I was sent here from general woodwworking.......

[DrPhill]

Hi folks, I posted my first posts in general woodworking, but since I am too tight to buy power tools at the moment I got sent over here. I am self-taught, and it shows.

Anyway I came here for advice on 'thicknessing' and edging rough planks into workable timber - my supply of salvage hardwood is running out. I thought that I could get some chunks of yew from Yandles, but I need to be sure that I can work them into 'straight and square' timber.

Can someone point me at some good descriptions of how this is done with hand-tools, please?

Oh, and my signature points to a box that I made, to show the sort of thing I am aiming at....

Thanks in advance for any help, but I will leave 'sharpening techniques' for another day. :lol:

 

[Fiddler]

Hi Phil, sorry I can't answer your question. I just wanted to say how much I loved your Youtube channel, I used to play flute and whistle many years ago but play mostly fiddle now.

That's a great box you made, I hope to make a few nice boxes as I learn some woodwork skills.

Regards, Martyn

 

[yetloh]

Hi Phil,

I could go into a long and detailed explanation of how to do it but I am sure Youtube is your real friend on this one. I have several books explaining how to fold up a bandsaw blade but still dould not master it. A 30 second Youtube video sorted me out in 30 seconds. I'm not saying it will be that quick with flattening and squaring but one good video is worth several thousand words worth of carefully constructed text.

If you find a good one (and I have little doubt that you will) post a link to it on the forum because i am sure there are others who would appreciate it too.

Jim

 

[Racers]

Hi, phill

Loads of good dvds available david charlsworth does some very good ones.

Or you could look for local Coledge course.

Pete

 

[jimi43]

Hi Phil

Welcome to the hand side!

The search engine in UKW does a remarkable job in getting you to threads where this is discussed extensively and many people here would be happy for you to pop by their workshop to see how it's done first hand.

Preparing rough boards and sizing them by hand is remarkably simple if you follow age old techniques such as handsaw ripping, scrubbing the surface with a cambered plane iron to remove waste to size and so on.

CLICK HERE to read an excellent article on scrub planes to thickness wood.....

Then move on to smoothing...CLICK HERE FOR A GOOD ARTICLE

You can then move on to jointing and various other techniques as you improve your skills.

Anyone can shove a piece of wood through a planer/thicknesser and a lot of people who do it by hand also prefer to use a machine for speed and repeatability but you will find you get great satisfaction out of being able to turn a tree into a beautiful square smooth block ready to turn into your masterpiece.

My recommendation is not to get sucked into spending on new hand tools yet until you want to improve and learn. Start with a walk around bootfairs very very early (first!) in the morning and buy yourself an old Stanley/Bailey or Record No.5 or 51/2 or two. Learn to tune these. Try and find an old grinder and whetstone and learn to grind and hone your own plane irons....

Then...for a few pounds you will have your own hand-driven planer/thicknesser.

Get a ripsaw...either a good hardpoint from B&Q or Screwfix. Alternatively get an old Disston and learn how to sharpen a ripsaw....it is fairly easy if you have huge teeth to deal with! Whatever rocks your boat! Then you can rip the
edges of the board down to size.

Get another iron for your plane or another old bootfair plane and grind and hone the iron square with the edges knocked off or back a bit and you will have a fine smoother. Some like No.4s I would use another No.5 if you find one...doesn't really matter....No.4s are just easier to find.

You will need a reliable square...there is a thread about combination squares a few pages back...either a new Bahco one for a few quid or a cheap but square bootfair one. Check a square is square by marking a line on a straight piece of wood and flipping it over and draw another line. If the two run along the same route...it's square.

Learn about winding sticks....great things! Learn about story sticks...again these are easy and cheap.

Good luck with all that you do...we are here if you need us.

Jimi

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If you are trying to plane chunks of yew square you obviously have too much life left to live.

 

[jimi43]

If you are trying to plane chunks of yew square you obviously have too much life left to live.

Granted not the easiest wood to practice on but discovering and combating tearout and other issues might be a good but steep learning curve? 8)

Or Phil could just jump straight to infills and get on with it! :mrgreen:

:wink:

Jim

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi Phil,

I wonder if this link would help.

http://oudluthier.blogspot.com/

When you are at the blog page, under 'Videos', click on Roubo Bench 2008.

The video is more about the bench than the work, but there is a good demonstration of how to plane and clean up a timber face.

All I will say in addition is
Your plane MUST be SHARP. and have a FLAT sole. There's plenty of stuff on these subjects all over the forum.
After that it's practice.

HTH

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Phill,

That box wot you made suggests that you are not quite a complete beginner!

However, from my thirty-year experience of collecting books on woodworking technique (I don't intend to collect them, they just sort of 'arrive', somehow), the best book by far on basic cabinetmaking technique is 'The Essential Woodworker' by Robert Wearing. His description of plane management and preparation of square, thicknessed stock is very thorough. He goes on to describe the other basic techniques such as making a small table (mortice and tenon joints, solid wood top held on by cabinetmaker's buttons), carcase making, drawer making and fitting, hinge and lock fitting and so on. It's recently been republished, and is only available from Axminster Power Tool Centre and Classic Hand Tools as far as I know. Original copies are available on the second-hand market, but seem to fetch 'collector' prices. You might hit lucky, though.

Might be a good plan to get some joinery grade softwood to practice on. Save the yew for finer work when you've worked out the quirks of your particular planes, and you could always turn the practice timber into toolboxes or similar.

The advice above about having a rootle round Youtube is good, too. There's all sorts of info, most of it good.

Take your time. Learning to set up planes and plane well is not quick and needs a bit of persistence, but once it clicks, you're set for life.

Above all, have fun!

 

[DrPhill]

@Jimi43 thank you for the info and links. I will check them out this evening after work. A lot of the learning curve is about terminology, without it I cannot even ask the right questions.....
I have a plane that I inherited from my Dad - a Stanley no 220. Is this worth starting on, or will it cause more greif than gain? It does not have one of those adjustable bits at the front - does that matter? Over on the whistle forum they have a disease WhOAD - Whistle Obsessive Acquisition Disorder. I am worried that there is something similar over here that I cannot afford to catch...... so I only want to buy if necessary. When I am sure of need and use, then will buy, but I will buy quality. Once.

If you are trying to plane chunks of yew square you obviously have too much life left to live.

I surely hope so .

.......Or Phil could just jump straight to infills and get on with it! :mrgreen:

Another technical term to learn?

@Benchwayze - I will check that out too. As for sharpening, I get the impression that this is an enthusiastically debated subject here. Perhaps I will keep my head down on that one for the moment.

@CheshireChappy - advice noted. I used to buy my softwood at B&Q, but got frustrated by their inability to maintain consistent twists between batches.... Perhaps I should get some practice timber there. Actually, I would not know how to recognise quality timber when I saw it, so my early experiments will be just that.

I had thought that my first attempt might be a whistle carrier initially made a bit like this, but with the two halves glued together so that the whistle drops into a tube. Then if the finish is a little out, I might beg a lathe owner to turn it into a cylinder....... My main difficulty is then the flat edges that need gluing. Am I aiming too high?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

@Benchwayze-- it was a light-hearted, throw away comment-rather than an admission of my shortcomings. I know how to do all manner of things I choose not to- it comes with age. I don't make puff pastry or sharpen saws, either. Thanks for the advice, nevertheless.

 

[Benchwayze]

@Benchwayze-- it was a light-hearted, throw away comment-rather than an admission of my shortcomings. I know how to do all manner of things I choose not to- it comes with age. I don't make puff pastry or sharpen saws, either. Thanks for the advice, nevertheless.

:?: :?: :?:

Phil,

I think we have crossed wires here!
I was addressing DrPhill...

I think.
Anyhow it seems he knows already too, so I better shut up!

 

[lanemaux]

Hi Doc. I did say they were a helpful lot, didn't I? Regarding your 220 plane , that is a block plane and a bit small for what would be bench plane work. Planes are generally denoted by the numbers, with 1 through 8 being the utility infielders of the group. These are the bench planes, they do the heavy lifting and the finesse jobs in prep and finish. Tuning a plane is a favorite topic here , as is choice of planes for what job you are planning. Just look in the threads in the archive for that.
For turning lumps into lumber , the plane I use is the ever underestimated (by Ebay sellers and buyers alike) number 5 or jack plane. (I don't have a dedicated scrub plane) With a well radiused iron and set for thick shavings it shall suffice.
Having established the dimensions of the board to be with rulers , chalk lines and plumb bobs, or by just striking lines with ruler , square and pencil, or by eye for that matter. I saw a rough shape out to start with. Next we apply the number 5 and establish a flat surface on one edge. Using your square, mark out lines square to your straight edge on the boards end grain such that the lines define the finished face side. Join these lines with a chalk line. With plane and winding sticks , remove stock to the line and repeat on other face. Now mark a parallel line one edge parallel to the other edge and plane to it and your done.
Now finish with lighter shavings from your readjusted plane if you so desire, but you were at lumber when you got the thing squared up , later work is in the project part of the show.
Regarding the condition you mention about acquiring and expenses , around here that is the slope. Happy sliding Doc.
I thought there was a video on the Woodwright shop hompage. Now I can't find it. My face is so red. It may have been in a torrent I downloaded , then lost somehow. Sooo sorry.