Blisters

[Brian Kincaid]

So, I've been spending some time with my planes flattening resawn oak. A couple of observations and then a few questions:
1) I suck at this
2) I'm using my #8 to flatten and remove most of the stock and then my #4 for final finish
3) Wow waxing the sole makes a world of difference
4) I have some pretty bad blisters on both palms

Questions
1) It takes me about 20 minutes to flatten a board (one side) after a resaw, seems like too long but if I adjust my #8 for a deeper cut it will dig and I won't be able to push it. Any suggestions for a faster flattening and finishing?
2) Is blistering normal eg do you guys have calluses (sp?). If not any suggestions for my technique? Hoping for someone with experience on this one.

Thanks!
Brian

[Harlan Barnhart]

I am by no means the most experienced person on this forum but for what its worth... Try a fore plane. By that I mean a narrow (or at least narrower than a #8) plane with an open throat and some camber on the blade. It seems tempting to maintain a nice surface as you work toward flat but it is a waste of time. Level with a plane meant to level, then surface with a plane meant to surface. You will kill yourself leveling with a smoother.

[David Gendron]

Harlan is totaly right!!

[philip marcou]

As Harlan has said, but especially in the case of Oak I would want to use a heavier smoother such as a #4.1/2 instead of that #4. In fact I like the #5.1/2 for most things....with spare blades it doesn't have to be a jack plane.
You could also think about a scrub plane if you feel the urge to do much more of this (painful) work. This plane has a radiused blade, open mouth and is light and narrow to enable one to take thick shavings without undue effort-then use your #8.

[Pam Niedermayer]

A board can get pretty messed up in the process of building something, so I tend to not get excited about smoothing boards pre-assembly. Of course, this doesn't apply for those finished items I can't comfortably smooth, like floor boards.

Pam

[Bill Houghton]

It took me way too long (pre-Internet) to learn a little bit about intial stock reduction, including:

1. Planing across the grain, even at 90 degrees, is fine, and removes serious amounts of wood.
2. It's OK - in fact desirable - to curve the edge of your plane iron for this purpose. This, and the cross-grain work, will leave furrows in your stock. You then apply more precise tools to smooth them out.

I tend to limit my No. 8 to what it does best, which is getting work - whether edge or surface - as close to dead straight as my skill permits. It is, in an odd sense, a finishing tool - if your work is way out of straight, you should use a lighter plane to remove the worst of the out of straightness. Note that this may not apply if you customarily bench press 250 pounds every time you get a chance, but it sure applies to the rest of us.

Are the totes and knobs on your planes wood? If they're plastic, replace them with wood (lots of aftermarket sources, or you can make your own). If they're wood, consider sanding off the finish, sanding them smooth, then waxing them. They won't be quite as pretty, but the smooth lacquer finish can generate friction blisters. You may also be gripping too tightly - you want to have a firm but relaxed hold on the tool (this is, in fact, a good general rule for tool holding). I understand from horse folks that it's similar in intensity to the grip on the reins, and I know from personal experience that it's similar to the grip used on custodial floor polishers, which will wipe you out if you grip too tightly; so it may be a good general rule in life.

[Bob Easton]

As others have mentioned, the #8 is sub-optimal for thickness reduction. Save it for flattening the rougher work done with a curved blade. It works fast for that kind of work (knocking the tops off of scallops).

As for blisters, maybe you've worked too hard? I find that frequent planing sessions keep some calluses well formed. They disappear within a few weeks of disuse, but appear again quickly when I get back to work. If I have not been planing for some time, I wear thin cloth gloves for the first session while the calluses start to form again. No blisters.

[Robert Rozaieski]

Questions
1) It takes me about 20 minutes to flatten a board (one side) after a resaw, seems like too long but if I adjust my #8 for a deeper cut it will dig and I won't be able to push it. Any suggestions for a faster flattening and finishing?

Brian,

Twenty minutes is nothing to be ashamed of. As you get better at it and refine your own personal technique, your time will improve. I do one face from rough sawn to flat and finished in about 10 minutes but I've been doing it with only hand planes for years. When I first started planing all my lumber by hand it used to take me over 30 minutes to do one face.

You certainly can do your flattening with only a #8 after resawing, however, as others have said, it's not ideal. Ideally you would want two planes. First, a fore plane like a #5, #6 or my favorite, a wooden fore plane, set up to do the initial hogging and cross grain planing with a very sharp, cambered iron. Then you would follow up with your #8 which would have a less cambered iron (but still cambered) set to take a finer shaving, planing diagonal to and with the grain to finish flattening the board.

However, I don't think not having two planes is your problem. Having two planes set up differently saves some time, especially when you have a lot of planing to do, but for a single board, wouldn't make a lot of difference. You should be able to adjust that #8 to take a coarse or fine shaving with a turn of the adjuster. If you can take fine shavings easily but the plane digs when you try to take a coarser shaving, then there's probably a setup issue going on with the plane.

First, make sure the iron is very sharp. Once it is, make sure it beds solidly to the frog. If the iron is not fully supported close to the cutting edge, or if it is resting on the sole but not on the frog (like if the frog is a little too far back) it would likely take a fine shaving ok but when you wanted to deepen the cut, it would deflect under the additional pressure of the thick shaving and tend to dig, gouge and chatter instead of cut. When I used metal planes, I liked to make sure the bottom edge of the frog was just a hair forward of the sole of the plane to ensure that the iron was bedding solidly to the frog and not making contact with the sole, which would hold the iron up off of the frog if the frog were set a hair too far back.

Finally, make sure you are planing with the grain. If you look at the edge of the board, the grain should rise to the surface away from you in the direction you are planing. If it is rising up toward you, you are planing in the wrong direction and the plane is trying to lift the grain instead of cutting it cleanly. Sometimes you can get away with this when planing very fine shavings in very hard wood (like your oak) but if you plane softer wood or try to take a thicker shaving, it will just tear and gouge.

Try these fixes before running out and getting another plane. Simply buying another plane isn't going to solve the problems you are having with your current one, especially if it is related to technique (i.e. planing in the wrong direction).

2) Is blistering normal eg do you guys have calluses (sp?). If not any suggestions for my technique? Hoping for someone with experience on this one.

Thanks!
Brian

It can happen if you are holding the plane with your forward hand directly on top of the front knob. I'm assuming that this is the hand you are having most of the the problems with (it was for me). First, try putting the meat of your forward hand (the part under your thumb) sort of above and behind the front knob instead of putting your palm right on top of it. Don't necessarily grip the knob as much but use it more just as a place to rest the heel of your hand and push with an almost open hand. This will prevent the knob of the plane from rubbing back and fourth on your palm, which is what is causing the blisters.

As for the back hand, my guess is that you are death gripping the tote as that is the only way I can imaging getting a blister on that hand. The back hand really shouldn't blister. Try planing with a loose three finger gip with your index finger pointing down the side of the plane and again using the tote more as a resting place for the heel of your hand where the meat under your thumb is and pushing from there, not your palm. If you find yourself unconsiously death gripping the tote again, open your hand completely and plane with an open handed grip, forcing you to push with the heel of your hand and not your palm.

Of course a sharp plane should not require you to push very hard so if you find yourself having to use a lot of forward and/or downward pressure, your iron is likely not sharp enough.

Good luck!

[Brian Kincaid]

Thanks for the great tutorials. I took another swing yesterday with my 5, then later with my 3 before trying to smooth and flatten. Seems to work better, but I think I need to get to the next sharpening level before I expect better results.

Brian