How to remove twist on a planer?

[LancsRick]

I love my technology, machinery, engineering. Love it. On this occasion though my number one choice without doubt has been a nice sharp No5 and No4 hand plane.

I'll explain...

I'm building a saw station for my new mitre saw, and I'm building it to last. 2x4s for the framework, and partly as practice I'm getting them all perfectly true and square. I've got a DW1150 at my disposal which I've calibrated, and works a treat on anything cupped or bowed. What I'm really struggling with is when there is twist. The general internet advise seems to be to get a feel for the mid-point of the "rock", and then run it through the planer with pressure at the midpoint and no change of grip position. I can't for the life of me get this right. I'm faster by far just hogging the high points off with hand planes and then going back to the planer for the finessing.

So, any tips please on how I can stop making the supposedly easier route seem harder than the manual one?!

Thanks.

 

[Fitzroy]

My technique on my Wadkin is do similar to you suggested and work the high corners off purposefully, once roughly flat I then return to the technique of pressure on the outfeed table only as soon as possible.

I’ve also a dw1150 and the tables are pretty short, anything more than 4’ and I struggled to get the twist out on it. Additionally i I found I couldnt get my weight on the outfeed table as well as I’d like due to them being a little flimsy.

Before I had the Wadkin I took your approach hogging off high spots with a well cambered jack plane then finishing on the machine.

Just the experience of a very amateur woodworker, but I have the same machine so wanted to comment.

Fitz.

 

[Jacob]

Are your tables co-planar?
Main thing is a steady pass without rocking so you take off the opposite corner high points only. It's a bit of a knack so you just have to practice!
You are doing it against the fence I presume? You use the fence with faces as well as edges - it steadies the work piece.

 

[LancsRick]

Yes, tables and blades are set up perfectly. It's definitely a knack that I'm lacking at the moment!
Yes, using the fence.

 

[Trevanion]

Sometimes I'll start in the middle of a plank and work towards the ends if it's bad. But that pretty much throws all health and safety out the window as you'll have to remove the guard to do it that way. If you do this procede at your own risk.

 

[MikeG.]

If it's that bad, why don't you start off with a hand-plane at the bench, and establish something of a flat point in a couple of places so that you can be certain that it's going through the planer without changing its aspect?

 

[dzj]

Sometimes it is better to cut such a board in half than to insist on planing away the
deficiency of the full length piece.
Often times, even when you flatten the board, it returns to its 'evil ways' a few days later.

 

[Jacob]

Sometimes it is better to cut such a board in half than to insist on planing away the
deficiency of the full length piece.
Often times, even when you flatten the board, it returns to its 'evil ways' a few days later.

Good point . But not "sometimes" - it's always better to reduce all your timber to cutting list component sizes (plus margin for planing) before attempting to plane anything. Crops up a lot as a basic beginners mistake.
The exception would be very small components perhaps better planed together as one more easily handleable piece.
So you don't plane anything until you have a design, a cutting list, and have cut everything up to near finished size.

 

[dzj]

Good point . But not "sometimes" - it's always better to reduce all your timber to cutting list component sizes ....

Yes, this is the usual course people take.
Living in postmodern times has taught me to avoid using absolutes. Particularly on the internet.
There's always someone who'll have some grievance or other and you'll never hear the end of it.

 

[MikeG.]

........not "sometimes" - it's always better to reduce all your timber to cutting list component sizes (plus margin for planing) before attempting to plane anything........

I had assumed that the OP had already done this, and was still left with a warped board rocking about on his planer.

 

[custard]

Often times, even when you flatten the board, it returns to its 'evil ways' a few days later.

Good point.

I select most of my timber personally, I'll sight down the boards and if any are in serious wind (twist) I'll almost certainly reject them. They have a strong urge to keep misbehaving!

 

[Sam_Jack]

Removing ‘Twist’.

Non serious, off topic Whimsy. I’ll go with ‘Custard’ and ‘Jacob’ on this one. Sound advice; however, here’s a little whimsy to go with that. Cleaning up the ‘shop’ and storing/ discarding off-cuts; I found a piece of 180x45 just under 800 mm long - construction pine which I had ruthlessly lopped off; no practical value whatsoever. But, I’d just acquired and restored an Australian made Falcon Pope 5½, ‘twas a mess and took a while to fettle. I had the time and so, I decided that this board, warts and all was going to go four square (or as close as could be, using hand planes only). Bit of fun on a dull Sunday afternoon and a test. It was twisted, bowed, knotted and had every imaginable thing wrong with grain. Bloomin’ nightmare. No matter, I accepted the challenge – nothing to loose, right.

Not so – the Pope did a mighty job where it could (best pleased with that) but rising grain and the daemon knots prevented anything like a reasonable finish becoming a reality. In the end, every metal plane was out; I twisted and turned, tried all the tricks I know to get one flat surface, in wind. Fed up after an hour of hard graft – I looked at the few wooden Matheson planes I own (not many) – what the hell – why not?

Can someone please explain the pure ‘magic’ contained within these wonderful things? I was staggered by the ease, lack of physical effort and the finish these ancient wonders produced.

I’ve no idea what to do with this now four square lump of timber; I may coat it with Danish oil and hang the blessed thing on the wall as a monument to my own folly. What it will remind of is the wonderful things patience, persistence and the older, often overlooked tools can do. A tribute to the time when men and the tools they owned, not machines made wood suitable for task. Mind you, they’d never do anything else with my ‘lump’ other than consign it to the flames. Do I need a jointer?– No; would I like one and the room to house it – you bet – Alas.