I am getting a little frustrated with my ability to use a plane. It seems that when I use a plane I tend to skew the board to the left, then I have to go back and take the right side down. It just seems that I should be able to get a more square cut out of my planes. I use an old Stanley with a Hock blade, a Craftsmen and Veritas planes they all respond the same way. There for I assume the problem is operator malfunction, which has to be repaired not R&Red.
Thanks for your help.
- A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
Replies
I presume that you mean that you are planing any given board with any plane you own thinner on the left edge than the right. It would be helpful to me to know if you are trying to rough dimension rough sawn lumber or merely cleaning up a board that has been through a power surface planer. This will affect my answer.
With best regards,
Ernie Conover
Ernie,I have my dominant trouble when rough planning although at times I have trouble keeping a squared edge square when touching up a board edge. The only problem I have with a board face is planning against the grain sometimes. The face planning can be corrected by taking a thinner slice & keeping the blade sharp and the blade square in the plane. I believe this is the information you need.A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
George Bernard Shaw
Rough dimensioning of lumber with a plane takes some skill. Firstly you should always attempt to plane with the grain but you have gained the insight for against the grain work. Take a thin chip and keep the cutter sharp. Additionally putting a slight crown on the blade so that the corners do not leave lines is good practice. I suspect that you are always trying to plane with the grain of the board. Correct technique for planing up rough stock by hand is to check with winding sticks, then plane at alternating 45° angles to the board. That is a 45° (or so) angle across the board. On a very bad board with a large crown or twist you start with a roughing plane. Put a heavy chamfer on the far edge to avoid bad breakout as the plane exits the edge. You only go with the grain at the last, when you have the board flat with 45° strokes. Check now and then with winding sticks.As to making an edge square to a face this is strictly technique. The tick in planing an edge is to place the plane down (I often hook my little finger around under the plane and just touch the board to help me guide the plane straight) and take a continuous chip end to end. If the edge is for glue up a jointer plane (#7 or #8) is in order. With these planes we grind the cutter square like a chisel so as to have the most accurate surface possible for glue up. Once we have a chip of the same thickness end to end check with a square. If out of square throw your regulator to the low side. This will cock the blade so that you take more material off the high side. Take successive passes until you have a chip end to end and the edge is square. By this method you are using your tool to correct the problem. Trying to hold the plane square will only correct the problem at the start and things will go from bad to worse. I hope these thoughts help you. Let me know how you do and I will help any way I can as you progress. Planing is a skill and not luck and takes practice to acquire. When someone commented on Arnold Palmer’s luck he said, “The more I practice the luckier I get.” Or as Louis Pasteur often commented, “chance favors the prepared mind.” With best regards,
Ernie Conover
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