Hi, Emiliano,
From your comments it seems that you're fairly well up on what to do. You've made quite a rod for your back by limiting yourself to a No 4, when you really want a No 7, and the best "shortcut" I could advise is to bite the bullet and buy a No 7. It'll last a lifetime, and you'll never regret it. Having said that, what you're trying to do is not impossible but it certainly makes it more difficult. Make sure your plane is correctly fettled and set-up, and lube its sole often during your work with the stump of a candle or a bar of soap. In case you have any gaps, here's the sequence:
- Plane the face side flat and true. Make sure you're working on a flat surface, and keep your plane razor-sharp. Use straight-edges for straightness both along and across the width and winding sticks to ensure that there is no twist. A quick and dirty time-saver is to use the corner of the plane (between the sole and the side) as a straightedge across the width of the board. If you work facing the light, this will instantly show the high spots. As you approach flatness, crank back the cutter so that you take progressively finer shavings - this will help in flattening the hilltops while leaving the valleys, as well as leaving a better finish. When you can walk all the way along the board taking a tissue-thin shaving, the full width of the cutter and the full length of the board, it's about as flat as you're going to get it with that particular plane. Mark this as the face side.
- Put your stock in the vice and plane with the grain to form the face edge. Allow the fingers of your left hand to curl under the sole of the plane and slide along the side of the stock to act as a fence, concentrating on keeping the plane level. Check for high spots by checking frequently with your long straight-edge and squareness by checking with your square, using the face side as the reference. You asked about shortcuts - you may find this step easier if you make up a shooting board instead of using the vice. This will take care of the squareness at least, leaving you only the straightness to worry about. As you approach straight, set your plane
- Use your marking gauge from the face edge, gauge the width of the board. onto both faces and ends. This gives you a line on all sides of the stock to saw/plane down to, so it should be a bit easier than making the reference edge. You can use the shooting board again here.
- From the face side, mark up the thickness of the board onto the edges and ends of the board and plane down to these marks. I wouldn't be too particular about extreme flatness here, since you'll inevitably have some truing up to do after you've glued up.
- Crack a stubby and sharpen and lube your plane. Rub some methylated spirit into your hands to try to counteract blisters, and repeat another 5 times....
It may seem like a difficult task to achieve perfectly straight and square edges, but you'll quickly improve with practice. You can also be comforted by the fact that wood is fairly tolerant, and a few strong sash clamps when you glue up will do a lot to take up minor discrepancies in your straightness. The blisters don't last long either....
Best of luck,
Frank.
PS - re-read the bits about tuning, sharpening and lubing your plane, if nothing else. Nothing will discourage you more than trying to do a big job with a less-than-perfect plane
PPS - it may be easier to do your wide boards if you rip them in half and treat them the same as the others, particularly if they have any cupping.
process easier, keeping in mind that I am only using hand tools and only have a 10 inch plane.
all over 66 inches long (I will cut the sides straight and to measure after gluing), 3 inches high and of the following widths, 3.5, 3.5, 8, 8, 3.5,
3.5.