Hand Cut Chamfers

[Lewis Moon]

In the past I've always cut chamfers freehand using my #4 or my 60 ½. While they look OK, if I sight down the length of a long one I can see the undulations. I have always written this off as the “organic chaos” that gives “warmth” to a piece built with hand tools.
However, I’m about to embark on a couple of new Modern/Arts & Crafts-ish pieces and I wanted to at least try out a good, clean chamfer as the edge treatment used throughout the entire piece. What (besides a router) do people here use to make chamfers? I would like something with a bit of a bigger “fence” for better control. I’ve seen where folks have clamped a block plane into a wood jig but this seems a bit cumbersome.

[Don C Peterson]

There are purpose made chamfer planes out there. Just a few days ago Jr. Strasil posted something about one he had made.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ighlight=plane

[Doug Shepard]

I've been doing mine freehand too, but think it's about time I made some beveled fence blocks that I can attach to these
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,41182,48945
I've already got them so I may as well give it a try.

[Lewis Moon]

I've been doing mine freehand too, but think it's about time I made some beveled fence blocks that I can attach to these
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,41182,48945
I've already got them so I may as well give it a try.

I have ONE of those...Grrrr. Good with and across the grain but not good against it, and I would think that flipping it over and using the edge as the guide might not work.

[Derek Cohen]

Several years ago I built a chamfer plane - Jarrah, 15 degree bed, bevel up, two blades (one high angle for face grain and one low angle for end grain).



I pull this out when I want the perfect chamfer. I could use a Stanley #65 chamfer spokeshave, but this does not work as well. Mostly, however, I just do it freehand with a block plane.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Thom Sturgill]

I don't know if these fit anything other than LV block planes, but if you have an adjustable mouth on your plane, you might be able to fabricate something out of hardwood.

[harry strasil]

drawknife, http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,41131,41140 , and finish with a plane if you want to.

[Steve Wargo]

This is one of those tasks that can easily be done with a plane. The key is to take your time, mark it well and make sure you follow the grain. A steady hand and they will look great. I never use a router bit or specialty plane for a chamfer. If you get a little off you can take shallow cuts with a chisel to clean it up. A good method of practice is freehand jointing 1/4" stock. Once you can keep the plane on a constant angle your good to go. This is really one of those tasks that practice makes perfect.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Lee Valley makes a handy attachment for their low angle block plane that does a very nice job of chamfering an adjustable range of sizes. The attachment only fits their low angle block. I've had one for for several years now and it is set up solely for chamfering. I also had this plane supplied to me without the finger indents on the sides (hated the looks of the multiple indents, and Rob Lee graciously took care of my request) and also have the ball and tail handle on the plane. Without the chamfer attachment on, the plane makes a nice #2 or #3 size smoother.

My chamfers are limited only by my attention to sharpening: as long as the blade is sharp, end grain or long grain comes out beautifully. If you try to stretch time between sharpening, the appearance of end grain will suffer.

Great, versatile plane to have with the various options! Also, I have no connection to the vendor.

Tony Z.

[glenn bradley]

Double stick tape two v-blocks to your plane to control depth and have at it.

[Mark Stutz]

Well, you can always wait for the LN #72 to be available.

[Steven Wilson]

I just mark the edges of my chamfer with a marking knife and then plane down to the line. The last few strokes are always full board. With practice the chamfers are spot on.

[jonathan snyder]

The last small table top I chamfered, I used a Tite-mark wheeled marking gauge to mark out the chamfers. Just plane down to your lines. This really helped me to keep them even. I used a Stanley #18 on the long grain and a #65 on the end grain.

Jonathan