securing wood for face planing

[adrian]

When I start working on a rough sawn board, I might want to plane it across the grain (traversing). I might switch to planing on the diagonal. Lately I've been working some curly material with a toothed blade on the diagonal. And then the final finishing strokes are with the grain.

I tend to find that I can secure the work for planing with the grain using a bench dog at one end and the Veritas wonder dog at the other end. This usually works if the board is not too wide and if the ends are not to far off from straight. Failing those conditions, the board can twist free when the plane isn't lined up with the dogs.

The problem of twisting becomes more more serious with planing diagonally, and especially across the grain. If I don't have dog holes in just the right place then I can't secure the ends of the boards and if I plane perpendicular to the grain beyond the dogs the board twists. So then it's necessary to clamp from the front at each end. It seems kind of complicated.

Planing on the diagonal seems creates a similar twisting problem because the planing direction isn't directly towards the supporting dogs.

The twisting problem for perpendicular planing could be solved by screwing a long stop to the bench (longer than the workpiece), but this would prevent me from putting shims under the workpiece to keep it from flexing and moving.

Is there a way of securing the workpiece so that I can plane in any direction, or do I have to use different methods for different planing directions?

What methods do you use for securing the wood for face planing?

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Just clamp a backing board to the side (scrub plane used here) ...

Under the shavings here are planing stops ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[adrian]

So in the first picture you have the board in the back clamped down and then you're using the vise to clamp from the front? Is that right? So this board could slip along the direction of its grain but appears secure in the perpendicular direction? (I use the word "appears" because I frequently think I have things secure but then they find a way to pivot or move)

If I have it right, does this mean you've got a T-shaped fixture in the vise, with a board for the vise to grip and the actual stop board secured to the top of it?

My experience with clamping a stop down is that eventually the stop moves. Do you find that this is not a problem? (Because of this I've always tried to get the stop to be backup up by a dog or otherwise supported, but this reduces the flexibility in positioning the stop.)

 

[xy mosian]

I've got a sort of feeling this could be a really daft question

Anyone tried vacuum clamping?

xy

 

[adrian]

"I work entirely with hand tools"

"What's that loud noise?"

"Oh, that's the 2 hp vacuum clamping system" :?


Would this requires a special bench with holes in it?

 

[xy mosian]

Adrian, it probably would. I have used a domestic vacuum cleaner to clamp pieces down during routing operations. No idea what the pressure was, or indeed the motor size although I doubt it was anything like 2hp. One of the snags might be the tendency for the vacuum to pull the material into a dished shape. I did say I thought it might be daft.

Like you I am tending towards hand techniques, I like to hear the birds sing etc., and I think a closer contact with the wood. Fortunatly I don't mind nailing things to my cheap, easily replaced bench top, so my own solution could well be stops nailed to the bench where appropriate. Perhaps a removable sacrificial top, 3/4" chipboard, to nail stops to?

xy

 

[Boz62]

Can I suggest a look at Workbenches by Christopher Schwarz? He has an extensive chapter looking at ways to clamp different things for different jobs, and why some work better than others.

Boz

 

[adrian]

I've read the Schwarz's workbench book. I made the planing stop from that book, and I've found it works pretty well. (This is a long piece of 1/4" thick material screwed to a board that fits in the vise. You can tip it up if the workpiece is thicker so that the support is not so low. I find I have to really crank the vise tight to make sure it won't slip.)

I haven't had so much luck with some of the other things in his book. It inspired me to try holdfasts, but the only holdfast that actually seems to hold on my bench is the expensive Veritas one. The less expensive type that you whack with a mallet seem secure, but the materials tends to slip.

I tried using battens as shown in that book, but they inevitably move around. (This is securing the wood for cross grain plaining with a pair of long narrow boards that are oriented perpendicular to the board and held down with holdfasts.) These seem like they'd be great if they worked because you can position them anywhere, so you can put them right at the ends of the board, which eliminates the twisting problem. Of course, some way of clamping from the other side and ends is still needed.

Hmmm. I just thought of the idea of lining the battens with leather. I wonder if that would help with the slipping problem.

 

[Boz62]

Interesting to hear your experiences. I've never tried holdfasts. But I have stuck sandpaper to clamped battens to get around slippage problems in the past.

Boz