Stock Reduction and Straightening with a Jack Plane?

[GazPal]

Hi Gary,
Here's my current setup, please take a look and tell me how I can improve it :
180 grit sandpaper (which doesn't remove metal as quickly as I want it to :x )
1000/3000 combination waterstone for general sharpening
6000 and 12000 micro-mesh sandpaper for polishing

I was just about to place my order for the diamond paste. Maybe i could add something else to the order...

I guess it's not really because my sharpening setup is not good enough. It's something with my technique that's not allowing me to remove metal quickly on coarse sandpaper. IMO 180 grit should be quite coarse... Applying pressure to the corners only seem to round the corner off and I was still nowhere near the camber I wanted (10 inch in radius) after 20 minutes...

About oilstones... Well, IMHO waterstones are just as good as them so I don't think I'll need them for now

Thanks, I know I've been asking a lot of stupid questions

Sam

Hi Sam,

There's no such thing as a stupid question. I think you've got the aspect of edge honing covered by your 1000/3000 grit stone and needn't go any higher in grits apart from making yourself a strop and buying a stick of honing paste, but shaping/re-forming primary bevels is best done using courser stones and grinding wheels. Paper is fine for occasional use, but IMHO can cost far more in the long run than simply picking up a course 220 grit stone or courser. Water stones may well be just as good as oil stones and I don't dispute the pro's and con's involved in using either type, but you will find yourself replacing water stones far more frequently. Especially if trying to push their limitations by putting them to comparatively aggressive work. I still have and use oil stones I bought as an apprentice during the early 70's, which have sharpened and prepared more edges than I care to even try to remember and they're still going strong. I expect they'll also see quite a bit of use by my son and grandson when I'm dust and simply a memory.

Lacking a the use of a grinder I'd consider creating the camber and roughing-in the bevel using a flat file before refining the contour on stones.

It's all too easy for one to become overly focused on tools and sharpening instead of function and now is perhaps the time to concentrate on woodworking techniques using primary tools, rather than running ahead and buying a porsche before having enough fuel to put in the tank and learning how to start the engine. Keep it basic and you'll not go far wrong, plus save yourself money in the long term. :wink:

 

[bugbear]

Sam; if we can a step back here; what state of preparation are you buying your timber in? A scrub plane, or even a strongly cambered blade, is only needed (or preferred) for very substantial stock removal, when your workpiece is at least 1/4" (5mm) over your target dimension.

BugBear

 

[Jacob]

Thanks, I know I've been asking a lot of stupid questions

Sam

That's OK, but don't forget to buy some wood, along with the gadgets and gizmos! It's about making things you know. Once you start everything will fall into place (gradually) - particularly sharpening and the need to do it quickly and simply. Some never get far beyond sharpening as they have made it too difficult for themselves.

The term in the title 'Stock reduction...' can be misleading as woodworkers don't reduce 'stock' as such, instead they shape components. The only 'stock reduction' is sawing the component from stock, before setting about finishing it.
OTOH woodyards do reduce stock - planing sawn stuff to make PAR etc.

 

[woodbrains]

The term in the title 'Stock reduction...' can be misleading as woodworkers don't reduce 'stock' as such, instead they shape components. The only 'stock reduction' is sawing the component from stock, before setting about finishing it.
OTOH woodyards do reduce stock - planing sawn stuff to make PAR etc.

So when we reduce rough sawn stock to PAR, with a hand plane, we are not reducing stock, but woodyards are? Before surface planers and thicknessers were invented it was all done with hand tools, that was stock reduction then and it is now. In fact even the shaping of components will involve a certain amount of stock reduction.

In my experience, a scrub is best used to hog off a lot of material on wide boards, used diagonally across the board. For reducing narrow stock in the absence of a bandsaw, a jack set for a heavy cut, used along the length of the board is most efficient, aside being a good workout!

Mike.

 

[Jacob]

The term in the title 'Stock reduction...' can be misleading as woodworkers don't reduce 'stock' as such, instead they shape components. The only 'stock reduction' is sawing the component from stock, before setting about finishing it.
OTOH woodyards do reduce stock - planing sawn stuff to make PAR etc.

So when we reduce rough sawn stock to PAR, with a hand plane, we are not reducing stock, but woodyards are? Before surface planers and thicknessers were invented it was all done with hand tools, that was stock reduction then and it is now. In fact even the shaping of components will involve a certain amount of stock reduction.

In my experience, a scrub is best used to hog off a lot of material on wide boards, used diagonally across the board. For reducing narrow stock in the absence of a bandsaw, a jack set for a heavy cut, used along the length of the board is most efficient, aside being a good workout!

Mike.

What I meant was that beginner woodworkers might imagine that before they start a project they have to reduce stock and produce PAR like a woodyard does, and have a stock of PAR ready for use.
But we don't do this, we cut (saw etc.) close to finish size first and only then plane each component, separately, to size.
Pedantic I know, but I know someone who actually set about attempting to reduce his first load of timber, with his brand new PT, to long lengths of PAR, with disastrous results.
An easy mistake for someone who was used to buying PAR from woodyards. He wouldn't be the first.

 

[J_SAMa]

Sam; if we can a step back here; what state of preparation are you buying your timber in? A scrub plane, or even a strongly cambered blade, is only needed (or preferred) for very substantial stock removal, when your workpiece is at least 1/4" (5mm) over your target dimension.

BugBear

Hi bugbear,
It's some "planed and rounded" material. Well, thats what they say it is, but there is usually a major twist in it :evil: . The reason I want to reduce its width is because I want to get rid of the rounded edges, as I'm going to laminate it.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Twisted with rounded corners? CLS? If so, best of luck to you!