How do You Joint the Edges of a Board With a Plane?

[Steve H Graham]

I was fooling around with the Stanley #4 plane I fixed, and I decided to smooth out a push stick I made from scrap. I was very surprised at how nice the wood turned out to be. It seems like there is something about hand tools that brings out the beauty of wood. Or maybe I'm just really bad at using power tools.

The plane seems to be okay. It made chips that were clear, and they were as wide as the blade.

Anyway, I am wondering: what is the secret to getting the edges of a piece of wood square? Is there a jig or trick, or is it just skill?


06 13 15 stanley 4 hand plane and smoothed out push stick.jpg

[bridger berdel]

You can jig it several ways, use a fence or a shooting board, or lay the board flat on a known true surface spaced up a bit and run the plane on it's side. If the board is very big it is easier for me to clamp it on edge and run the plane sole down. I'll either use a fence or keep a small square at hand and check frequently.

I definitely prefer a longer plane for jointing.

[Tom M King]

Longer plane, and good eye.

[Pedro Reyes]

If I am jointing an edge to glue a panel, then I joint them ganged up in pairs, that way the angle does not matter as the angles will be supplementary (add to 180), yet I still want to keep it close to 90. On boards that will be edges, I use the methods described above.

/p

[Jim Matthews]

I can do it with a #4 as you've shown, but it's slow going.

Use a 4 foot level and light to show if there are gaps.

It's easier to 'match plane' or use a jig as Terry Gordon demonstrates below:

https://youtu.be/RbkdWMIBhNc

[Edward Miller]

Anyway, I am wondering: what is the secret to getting the edges of a piece of wood square? Is there a jig or trick, or is it just skill?

You can use shooting boards or similar tools to achieve squareness, but I generally don't unless the piece I'm working with is very thin. Instead, I check to see how the board is out of square, and then shift my plane toward the high side of the edge I am jointing. This only works if your plane blade is cambered--i.e. the cutting edge of the blade is slightly curved, so that the plane takes a slightly thicker shaving in the middle of the blade than on the edges. If it does that, then by shifting the plane toward the high side of the edge, you will make the plane take a bigger bite off the high side than the low side, which will bring the edge closer to being square.

[Brian Holcombe]

This is what I do for thin stuff;

[Jim Koepke]

Anyway, I am wondering: what is the secret to getting the edges of a piece of wood square? Is there a jig or trick, or is it just skill?

There are a lot of different answers to this question depending on what is being squared.

For end grain a shooting board is not essential, but it sure is a big help.

For edge grain to facilitate joining to boards into a panel then there are a lot of tricks or jigs as described above by others.

For short pieces in the 2' or less, then one can do the work with a #4 or 5 plane. Some will argue the possibility of joining longer boards with these, but it isn't the easiest way to go.

For the question of getting the edges of a piece of wood square, a method which works for me is to check the piece for square once any saw marks are other roughness is removed. The piece is checked at various points along the length. If it is angled to one side, my plane is tilted toward the high side to take a narrow shaving from the high side. The width of the shaving depends on how out of square the edge in combination with how thick a shaving the blade is set to remove. After the first pass there is a narrow edge the plane can ride on to make a slightly wider shaving. This is repeated until the shaving is the full width of the work piece and then it is rechecked and the procedure is repeated as needed.

After doing this a few times my planing got much better and it isn't done as much. That is one way to build ones skill.

The clamping of two boards together to make a mating edge has one drawback for people just starting with hand planes. There is a tendency to end up with bowed boards. The edge angles may be complimentary, yet if the two pieces are convex or concave they will present a problem when it is time to glue them together.

In the long run, every method has its merits and problems. It is a matter of finding what works best for your own needs and then perfecting your skills.

jtk

[Brian Holcombe]

I find for some pieces it's good to have a wide reference area of your bench. Over and above have the requisite straight edges and winding sticks I find this important as a quick check for accurate work of small and medium sized pieces.

The end 'breadboard' of my bench is 4" x 4" x 40" and it is flat and square, so it's checked regularly and then I use this as a quick check for taking the twist out of parts and checking them for flatness.

[Steve H Graham]

Thanks for the help. Sounds like it's okay to cheat.

[David Ragan]

Thanks for the help. Sounds like it's okay to cheat.

Steve, this comment struck me as odd

I don't see any cheating-anywhere in WW..... real cheating is when I tried to use epoxy, and the joint failed

It was a small frame joint-2 frames, 8 joints, I redesigned it (in total about 4 times), and got it to work.

Some folks like Hand, some power tools; IMO, all are 'hand made'

The purists out there would eschew the use of screws, I'm sure-but I use them, and then plug.

Hey-I know the error of my ways, and am thinking about giving them up except for jigs, etc.

As for your question, Hand tools are simply a beautiful experience. I normally use a power jointer

[Steve H Graham]

Steve, this comment struck me as odd

I get that a lot.

[Jim Matthews]

I get that a lot.

You're in South Florida.
Who would notice?

(Full disclosure, three years in Boynton Beach.)

[Steve H Graham]

From here, Boynton looks normal.

[Steve H Graham]

Another question: can I expect plane shavings to stop up my shop-vac? I have been sweeping them up with a broom, which is brutal work.