Planing parallel sides?

[LFS19]

I was wondering what you do to make sure sides are parallel when planing.
After successfully getting all the faces flat and eliminating twist, I've managed to plane the board into a "/ \" sort of shape.
It's not really severe, but it's difficult to tell because I don't really know how to property check for it.

Any advice?

Thanks allot

 

[D_W]

Mark it all the way around with an accurate gauge and plane to the gauge lines. The art in doing it quickly is learning to get close with coarse work, and then doing low risk work just as you approach the mark so that you don't end up overshooting it to remove surface problems.

I have been planing cabinet sticking the last couple of weeks. I note that after jointing a board and cutting the cabinet sticking to size (when working by hand, it's easier to just plane the sticking separately rather than the entire piece first), that the entire piece is within several thousandths of the same thickness. As in, just work to the mark and you'll be surprised how accurate you can be without having to pull out micrometers, etc.

 

[LFS19]

Mark it all the way around with an accurate gauge and plane to the gauge lines. The art in doing it quickly is learning to get close with coarse work, and then doing low risk work just as you approach the mark so that you don't end up overshooting it to remove surface problems.

I have been planing cabinet sticking the last couple of weeks. I note that after jointing a board and cutting the cabinet sticking to size (when working by hand, it's easier to just plane the sticking separately rather than the entire piece first), that the entire piece is within several thousandths of the same thickness. As in, just work to the mark and you'll be surprised how accurate you can be without having to pull out micrometers, etc.

Thanks for the tips.
When using the guage, Will the fact that the guage is running across edges aren't parallel cause the mark to also not be parallel?

 

[Trafalgar]

True one edge. Set a gauge (regular or panel) to the desired width of the board. Saw wide of the mark and plane until the mark itself just begins to tear. Leave a few torn fibers from the mark, they disappear in later cleanup. If you plane through the trough of the mark (it's actually a small V), your board will be a smidgen too narrow. If only a small amount of wood to remove then don't saw, of course, just plane. If a beginner than make your gauge lines all the way around the board.

If the workpiece is too wide for your regular gauge then carefully measure and make a mark at both ends and one in the middle. Connect the marks with a straightedge and a marking awl. Process to width as above.

 

[Trafalgar]

Mark it all the way around with an accurate gauge and plane to the gauge lines. The art in doing it quickly is learning to get close with coarse work, and then doing low risk work just as you approach the mark so that you don't end up overshooting it to remove surface problems.

I have been planing cabinet sticking the last couple of weeks. I note that after jointing a board and cutting the cabinet sticking to size (when working by hand, it's easier to just plane the sticking separately rather than the entire piece first), that the entire piece is within several thousandths of the same thickness. As in, just work to the mark and you'll be surprised how accurate you can be without having to pull out micrometers, etc.

Thanks for the tips.
When using the guage, Will the fact that the guage is running across edges aren't parallel cause the mark to also not be parallel?

Register the gauge against a true, straight edge. You have to joint one edge straight first.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

The first thing to do is to visit the Classic Hand Tools website and obtain a copy of 'The Essential Woodworker' by Robert Wearing. It's a very well written and well illustrated guide to the basics of hand tool woodworking, and worth every penny. It covers the basics of planing up stock, including how to get faces and edges square and parallel. Link here - https://www.classichandtools.com/acatal ... Press.html

The procedure with a piece of rough sawn timber is first, plane one face flat and true. Next, plane one edge straight, and square to the planed face. Next, set a marking gauge to the width required, and using the edge just planed as the reference to run the stock of the gauge against, mark a line. It's best to do this in three or four passes, the first very light, the next a bit heavier, and so on until you have a nice mark. That's because most gauges want to follow the grain rather than parallel to the edge, so lightly defining the line first helps to overcome that tendency - the gauge is much easier to control when used lightly. Also, keep a good pressure against the stock, to keep it in contact with the reference edge. Once the mark is made, you can run a pencil down it make it a bit more visible if you see fit. Then, put the workpiece back in the vice, and plane off the waste, taking more care about straightness, parallel and squareness to the flat face the nearer you get to the mark. Lastly, set the gauge to thickness, mark all round, and bring the other face down to the mark - work on the highest bits first, and again, care about straight and flat the nearer you get to the mark.

Hope that helps a bit!

 

[LFS19]

True one edge. Set a gauge (regular or panel) to the desired width of the board. Saw wide of the mark and plane until the mark itself just begins to tear. Leave a few torn fibers from the mark, they disappear in later cleanup. If you plane through the trough of the mark (it's actually a small V), your board will be a smidgen too narrow. If only a small amount of wood to remove then don't saw, of course, just plane. If a beginner than make your gauge lines all the way around the board.

If the workpiece is too wide for your regular gauge then carefully measure and make a mark at both ends and one in the middle. Connect the marks with a straightedge and a marking awl. Process to width as above.

Got it, thanks for the tips.
Usually my aim is just to get the board square, so I shouldn't need to saw because, as you said, I wouldn't be taking off much material.

 

[LFS19]

Mark it all the way around with an accurate gauge and plane to the gauge lines. The art in doing it quickly is learning to get close with coarse work, and then doing low risk work just as you approach the mark so that you don't end up overshooting it to remove surface problems.

I have been planing cabinet sticking the last couple of weeks. I note that after jointing a board and cutting the cabinet sticking to size (when working by hand, it's easier to just plane the sticking separately rather than the entire piece first), that the entire piece is within several thousandths of the same thickness. As in, just work to the mark and you'll be surprised how accurate you can be without having to pull out micrometers, etc.

Thanks for the tips.
When using the guage, Will the fact that the guage is running across edges aren't parallel cause the mark to also not be parallel?

Register the gauge against a true, straight edge. You have to joint one edge straight first.

Understood, Thanks for your post,

 

[LFS19]

The first thing to do is to visit the Classic Hand Tools website and obtain a copy of 'The Essential Woodworker' by Robert Wearing. It's a very well written and well illustrated guide to the basics of hand tool woodworking, and worth every penny. It covers the basics of planing up stock, including how to get faces and edges square and parallel. Link here - https://www.classichandtools.com/acatal ... Press.html

The procedure with a piece of rough sawn timber is first, plane one face flat and true. Next, plane one edge straight, and square to the planed face. Next, set a marking gauge to the width required, and using the edge just planed as the reference to run the stock of the gauge against, mark a line. It's best to do this in three or four passes, the first very light, the next a bit heavier, and so on until you have a nice mark. That's because most gauges want to follow the grain rather than parallel to the edge, so lightly defining the line first helps to overcome that tendency - the gauge is much easier to control when used lightly. Also, keep a good pressure against the stock, to keep it in contact with the reference edge. Once the mark is made, you can run a pencil down it make it a bit more visible if you see fit. Then, put the workpiece back in the vice, and plane off the waste, taking more care about straightness, parallel and squareness to the flat face the nearer you get to the mark. Lastly, set the gauge to thickness, mark all round, and bring the other face down to the mark - work on the highest bits first, and again, care about straight and flat the nearer you get to the mark.

Hope that helps a bit!

Thanks for your post and the link.

That makes allot of sense - I couldn't get my head round it at first.

I was also making a mistake with the guage too, I wasn't doing progressively heavier passes, but one heavy one, and wondering why it isn't working :roll:

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

True one edge. Set a gauge (regular or panel) to the desired width of the board. Saw wide of the mark and plane until the mark itself just begins to tear. Leave a few torn fibers from the mark, they disappear in later cleanup. If you plane through the trough of the mark (it's actually a small V), your board will be a smidgen too narrow. If only a small amount of wood to remove then don't saw, of course, just plane. If a beginner than make your gauge lines all the way around the board.

If the workpiece is too wide for your regular gauge then carefully measure and make a mark at both ends and one in the middle. Connect the marks with a straightedge and a marking awl. Process to width as above.

Spot on, and what helps me is to have the bevel of the gage towards the waste (flat towards the good) and work to the start of the beveled mark, then carefully clean up from there.