How do you get square 90deg. edges with a handplane?

[MrDavidRoberts]

Is it all about the technique/holding the plane or is there some sort of special trick (except messing up your finger/knuckle)?
When jointing edges ,however I try, I just can't get constantly totally 90deg. precise edges, without spending an awful amounts of time with a square.

 

[CHJ]

Jointed edges done have to be square, they just have to compliment each other. Plane them as a pair with top faces together.

 

[sunnybob]

I have never managed to get a straight edge with a hand plane.
i use the router table with offset out fence and straight cutter. Now theyre dead flat and smooth as glass.

 

[John15]

Is it all about the technique/holding the plane or is there some sort of special trick (except messing up your finger/knuckle)?
When jointing edges ,however I try, I just can't get constantly totally 90deg. precise edges, without spending an awful amounts of time with a square.

Practice, practice, practice.

John

 

[MikeG.]

Is it all about the technique/holding the plane or is there some sort of special trick (except messing up your finger/knuckle)?
When jointing edges ,however I try, I just can't get constantly totally 90deg. precise edges, without spending an awful amounts of time with a square.

Well, then spend awful amounts of time with a square if you need a square edge. For edge joining boards you don't need the edges square at all, though.

 

[Rorschach]

I used the paired edge trick. I am terrible with a hand plane, getting better but still pretty terrible. Part of the problem is I have neither the time to practice nor the need for the skill very often. I'll probably have mastered it just before I croak :lol:

 

[Bodgers]

Is it all about the technique/holding the plane or is there some sort of special trick (except messing up your finger/knuckle)?
When jointing edges ,however I try, I just can't get constantly totally 90deg. precise edges, without spending an awful amounts of time with a square.

What plane are you using?

 

[Racers]

A long plane with a cambered blade works for me. David Charlesworth has a video of how to use a cambered blade, basically you need to mark the high points and use the camber to remove a tapered shaving to square the edge.
A No7-8 is the best for long edges No5 1/2 for shorter lengths.

Pete

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJfD0-fFAzI A slightly cambred iron helps, but this will also work with a straight iron

 

[ED65]

When jointing edges ,however I try, I just can't get constantly totally 90deg. precise edges, without spending an awful amounts of time with a square.

It's easy to say, so spend the time if that's what it takes you. But that's a bit of a copout because you're very likely doing something specific wrong and trying to identify it will make a big difference to how quickly you can joint an edge.

Then there's practice. That would help if you do it right. Not weeks and weeks of practice, one hour spent doing this and nothing else – paying attention to what you're doing and noting errors – would make almost everyone who struggles with it strides better, and therefore faster.

But say you don't want to spend the time practising. Then modify your plane to make it into a foolproof jointer, i.e. add a fence, or shoot your edges. Problem solved with no drudgery.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Jointed edges done have to be square, they just have to compliment each other. Plane them as a pair with top faces together.

Hi! You're looking square enough today! How am I looking?




Sorry. :lol:

 

[memzey]

Lol!

 

[CHJ]

Hi! You're looking square enough today!

Comes with age and being taught before such things as router tables were around.

How am I looking?

Sharp

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi,

Besides the points that have already been made about using a 7 or 8 or a 5 or 5 1/2 with a cambered blade and using the Charlesworth/Tribe/et al technique of laterally positioning the blade to take a tapered shaving, plus the twinning of boards so they're both at identical angles (regardless of whether that angle is exactly 90) - which are actually measures to "correct", or make irrelevant, deviations from "square" - I'd emphasize trying to establish and cultivate a "muscle memory" so you can more often "get it right first time".

I do this by always having the edge of the workpiece horizontal, and by positioning myself squarely parallel to, and above it i.e. consistency of posture and relative positioning can make a big difference

Cheers, W2S

 

[thetyreman]

you don't need the camber on a jointer, I have mine straight with very slightly rounded edges, works fine and I can get straight, twist free and flat edges, admittedly it took quite a lot of practise but you will get it!

 

[MattRoberts]

you don't need the camber on a jointer, I have mine straight with very slightly rounded edges, works fine and I can get straight, twist free and flat edges, admittedly it took quite a lot of practise but you will get it!

One could argue that's a variation of a camber

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Broken down, here are a few pointers ...

1. First of all, you have to get your tongue just right (corner of the mouth), squint and curl your nose. In that order.

2. Clamp the board firmly at a comfortable height for planing.

3. You have to be able to move along the board pushing the plane and not lunging off balance. Work from the hips and not the shoulders.

4. It helps to have a very fine camber on the jointer as this enables you to steer the blade over the high spots.

5. Before you attach the edge with the plane, determine where the high spots are, and remove these first. Sight down the side of the board and use a level. Mark the high spots with a pencil.

6. Next, do the same with a square to determine where you need to steer the plane to bring the surface back to square.

7. It takes practice, but you need to develop a sense of vertical. This will come with time. Increasingly, you will find the horizontal automatically.

8. Once you are able to take a full shaving of even thickness along the edge - all previous conditions met - you will have a straight, square edge.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[custard]

I once signed up for a short, five day woodworking course, mainly because it was a chance to meet the guy who was running the course who's work I'd always admired.

The project we were all given started with two boards that had to be edge jointed together. Nothing unusual there, edge jointing boards is necessary for the majority of furniture projects, in fact it's the, fundamental, woodworking joint.

I should add that almost everyone on the course was an enthusiastic hobbyist, and they would have regarded themselves as well above average in their abilities. There were some pretty fancy hand planes in the room, and no shortage of strong opinions about how to use them. In fact if you'd have asked everyone how proficient they were with a hand plane I suspect almost everyone would have said "very proficient", and I don't doubt for a moment that they all genuinely believed it too!

But the fact is only a very few were capable of edge jointing two boards with a hand plane, even to the most minimal standard of acceptability. Despite clear instructions, good tools and facilities, and a couple of hours to complete the task, the majority of people floundered and ultimately failed. Finally the instructor had to go around and do the job himself for most of them.

There's no disgrace in realising your skills need some work, but what was pathetic were the soppy, face saving excuses most of them dreamt up; they weren't used to the sharpening stones that had been provided, the bench was the wrong height, they'd brought a spare plane because they didn't want to risk their best one.

The fact is woodworking to a decent level is actually pretty hard, it's certainly no easier than playing a musical instrument or learning a foreign language. Yet the myth persists that with just a few tools and a couple of cheap Chinese machines you'll be banging out heirloom furniture in next to no time. If you aspire to being even a reasonably competent woodworker then keep practising edge jointing until you can do it accurately and efficiently. It'll take hours and hours of frustrating effort, but if you persist then eventually you'll crack it.

 

[tomatwark]

It takes practice as has already been said, one of the first thing we were shown when I was an apprentice was planing a joint of a table square and straight.

It is something I have not forgotten but I find when I have to do it on occasion it seems a lot harder when you are not doing day in and out, its like riding a bike once you know the tricks you don't forget them but if you are not doing it for a while you will wobble a bit at first.

 

[Racers]

How about knocking up a long shooting board and using a straight blade in your plane?

Pete