Arthur Dent
Member
Hey all,
I'm a newbie and I'm sure like many, struggle with flattening stock. I've rewatched a few of the classic recommendations on YouTube a few times.. but I always find myself bewildered when I go to put it into action.
When you hold a steel ruler to a piece across the width, if it's truly flat is there actually no light, even when holding up to a LED roof batten etc?
I know it takes time lol.. but it's proving difficult to get the boards even close to being "lights out".
My method currently roughly entails the following:
1.) Pick a side to work on
2.) If convex in middle, scrub plane across the board to remove a lot of high spots.
3.) Quick check, then look for twist
4.) Try diagonal plane high spots from each end
5.) Check again, repeat as required.
6.) Try finish with No4/5 up and down, targeting areas that look high when glancing ruler at light
I feel like my boards are just getting thinner and thinner as it's a never ending cycle lol especially when I get to point 6 above..
Any tips greatly appreciated! I've watched Paul Seller's, Rex Kruger, Matt Estlea, Chris Schwartz and probably more in attempts to get me head around it lol..
I'll try post an example picture of my latest board to get some clarity a bit later
Cheers
I'm a newbie and I'm sure like many, struggle with flattening stock. I've rewatched a few of the classic recommendations on YouTube a few times.. but I always find myself bewildered when I go to put it into action.
When you hold a steel ruler to a piece across the width, if it's truly flat is there actually no light, even when holding up to a LED roof batten etc?
I know it takes time lol.. but it's proving difficult to get the boards even close to being "lights out".
My method currently roughly entails the following:
1.) Pick a side to work on
2.) If convex in middle, scrub plane across the board to remove a lot of high spots.
3.) Quick check, then look for twist
4.) Try diagonal plane high spots from each end
5.) Check again, repeat as required.
6.) Try finish with No4/5 up and down, targeting areas that look high when glancing ruler at light
I feel like my boards are just getting thinner and thinner as it's a never ending cycle lol especially when I get to point 6 above..
Any tips greatly appreciated! I've watched Paul Seller's, Rex Kruger, Matt Estlea, Chris Schwartz and probably more in attempts to get me head around it lol..
I'll try post an example picture of my latest board to get some clarity a bit later
Cheers