planes, shooting etc etc etc

[jlawrence]

Hi all,
One thing I've never learnt to use is a hand plane.
Does any one have any links to good videos for absolute beginners ?

Also, what actually is this shooting lark everyone refers to.

 

[dunbarhamlin]

Fine Woodworking will have something:
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ ... ool+Skills
Viewing is by subscription, but I'd say worthwhile.

DVDs generally available by:
David Charlesworth - Part 1 - Plane Sharpening, Part 2 - Hand Planing and Part 3 - Precision Shooting Simplified,
Chris Schwarz - Coarse, Medium and Fine and Building Furniture with Hand Planes,
Rob Cosman - Rough to Ready and Hand Planing & Sharpening

Less readily available are Jim Kingshott's Bench Planes and Special Planes
In spite of being advertised as Region 1, these DVDs published by Fox Chapel were actually Region 0, so globally usable.

Shooting (or chuting) is using a (generally shopmade) jig rather like a bench hook to easily ensure squareness and straightness by holding the stuff firm while running the plane in a rebate. Do a search - will find lots of references.
A good start would be AlF's - http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/shootingboards.html

 

[Pete W]

Keith Cruickshank at Woodtreks produces a series of excellent videos, and no subscription required.

Try this link to start with:
http://woodtreks.com/how-to-use-a-hand-plane/21/

There should be more on the right-hand menu.

A search here in the Hand Tools forum should bring up everything you need to know about shooting.

 

[Ironballs]

Derek's site is a good source for advice, I'll be using this to build my board

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTo ... oard4.html

 

[woodbloke]

Derek's site is a good source for advice, I'll be using this to build my board

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTo ... oard4.html

Just had a look through Derek of Oz's shoot site...lots of good stuff in there, 'specially like the restored Record T5 :wink: :wink: Alf (long departed of this parish) has also got some info on making a shoot on her site, worth a peek - Rob

 

[Paul Chapman]

As well as watching many of the excellent DVDs mentioned above, it's also worth attending some of the get-togethers that forum members organise from time to time so that you can learn directly from others who know how to do it.

I'd also recommend attending some of the shows, such as the events at West Dean and Westonbirt, (list of events here https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3239 ) and visiting the stands manned by people like Mike Hudson of Clifton planes and Denib Puchalski of Lie Nielsen. You'll be able to try their planes and see how a properly set up plane works - and they are always happy to pass on tips and experience. Here's a demo by Denib

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pxKo1vj ... re=related

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Ironballs]

Good point Paul, I spent a bit of time with Mike at the Harrogate Show when I was after a Clifton convex plane. He couldn't resist demoing their number 6 I think it was on a variety of evil grained woods, beautiful thin shavings flowed as did the great advice

 

[TobyB]

The woodtreks videos was a good link to find - thanks!

I've been using a shooting board recently - and squaring off I find fairly straightforward - almost easy - DEFINTELY better than doing this freehand with the wood held in a vice.

Been making a couple of mirrors and a picture frame however, and not quite so easy.

I cut the mitres fairly acurately with a Nobex hand mitre saw - but however accurate it seems, it's never spot on 45 degrees every time. So, cut close enough to the marked 45 line, and then used the 45 mitre on the shooting block. I copied ideas from threads here, so made sure the block is accurate using the sloppy bolt design.

But accurately shooting the mitre isn't as easy as the 90 degree. It's quite a wide frame (8 cms) and I wasn't cutting evenly. I think what's happening is that the weight of the 5 1/2 plane is pulling the wood forward along the board, so I cut more from the heel of the mitre than the toe.

Tried thinner shavings, tried the block plane as an alternative ...

Got there in the end - but took a lot of doing, checking, doing a bit more etc.

Do I just need a more powerful left hand grip? Or are there any tricks that might help me do this better?

Cheers

Toby

 

[Pete W]

But accurately shooting the mitre isn't as easy as the 90 degree. ... are there any tricks that might help me do this better?

If you suspect the stock is shifting as you work, you could attach a strip of fine sandpaper to your mitre fence (being careful to maintain the true mitre angle!) to help hold everything steady.