The Super Smoother thing...

[Jacob]

#-o Why does every thread involving planes, chisels and sharpening things end up in the same place? #-o

And with the same people......

Fair questions.
1 "same place" - perhaps because there's a long held cultural divide between a traditionalist approach (as represented by Sawyer's post above, which I also support) and a whole set of 'new woodwork' ideas with people fiddling with sharpening techniques, bevels, steels, expensive modern tools, which is fine except that they tend to be somewhat dogmatic (and irritable) about the various quasi-magic formulas they keep turning up with. There is a clue in their tendency to attack the messenger rather than attend to the message.
2 "same people" - because they (we) are the ones interested obviously.

All good fun though!

 

[Racers]

Or something to do with the green words in one of the above posts.

Pete

 

[SammyQ]

Oh dear, not so much droll as troll.........................AGAIN!!!

 

[Dodge]

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH CHAPS -LETS CALL IT A DAY THERE PLEASE BEFORE THIS THREAD DETERIORATES FURTHER.

ANY POSTS THAT DO NOT PROVIDE POSITIVE INFORMATION ON THE TOPIC WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE

 

[marcros]

Paul,

What plane is that one please?

Also not a question, but a good example there of the veritas wonder dogs in use.

Mark

 

[Racers]

Looks like a Veritas to me.

Pete

 

[Paul Chapman]

What plane is that one please?

Also not a question, but a good example there of the veritas wonder dogs in use.

Hi Mark,

It's the Veritas scraper plane. It comes with a thin blade which you can bow like the one in the #80 style scraper. You can also get a thick blade for it, which I have, but I prefer using it with the thin blade.

I saved two of the pieces when I cut the circle. I planed them a bit thinner, then slipped one piece over a bench dog

and used the other piece with two bench pups

It held the top really well

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[marcros]

Looks like a Veritas to me.

Pete

in which case, with the budget set at the more expensive of the two, would the veritas scraping plane or the veritas BU smoother be the better buy of the 2 for finishing an awkward table top? in short, could either be used for the job?

 

[Jacob]

Looks like a Veritas to me.

Pete

in which case, with the budget set at the more expensive of the two, would the veritas scraping plane or the veritas BU smoother be the better buy of the 2 for finishing an awkward table top? in short, could either be used for the job?

The veritas BU smoother (I've got one) is very good and better (as a smoother) than any of the BD planes, but may reach a limit on difficult wood - at which point a scraper is the next step. Or a ROS.
But doing the whole thing with a scraper looks like hard work to me.

 

[marcros]

i have a ROS, so may spend my hard earned on one of the BU smoother family then.

 

[Paul Chapman]

may spend my hard earned on one of the BU smoother family then.

If you are considering a bevel-up smoother, you might want to have a look at the LN #164 http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?grp=1256

I've recently bought one. It uses a modified Bailey-type blade adjuster which is nice in that you can advance the blade while using the plane. With the Norris-type of adjuster used on the Veritas BU planes, you need to slacken off the lever cap before adjusting the blade so as not to damage the thread over time, which I find a bit of a faff. Just a small detail but makes the plane much nicer to use when doing very fine work.

Haven't had a chance to compare it with the scraper plane yet for planing really difficult wood.

David Charlesworth has published quite a few articles in Furniture & Cabinetmaking on the use of scraper planes; steep angles on bevel-up planes; back bevels on bevel-down blades and is currently writing stuff on very closely set cap irons. They all concern dealing with tearout so might be worth reading if you haven't done so already.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[marcros]

cheers, i will have a look.

 

[Paul Chapman]

But doing the whole thing with a scraper looks like hard work to me.

It doesn't have to be, Jacob. In that example I posted, the boards were well prepared before glue up and they were carefully aligned with biscuits, so the top was very flat and I didn't need to remove much material. The shavings with the scraper plane were about the same thickness as they would have been if I'd used a smoothing plane and the scraper plane, if well sharpened, is not hard to push - probably easier than a smoother with a high effective pitch.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Racers]

Hi,

A scraper plane isn't difficult to push, and you can make your own for next to nothing.

Here's one I made earlier.

Pete

 

[marcros]

Hi,

A scraper plane isn't difficult to push, and you can make your own for next to nothing.

Here's one I made earlier.

Pete

do tell how, Pete, what did you start with, what did you add to it etc etc?

 

[Racers]

Hi,

Its just some bits of steel cut and welded together.

And a blade made from 3mm O1 steel.

That's all there is to it.

Pete

 

[Dangermouse]

i have a ROS, so may spend my hard earned on one of the BU smoother family then.

You could also consider this BU smoother / jack too

stanley-62-sweetheart-la-jack-plane-t67083.html
I think its stunning and at £88.00 inc postage a bargain.

 

[Jacob]

....With the Norris-type of adjuster used on the Veritas BU planes, you need to slacken off the lever cap before adjusting the blade so as not to damage the thread over time, which I find a bit of a faff. .....

Yes the Norris adjusters are hopeless. You just ignore them and use a little hammer instead.

 

[Dangermouse]

....With the Norris-type of adjuster used on the Veritas BU planes, you need to slacken off the lever cap before adjusting the blade so as not to damage the thread over time, which I find a bit of a faff. .....

Yes the Norris adjusters are hopeless. You just ignore them and use a little hammer instead.

Depends on how much of a hurry you are in.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

In my opinion, both David and Jacob are correct - it is just that neither have clarified the conditions for working the way they do.

Starting with the bottom line, if a panel is flat and smooth straight out of a preparatory stage, then there is no need for further smoothing. For example, whether using a power jointer or a hand jointer, flat and smooth is an end result.

If some finish work is required, such as removing minor scars, and if the panel is flat (as immediately off a jointer/thicknesser, then a #5 1/2 will work very well since it will not remove much from the dimension. If a surface is flat, even small localised areas can be planed. If I went down this path, the LV LA Jack would be my choice.

That is not my preferred method since much of what I do is worked by hand and/or needs careful attention as the wood is seriously interlocked. If there is moderate tearout, and I need then to protect the dimensions, the smaller/shorter the smoother the better. There is a reason a traditional coffin smoother was 6 1/2" - 7 1/2" long.

My preferred smoothers are LV SBUS (generally set with a 62 degree cutting angle), LN #3 (with 55 degree frog), and a 7" BU infill I built (60 degree cutting angle).

Regards from Perth

Derek