planer

[CW]

[Michael Campbell]

How do you get the FIRST side flat? Planers only make sides parallel, no? You joint by hand?

-- Michael Campbell

[Norman D. Crow]

Very carefully! I've done a fair amount of rough lumber w/my DW733(?)(The older DW planer) before I had a jointer. If it has any cupping, put convex side up, VERY light cuts so the feed doesn't compress the cupping until you have it flat enough to turn over & work other side. Won't work if the wood is too twisty/bowed, but then again, the jointer isn't going to cure serious problems like that either.

[bridger]

scrub plane.

[Pig]

I don't know, but I keep reading threads like this and I question how you can get parallel surfaces from using only a planer without first flattening one side of a board, whether by using a jointer or face jointing the board with hand planes.

Wood moves. S4S stock not freshly jointed and planed at the supplier and promptly planed to thickness at home will have cupping or twisting to some extent, and must be surfaced flat if you want to plane to a reduced thickness and have the faces parallel, IMHO. I suppose if you are only talking about 4 or 5 board feet of stock, you can fiddle-fart around with the techniques described using only a planer, but I simply can't imagine preparing 20 bd ft of stock or more that way. Planers go hand in hand with jointers, or with a scrub plane, jack plane and smoother. My first jointer was 6", and I had three 8" wide rough 4/4 figured maple I wanted to make into a panel and couldn't see ripping it in half to face joint, and thus did it by hand, about 10 bd ft, and believe me that was a bit of a workout.

Mutt

[George]

Well, think about it. Assume worst condition - wind (long "i"), which can be repaired by knocking down the high corners by a jointer or hand plane, or by hand feeding a planer, holding the stock flat to the table as it enters and leaves, the interior not even touching. Pretty much as on a jointer.

Second, crown, which can be done by knocking the center down by hand, or, as others have mentioned, by setting your planer so thin that it barely feeds, if, you have an iron planer with a serrated infeed roller, or so it won't feed at all on a lunchbox with rubber rollers, and taking the first pass or two by hand..

You can also make a sled for the absolute worst case, shim and feed. to take care of anything.

With thin wood, you use grooves or other methods in the legs/frames or rabbet a fixed distance from the flat face to take care of cup and twist which can still be in the board.

You must also realize that the wood on most furniture made before machinery was not made with parallel sides, often with just scrub on the back of the board where it wasn't seen. The only important fit was on the front, and construction was planned to put the best face forward.

[CW]

Find a dictionary and look up the word "parallel" then try again.

[CW]

[Vic Baron]

The planer is the only tool that will make both sides parallel. Jointing can be done manually or sometimes with a router. I bought the planer first and used the router for edge jointing. Next purchase was the jointer.

Vic

[Vic Baron]

Boy, I can ditto that sentiment. I found myself out of 1/2 in stock one weekend and found out the hard way what it costs for 1/2 drawer stock. Next time it happened, I resawed a piece of clear 2x4 and ran it thru the planer. Whole helluva lot cheaper than buying it.

Vic

[Pig]

Beggin' your pardon, but two planes that don't intersect are indeed parallel. First plane is the top face of the board, the second is the bottom face of the board. If one face of the board is skewed, extended out enough distance it will intersect with the other face. I don't understand your comment at all.

Mutt.

[Pig]

Oh, believe me, these techniques are very valid and do work, but to my taste it's just too much fiddling around for "normal" stock prep. when otherwise I'd just give it a few passes on the jointer and plane away. I've got a sled with shims that I have used to surface one side of really wide (+12") stock on special occasions, and it works really well. I guess I'm just too linear minded and like to start off with square and parallel stock....

Mutt

[Michael Campbell]

Good deal. I have some hand planes, + a (powered) planer. But no powered jointer. I'm a beginning hobbyist, so wanted to give it a go by hand before I tried trading cash for skill. Thanks for the encouragement. =)

-- Michael Campbell

[CW]

Helps if you quote what you are replying to.

[WillR]

would be nice -- but currently no room. I use the drum sander and fence=20 as a jointer -- 60 grit works marvels at flattening most boards. :-)=20 Used in combination with a Taiwanese style Jack plane and smoothing=20 plane (and sometimes a Stanley smoother) most boards can be brought into =

shape -- eventually. It's slower than a jointer -- but results are just=20 as good.

I started with a table saw, then added a Band saw, a (good) router and a =

drum sander, a planer and a scroll saw.

Heaviest use goes to the table saw, followed by the drum sander followed =

by the router. However, as I have added these tools it has become easier =

to do each project.

I got this Drum Sander kit kit and the top and built the rest -- you can =

see it on the web site in the sig line...

R. Jewel Boxes and Wood Art power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those=20 who have not got it.=94 George Bernard Shaw

[Juergen Hannappel]

[...]

That is one with the big cross pin for an extra grip trhrough the wooden body? How do you like that compared to other handplane styles?

[George]

Good scrub and jack will run you two thirds the price of a jointer, and still won't do a credible job on the edge. So where's the tradeoff?

Scrub and jointer.

[CW]

I use a jack for edges all the time. Works great. Have use a #4 for the same purpose with fine results. Odd how woodworkers seem to thing planes have to be the size of aircraft carriers when metal workers flatten comparativley huge surfaces with scrapers. Good jack and scrub (converted #4) less than $100.00 off ebay.

[WillR]

Actually these are the planes.

may have been thinking of these... The Hink Kong Style. I will buy=20 one eventually. wooden block planes are easy to adjust and simple to use. (pull them)=

Saw them demonstrated at Lee Valley, bought one, then bought two more.

--=20 Will R. Jewel Boxes and Wood Art

power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those=20 who have not got it.=94 George Bernard Shaw

[Juergen Hannappel]

[...]

mind, you can get them up to jointer size. I have a hollow, a round and a small spokeshave from that manufacturer, as well as a HSS brazed to mild steel iron for my 1942 wooden jack plane ...

Thanks for the info, I also consider getting some of this kind...