. I think I'm pretty close to getting the stock accurate enough, just wondered if there was something glaringly obvious I was missing.

Cheers!

 

[Ironballs]

Mike they are winding sticks, you can buy them from somewhere like Axminster or make your own like the Barnsley Workshop apprentices do

 

[MikeG.]

Mike they are winding sticks, you can buy them from somewhere like Axminster or make your own like the Barnsley Workshop apprentices do

Surely there isn't a woodworker on the planet who would actually buy these??!!! They would have to be the easiest thing to make that anyone has ever made, surely.................or am I missing something?

Mike

 

[mickthetree]

Hi guys

Thanks for your advice. I have found a course in High Wycombe which offers machining classes, but they dont do hand tool work. Still I'm sure it will be useful and they have lots of good benches too.

The set of 8 DVDs is similar price to the workshop course actually.

hmmmmmm

 

[OPJ]

I quite agree, Mike. I think the ones Axminster sell may be aluminium (or some kind of steel?). The obvious advantage there is that they'll be less prone to movement with changes in humidity, unlike real wood. But then again, if the timber does move slightly, it doesn't take a lot of effort to plane a little bit more off.

 

[Paul Chapman]

The set of 8 DVDs is similar price to the workshop course actually.

hmmmmmm

You only need the one DVD :wink:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[wizer]

Mike they are winding sticks, you can buy them from somewhere like Axminster or make your own like the Barnsley Workshop apprentices do

Surely there isn't a woodworker on the planet who would actually buy these??!!!

Silly question of the day

:lol:

 

[John. B]

Here, Here. :lol:

 

[Tom K]

Hi Mick, there may be some useful tips here.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YfE2is_ah ... annel_page

 

[mickthetree]

Whats this?? youtube woodworking vids I haven't seen yet? sure'y not possible ;-)

Great set of vids that answered all my questions.

..for now.

 

[bugbear]

Hi Mike

I'm sure my grandma wont mind ;-)

Yeah I'm pretty bored of pulling the workmate back across the room after its skipped and danced its way along with every stroke of the plane.

Can you brace it against the far wall?

BugBear

 

[Handworkfan]

Mike they are winding sticks, you can buy them from somewhere like Axminster or make your own like the Barnsley Workshop apprentices do

Surely there isn't a woodworker on the planet who would actually buy these??!!! They would have to be the easiest thing to make that anyone has ever made, surely.................or am I missing something?

Mike

Not for someone who's having trouble getting timber truly flat by hand - which seems to be the case here - winding sticks by definition need very precise planing. The point about the bench is sound advice, and also the DVD. I used David Charlesworth's hand planing DVD, but I'd also get the sharpening one at the same time as it'll save a lot of sweat, tears and frustration.
I heartily encourage anyone who wants to enjoy the process of hand working - and not only for the satisfaction. BEing really confident with a plane will have other benefits, not least in the final cleaning up - it's pretty frightening to take a hand-plane to your finished project if you don't feel confident with one, but with confidence it's pure joy watching the final finish come up.
Once you've fettled up the plane and digested the planing DVD, making a pair of winding sticks will be a realistic exercise and the whole woodworking experience will be transformed.
Good luck.
]

 

[mickthetree]

Hi Bugbear

Yes I've tried that and it greatly improves things, but if the plane catches in the wood the whole workmate goes up rather than along :shock:

Actually I have a small hole in the plaster where I took a rather enthusiastic pass and the plane shot across the work. But ssshhhh dont tell her indoors. ;-)

I missed out on thisbench last week. Turns out the guy only lives round the corner. Was going to use the wood and vice to make a new bench but didn't bid enough.

Since adjusting the plane to take a very fine cut it is much easier but I see from those vids that I should probably be putting a curve on the plane irons. I have a number 7 too (again newish stanley) which needs to be flattened.

I feel I'm getting much closer though thanks to the help from everyone!

 

[dunbarhamlin]

With regards DVDs don't forget the venerable Kingshott - he demonstrates prepping a board without looking like he's just run a marathon.

 

[Paul Chapman]

I have a number 7 too (again newish stanley) which needs to be flattened.

Try to get the #7 up and running as soon as you can. If you are doing all your planing by hand, you will find the #7 one of the most useful of planes.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[mickthetree]

I got the #5 and #7 from loot and they came with plane blades absolutely square. Worked great for jointing my 2" thick pine boards for my dining room table (although hard work) and for flattening the surface, but this smaller stuff seems to require more accuracy and according to my straight edge, they both require some work.

I'm popping to my local glass shop this wknd to get some float glass and I'm going to order some rolls of abrasive from ebay to fettle the soles of both.

I'm going to have a go at rounding the edge of the plane irons on both by using hand pressure. I'll see how I get on.

Hope to pick up an old record 4 - 4 1/2 at some point for final finishing.