Plane Length

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Good grief, I cannot believe that I read all the posts to find one answer missing. :lol:

I think that Matthew comes closest when he mentions the flatness of a board out of a thicknesser or jointer.

The thing is that David Charlesworth gets away with his "supersmoother" simply because the board is flat (out of a machine) and he is taking off minimal amount from the board's surface ... but he is having to do this for the entire board. A long plane cannot plane valleys. It must first remove the hills.

A short plane will not also need to level a board just to remove a shaving here-or-there. A short smoother can plane isolated sections of a board.

Consider the difference between a traditional smoother - 7 1/2" - verses that of a #5 1/2, which is 14". My smallest smoother is a Mujingfang of 3". This is great when I do not want to disturb a board's thickness.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Mr Ed]

I suppose a clarification of my original post would be that I see the discussion as the relevance of a short smoothing plane in the context of the modern paradigm that most of us operate within, of preparing boards initially with machines. In this context the board starts the hand planing phase substantially flat and requires planing along its full length to the entire width to remove the scallops. In this context the length of the plane is unimportant, unless other factors dictate choosing a particular size or shape of plane, for example weight or simply personal preference.

I think several people have made basically the same point in different ways that a shorter plane can comply to a tighter arc (and therefore greater surface irregularities) than a longer one, as I stated in my OP. Where partial planing of a surface is needed this is clearly an essential characteristic.

I think the historical origination of the sizes of planes is interesting, but only relevant if one works in a handtool exclusive way. Just because in its historical context a smoother was a particular length doesn't mean that should remain the case if its role has shifted over time.

Anyway, having re-read this I'm actually starting to bore myself now, so I don't hold out much hope for anyone else! :roll:

Cheers, Ed.

 

[tnimble]

No, can't say I would aree at all. It is saying before we got power planers, all woodwork was rubbish, boards prepared with hand planes had such a bad surface that it is only possible to get tearout and all away with very short planes.

You can't go look at a board a few hudrerd years old and because now its warped a bit that was always the case. Wood moves, especially when back then they worked on questimately air dried and green wood, the piece has seen a lot of use and abuse and may have been stored appallingly in a leaky shed. Lets not forget the wonderful pieces of fine furniture around from centuries ago that do have perfect flat surfaces, glass like finishes and crips and clean joints.

Also lets not forget the so called traditional no 1, 2, 3and 4 smoother planes have a short history starting in 1869. Lets also not forget the longer and havier 'traditional' smoothers came around in the 1880ies. What did the people use before that? People like Boulle in the early 18th century, what did our very sophisticated middle eastern friends use around the 14th century and before?