Preparing/Sizing Sawn Timber

[DarrenW]

Hello there,

Made a start on the console table (6th one down). Been off work all week and was hoping to get most of it done. Yeah right! The timber (air dried sawn english oak) has been sat in the house for a few months now so is nice and stable. Its a selection of 2" and 1" stock, most of it from the same tree.

So the reason for the post.... after 5 days of scrubing and planing I am cream crackered! Managed to get this done so far...

Luckily I borrowed my dads hand planer after the first day.... otherwise I would still be working on the 3 planks for the tops! Although I do find it hard to control at the start and end of the stroke... seems to dig in. Luckily all the planks were cut with plenty of waste on the ends :wink:

What do you guys normally do for preping stock? Do you go for PAR and does it tend to be reasonably flat, or does it still need alot of work? Or are you all kitted out with planer/thicknessers.... if so how do you keep the neighbours happy :wink:? The hand held planer is loud enough!

Small stock I can cope with quite easily by hand, but anything about 1m+ takes some work!

As usual, any advise would be much appreciated.

[Just as a side note, the shed is only 7ftx7ft so tight on space]

One thing I have learnt though is to sharpen regular! Nothing beats a nice sharp plane!

Cheers

Darren

 

[mr]

What do I do for preparing stock?

As far as I know theres only two of us on the forum (myself and Paul) who do all prep by hand. I dont know Pauls reasoning but mine is that its cheap, quiet, doesn't involve scary machines that work faster than I can think and it's fun. he downside is that it's time consuming and hard physical work. I started doing it because it was the cheapest entry point and because I felt that if I did move to machines later I would have an understanding of the basics that would be a good foundation. Then I realised I didn't like machines, didn't want to buy them (Id rather spend £300 quid on a hand plane than a machine planer) and so stuck with hand prep.

If you buy Par you might be lucky and find its flat and square, you'll also find it's expensive. You're right when you say hand preparation takes some work. Just think of the satisfaction though

In my opinion if you're short on space, short on cash, don't want to upset the neighbours, want to be able to work all night without disturbing people if the mood takes you - stick with the hand tools.

If you want to stay with the hand tools Id point you towards Rob Cosmans Rough to ready (ooer) and Chris Schwarz Coarse medium fine videos both good instruction. the latter having the edge I think in terms of content / value. The former showing one operation only in detail.

cheers Mike

 

[Andy Pullen]

Don't waste your time on the donkey work, get a planer.

 

[mr]

Don't waste your time on the donkey work, get a planer.

Kind of depends why you do it really
Cheers Mike

 

[Paul Chapman]

As far as I know theres only two of us on the forum (myself and Paul) who do all prep by hand. I dont know Pauls reasoning but mine is that its cheap, quiet, doesn't involve scary machines that work faster than I can think and it's fun.

Yep, same here. Can't really afford a planer, don't like all the noise and mess and, like Mike said, planing is fun and very satisfying. Machinery also tends to have more on-going costs than hand tools.

It's hard work but teaches you a lot about planes and planing. I now use three scrub-type planes - one is about the size of a #3 and the other two are modified #5 1/2 and #7 Records.

I'd also recommend Rob Cosman's DVD (haven't seen the Chris Schwarz one).

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Andy Pullen]

Planing is fun for small pieces but try making a profit on a door that has been planed by hand. IMO, even if you aren't doing it for the money it is nice to know that you can. Consistency is another reason to use a planer. I admit that apart from a block plane for the arrises i have no use for hand planes in my workshop but use a no 4 1/2 for shooting in doors on site to produce a leading edge. Each to their own, I have demands on my time. Regards Andy

 

[Sgian Dubh]

i have no use for hand planes in my workshop but use a no 4 1/2 for shooting in doors on site to produce a leading edge. Each to their own, I have demands on my time. Regards Andy

If that's the case shouldn't you really be using a hand-held power plane for that job, not a slow, old fashioned smoothing plane, ha, ha? Slainte.

 

[Anonymous]

With machines I could have done all that hard work in about half an hour max, I have to as time is money and unfortunately I now find no satisfaction in monotinous hand planing, my only plane used on a regular basis is a small stanley block plane. However I can see the satisfaction in working solely with hand tools when speed is not of the essense, so its horses for courses really.
What I don't really get is collectors, a little bit wierd, but each to their own.
If you found it boring get a planer, if you found it hard work but satisfying stick with hand tools you'll get quicker.

 

[Andy Pullen]

It's difficult to produce a good leading edge with a power plane and it's usually something simple like this that sorts the men from the boys. Most chippies dont bother these days, more's the pity.

 

[mr]

Each to their own, I have demands on my time. Regards Andy

Exactly so sir, I'm just an anal hobbyist
Cheers Mike

 

[Paul Chapman]

with hand tools you'll get quicker.

This is certainly true. When I started working with sawn timber like oak I thought, blimey, this is nearly impossible :shock: However, you soon learn that you need a plane set up quite differently from that used on planed wood or the sweeter-grained hard woods. There's a lot of scope for experimentation in this area and it's quite interesting finding ways of making your planing more efficient. Working almost exclusively with hand tools doesn't have to be the daunting task some would have you believe. It is unquestionably harder, in a physical sense, but it can be done. If you make a living from woodworking then the economics demand that you use machinery, but if you are lucky enough to do it as a hobby, then the hand-tool option is perfectly feasible.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[inventor]

There's a long thread on this topic here. Be aware that jointer/planer is American for planer/thicknesser!

You would struggle to fit a planer/thicknesser in your workshop, so persevering with other methods makes sense. A halfway house would be to buy a benchtop thicknesser. There's an article here that purports to show how to use a thicknesser for flattening the first side.

Personally, I persevered without a planer/thicknesser for years, and then succumbed to a very cheap deal. It was a good investment. The finish isn't great but I can get close and then a few hand plane strokes make it look good. It did transform what I can do.

In your situation, I'd take my wood to a milling shop. There are at least two suppliers near me (Jewson and Travis Perkins!) that still have a mill on site. Or, get friendly with a local joinery business.

Good Luck, Keep Going!

 

[DomValente]

Machinery also tends to have more on-going costs than hand tools.

Oh really, I would refer the honourable gentleman to certain posts in the hand tool section

Dom

 

[Paul Chapman]

Machinery also tends to have more on-going costs than hand tools.

Oh really, I would refer the honourable gentleman to certain posts in the hand tool section

Nice one, Dom :lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[DarrenW]

Thanks for all the replies.... In a way I was really checking to see if I was the only donkey doing it by hand! Nice to hear that I am not the only one. .

Do I find it satisfying? .... The starting off does tend to make me abit frustrated, but then once you break the back off a piece it does seem worth the effort.

As I'm not trying to make cash out of this (I can definately see why the pros have all the machinery) I think to keep the neighbours happy I'll stick with doing it by hand. Don't want to get meself an ASBO.

Also considering I sit at a desk all day its a good workout. I think I just need to be more realistic about how long projects are going to take me!

Might get meself one of those DVD's you mention!

As usual, thanks again for all the advise!

Cheers

Darren

 

[engineer one]

i agree with your comments about the power planer, so far i have never been able to run one along a door or similar without horrid snipe at the beginning or the end of the stroke, i think though it is practice.

mind you in my case it might also be joint weakness :lol:

i have a mafell ad160, and for some of my next work i will at least get the basics done there, before returning to hand work for final finish. there is another machine similar to this which is also sold be nma, but is around 200 quid. not sure what it is like, but for most of us i think 150 wide is generally enough most of the time.

however you can only get a good hand finish by practising so it is a bit of a catch 22. i note though that no one has suggested that you get a roughing plane. or maybe have a spare blade for the roughing work.
:roll:
paul :wink: