Planing timber - what am I doing wrong?

[Jensmith]

Well, much to my delight I have finally got a flat, planed surface in my plank of wood. It's not been straight forward though - lack of experience being the problem.

I got my very nice Stanley 5 1/2 from Karl which is making it a lot easier but what I've noticed is that I seem to be taking off more at the ends than I am in the middle and I was wondering what I'm doing wrong.

I am attempting to apply even pressure and lift off at the far end of the plank. The shavings are also paper thin and seem to be relatively even. They are long strips which I know they should be.

I also seem to manage to take off far more in the far right corner from me than anywhere else. I can't quite work out what I'm doing wrong.

I have managed to get one side flat and as the plank was too long I could cut off the worst bits. I needed too anyway as the ends wern't great. Still have the edges and the other side to sort out.

Any ideas?

Jennifer,

 

[Pvt_Ryan]

for the sides, put your thumb on the toe and curl your fingers underneath using them to keep the plane level.

If you are taking more at then edges in than in the middle, try using less pressure on the heel and start some of the cuts from further in. Might be easier if you get a hold of a #7.

Try 3 strokes from further in and then 1 or 2 that run the whole length to flatten.

 

[Jensmith]

Thanks Ryan, that helped a lot. Got both edges sorted now and going to rip it to thickness tomorrow on the bandsaw.

 

[Jacob]

.....I seem to be taking off more at the ends than I am in the middle
...

The age old answer to this is to deliberately try to take more off from the middle as though you want a dip. It'll end up straighter than you expect. And keep looking at it as you go.
The other age old answer to planing probs is to have a lot of practice and waste a lot of wood. If you burn wood always plane it on all four sides before you stick it (and the shavings) in the stove.

PS and ALWAYS cut to length and rip to width BEFORE you start planing - with an allowance for waste say 6mm or so over size.

 

[Muina]

Yea, I had the same problem a while back, planing a straight edge for gluing up panels.

I got some brilliant information here, if you search the threads for "Planing a straight edge" under the Hand Tools section it's about 5 or 6 results down.

If you don't want to read through the endless discussions though the basic idea is to take what are called "stop shavings". This is basically starting the cut about an inch or so from the beginning of the board and ending it about an inch from the end, then do the same a bit further in until the plane stops cutting. Once it does you can start taking full length shavings until you get one long shaving and then stop, you should have a flat edge.

Oh and make sure you're not taking too heavy a cut or you'll end up with practically no wood left (I learned the hard way), also the thinner the cut the straighter the edge will end up being.

Hope this helps

Anthony

 

[Jensmith]

Thanks Jacob and Muina.

Muina I've read through the discussion and got the gist. Like you and Jacob suggest, I need to apply more pressure in the middle and aim for a dip.

I'll try the stop shaving method too.

 

[Karl]

Hi Jen

Stop shavings are the key - if you haven't seen David Charlesworths "Hand Planing" DVD, it is well worth watching.

Cheers

Karl

 

[bugbear]

I need to apply more pressure in the middle and aim for a dip.

If you visualise what the motion would be if you were planing a MASSIVE dip (say a 6" dip in a 3' length), and TRY (and fail) to do that, you'll get the pressure right auto-magically.

BugBear

 

[o_LuCaS_o]

Hi!

I didn't want to start a new thread on planning stock, so I'll hook up to this one.

I encountered a problem with getting a square and true board. I want to make a box. I had a ca. 1" (26mm) thick board of ash, which I saw into three parts: 2*sides (ca. 4"x8") and 1*bottom/top. Next I took the side pieces and thicknessed them for re-sawing. I re-sawed the side pieces two get two sides from one piece of about 3/8" (10mm) thick with a grain match. After re-sawing...which wasn't the nicest job I've done , I flattened one face of each side piece and left them over night. I checked the flatness about a thousand times. Today, I wanted to plane the pieces to the final thickness. I planned one piece. Then I planned the second matching piece and started to compare the pieces together. One was a little thicker, so I took the calipers, to check the difference. Suddenly I realized, that the piece is thicker in the middle than on the sides, which seemed strange to me, because the reference side was flat and, I made just a very slight hollow in the middle of the width while thicknessing. I checked the reference face and it turned out, that it is significantly bowed. There is now so much of a bow in the reference face, that I'd have had to notice it yesterday. What happened? The board has been insides for a long, long time. Is it some kind of hidden tension? If yes, than how do others manage to do anything with re-sawing and thicknessing a board. Or maybe there is something with me, that I can't see a bow in the evening and notice it in the afternoon.

I the any strategy for this task? I'm a little bit sad, because all of my work (the never-ending re-sawing ) has gone to the trash and I don't know how to accomplish this work with success.

Regards,
Lukasz.

PS. I know that the metric scale is now used in UK, but is it really popular or just official? Do British still understand inches? What scale should I use here?

 

[barkwindjammer]

Hi Lukasz, it sounds like you need to put some hurry into the work-leaving timber lying around -even indoors it will move and cup, if you need to leave it for some time then try putting thin sticks (in stick) under it and between boards to let the air get around it. Good luck

 

[spannermonkey]

I always though that If I was taking off more at some points that this meant the wood was not flat. I have learned by this thread it may not be the case so thanks.

 

[Sawyer]

Lukasz.

PS. I know that the metric scale is now used in UK, but is it really popular or just official? Do British still understand inches? What scale should I use here?

It's not popular with me, Lukasz. I use metric a lot, but only because I often have to. Once I'm in the workshop, it's feet and inches every time.

I find imperial measurements somehow more 'organic' and far pleasanter to work with, but realise that I'm one of a steadily decreasing minority.

I'm not that old by the way, having begun my woodworking career young, around 1985 and in those days - years after the UK officially went metric, there were still loads of us using inches. As late as 1992, I was asked at a job interview "can you understand imperial measurements?" I got the job!

Amongst British woodworkers, I'm probably one of the last feet & inches devotees as I doubt if anyone younger still prefers it. Guess I just have to move with the times and accept the reality

Should be plenty of friends from 'across the pond' to keep me company though :?:

 

[Benchwayze]

I find that when I am buying timber for a project, I use metric. That way I don't buy any more excess timber (above the normal 15% for wastage) than I have to, .
When I do the job, I resort to Imperial.

So it's a boon, that I know 100 mm = 1cm. (Errrrmmm.. Hang on a bit.... ) Hmmmmmmmmmmm! :mrgreen:

Regardez Vooo


John

 

[DTR]

I've always been comfortable with either metric or imperial since I was a child. When I started my engineering apprentiship in 2001 we worked almost exclusively in imperial.

 

[bosshogg]

I work to + - a ba'hair until it's spottydug...bosshogg

 

[Jacob]

..........I took the side pieces and thicknessed them for re-sawing. I re-sawed the side pieces two get two sides from one piece of about 3/8" (10mm) thick with a grain match. .....

You should saw to thickness, length, width, BEFORE thicknessing.
If splitting boards as you are doing then leave them about for a few days (or longer) somewhere warm and dry, before going near a plane.
Getting two 10mm boards from one 26mm is a bit ambitious. You expect to lose 3mm at least from each face i.e. (2x10)+(4x3) = 32mm as the better starting thickness.

 

[o_LuCaS_o]

Hi Jacob!

You expect to lose 3mm at least from each face i.e. (2x10)+(4x3) = 32mm as the better starting thickness.

Thanks for the response. You count the 3mm per face for cutting (kerf and saw wondering) as well or only the cupping/tension release? Would the calculation be also true for using a bandsaw?

Regards,
Lukasz.

 

[Jacob]

Hi Jacob!

You expect to lose 3mm at least from each face i.e. (2x10)+(4x3) = 32mm as the better starting thickness.

Thanks for the response. You count the 3mm per face for cutting (kerf and saw wondering) as well or only the cupping/tension release? Would the calculation be also true for using a bandsaw?

Regards,
Lukasz.

3mm from a sawn to a planed face (as a rule of thumb) so yes I forgot to include your saw kerf width. 32m might not do it.
It's very variable though, and we've all tried (and often failed) to get more than we should expect from a piece of stock.