Jointing with Hand Planes

[Sam the Cat]

Bob, The bench was last summers project ;) Cheers

[Sam the Cat]

mp An old candle (from Ikea if LMOL remembers correctly) Cheers

[Conan The Librarian]

FWIW, I use paraffin (from the canning section of the grocery store) on my plane soles, and my planes levitate. :-)

I just "draw" a couple of "S" shapes on the sole with a hunk of the stuff that I always keep on my bench. It never gets sticky and it takes about a second to renew.

Chuck Vance

[Joseph Crowe]

By any chance, Jim Tolpin's Toolbox Book?? I'm going to build a variation of the wall-mounted toolbox for planes and chisels..perhaps two. It is very similar to a design I was planning on my own, mounted on french cleats and thus easily movable (not considering the weight)

I chose the cabinet because it will keep the handtools close at hand right at the end of the workbench.

[Layne]

It doesn't take a very experienced WWer to joint 8' boards at all. I'm a total neophyte and jointed 5' boards square and straight with a #6 plane. The key is a well tuned plane set to shave the finest shaving possible. I used a vintage Stanley with stock iron to plane tissue thin shavings. I'm not trying to brag, but rather telling you it's not rocket science. A bit of skill and knowledge is required, but it's not

*that* much. I think too many people are intimidated by it all when they really shouldn't be.

Layne

[Layne]

Try using liquid parafin wax, aka "lamp oil". Your plane will fly right out of your hand if you're not careful.

Layne

[J. Clarke]

Lamp oil is usually kerosene. The British call kerosene "paraffin" which might be the cause of your confusion.

[Pixmaker]

I'm not sure where this thread is going, but...

I'm no expert, but I can joint the boards for a table top quite well and quite accurately with an old, wooden jointing plane and a shooting board. It's no big deal...doesn't require years of skill, just a little thought and planning.

In fact, I have a shooting board clamped to my workbench all the time and often use it rather than walking over to the jointer.

That's not to say I don't use the jointer...I do. But edge jointing with a plane allows me to make very fine adjustments that are difficult with the jointer. And the quality of the jointed surface is far, far better than the machine-jointed surface.

DaveinFLL ========================== It's not the heat, it's the humidity! ========================== (..Think the humidity's bad? You should watch us vote!)

[AArDvarK]

He might also mean cheap modern lamp oil that is not kerosene. Comes in many colors, does not smell like hell itself... you know... Alex

[J. Clarke]

You mean the kind that lists on the label one ingredient, "odorless petroleum distillate, similar to kerosene"?