Replies

1. 
   eddiefromAustralia | Jul 11, 2003 01:11pm | #1

   Hi Tom,

   You could be on a hiding to nothing here.  Ideally, you plane from the corner into the centre of the box, but you also may need to plane with the grain. 

   All is well and good if the grain direction matches the planing direction.  If the grain is going against the plane, you may experience tearout.

   Above all, the plane should only be touching one face of the box - you could be cutting too much off if you've gone from a face to a side - all that I think you are trying to do is to remove the small amount of visible endgrain on each face. 

   Get it close with the plane and then sand off the final part.

   The L-N plane is high quality and definitely up to the job.  Also check that your iron is sharp enough to pare shavings of end grain off pine with no tearout and no effort - this equates to the iron being sharper than 'shaving sharp'

   Cheers,

   eddie

2. 
   Alan | Jul 12, 2003 08:45pm | #2

   Tom,

   I agree with Eddie's advice, especially that you should be very sure the iron is really sharp.  If you're new to hand tools it may be difficult for you to judge if your iron is truly sharp.  A properly sharpened iron, as Eddie wrote, will easily take shavings off of end grain.  Your iron should be sharper than hair-shaving sharp; the Newton test is another way to see if your iron is sharp.  Go easy stropping, it's very easy to dub the edge.

   Another thing to check is that the plane is set up to take the thinnest possible shaving.  Begin with the iron not quite cutting and then extend it, by quarter turns or so, just until the plane begins to cut.  The shavings should be extremely thin--thin enough to see through (NOT an exaggeration).

   Also be sure that the plane is properly tuned.  The mouth should be open just barely enough to pass the gossamer-thin shavings.

   Alan

3. 
   ian | Jul 13, 2003 03:30am | #3

   Tom

   without seeing a picture, I can only surmise.  I'm asssuming that the splines were orientated so that the grain of the spline went across the corner of the box.  Therefore the pieces to be trimmed were all end grain.  By tear out at the corners I assume you mean that the very end of the spline popped out of the slot.  I'll allow that the blade was very sharp, that the plane's mouth opening was very small and you aimed for an extremely fine cut.  You say you planned from inside --> outside.  My advice would be to take the spline down almost to the surface of the box using a sharp chisel, then plane from outside --> inside.  This way the end grain of the spline is always supported by adjacent timber as you trim it. 

4. 
   SgianDubh | Jul 13, 2003 04:29am | #4

   tryan, you're dealing with short grain problems in the splines. Either plane from the outside corner towards the middle of a side, or if that tears up the grain of the side because you're planing against the rising grain of the side, or plane across the grain from either the bottom corner of the box towards the top corner, and vice-versa so as to avoid breaking off the edges. Use a short elliptical motion, and finish with a scraper and sandpaper. It also makes sense to knock off the worst of the protruding splines with a saw prior to planing. Slainte.

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1. 
   GregB126 | Jul 13, 2003 06:16am | #5

   Tryan,

   It's a short grain problem, all right, and they couldn't possibly be shorter.  Think of what you're asking of the spline right at the corner.  It's just a tiny bit of wood with absolutely no (long grain) support.  Hopefully, the upper and lower surfaces, which are in contact with the slots cut into the box to accomodate it, have glue surfaces right up to the corners of the slots.  Those spline corners have to be treated very carefully.  If you plane from inside out, trouble is invited.  I like to do as much handwork with planes as I can, but sometimes sandpaper is better if it means more control and less chance of splintering and levering out the surface of the splines (which, granted, shouldn't be a problem if planing from outside into the center of the box side)  Also, make sure the glue is fully cured before planing or sanding flush.  The moist glue will swell the splines a little.  When it cures and dries, it will shrink just a little.  If made flush too soon, the shrinking will reveal itself as little indents into the slots.  No longer flush.  Boxes are fun, but anything which can be held in the hand will be picked up and examined.  Nice to have it all right.

   Cheers,

   Greg

1. 
   tryan | Jul 14, 2003 06:33pm | #6

   Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it and will apply to my next box project.

   -TomTom