How to thickness thin workpieces?

[Peter Sefton]

Clamp one end down and plane away from the clamp, then turn it round and do the same for the other end.
Like pulling a Japanese saw the tension keeps the blade (or in this case stock) from buckling.

I have done short thin pieces with a No8 as the front of the plane completely covered the stock keeping it flat.

Pete

Spot on Pete, makers just need to be careful when turning the timber end to end as this may result in planing against the grain although we have all concluded these methods work best with very straight grain, and using the long hand plane on short bits works well too.
Cheers Peter

 

[n0legs]

Thanks to the two Peters, I've got it now and going to have a go later.

 

[Racers]

You can use the same technique with a scraper, card or plane, for difficult grain.

I seem to remember David Charlsworth using a couple of spots of super glue instead of a clamp

Pete

 

[MIGNAL]

I plane a lot of thin material by clamping at one end and planing away from that clamp. One day I was hoping to try one of those non slip router mats, save from continually turning the work piece around. I once tried 120G paper glued to a board. That almost worked.
Think the router mat will work?

 

[Racers]

No, too springy for thin stock.

Pete

 

[Peter Sefton]

Try a short length of double sided tape.
Peter