Planes instead of Jointer

[Peter Quadarella]

Just so I'm clear, I'm definitely not in this for the money. I know many of you are professionals which is great because us weekenders get to talk with people with real knowledge born of thousands of hours of practice plus skill. But for me, woodworking is purely recreational - something I am finding I enjoy a great deal, but there is nothing I need to complete. I'd rather take a year to complete a chair and enjoy it than finish a set of eight in a week and feel rushed.

That said, I enjoy the machines. I will be purchasing a bandsaw within 3-4 weeks, and a power planer soon after. I have all the power hand tools, router table, sander and drill press.

At this point I think I just want to give the hand planes a chance to see if it fits for me or if it just feels like a chore. I really appreciate all the advice.

[Jim Becker]

No reason you can't use both hand planes and a powered planer, Peter. While there are certainly some folks who use hand-tools exclusively, there are also a great many that will use the power planer to bring things flat and parallel, conserving project time, and then use their hand planes to put a wonderful finish on the boards. I have a personal goal to someday be able to do that effectively when I have the time available to improve my hand plane skills.

[James Owen]

I am relatively new to woodworking and am planning on moving from exterior furniture and shop cabinetry to interior furniture soon. As such, I have been building out my shop a little. I will be purchasing a planer soon and would like to do without the jointer if possible and am investigating the idea of replacing the functions of a jointer with hand planes.

Other than a set of chisels, which I've only used a handful of times, I have no significant hand tool experience. Can someone help with a few questions?

1. What type of hand plane(s?) would be best to purchase as a replacement for the functions a power jointer normally do? That is, face and edge jointing I guess. I am assuming a Jointer plane, but having no experience I figured I'd ask.
2. Is there really a lot to learning how to use a plane to flatten a board, or would I be able to have reasonable success within my first couple tries? It seems like a simple enough concept.
3. Anyone have any opinions of the planes here? http://www.blumtool.com/pages/benchplanes.html They have piqued my interest.

Thanks for any advice you can share.

Below is the method I use/teach for trueing a board using hand planes (most certainly not the only way, merely the method that I use...).

Now, no one here who has done this by hand will tell you that this is anything other than a first-class upper body aerobic work out, because that is exactly what is is.... Oh yeah, you get the bonus of a four-square board, when you're finished too. ;-)

On a slightly more serious note, trueing a board using only hand planes is not necessarily the fastest method available, but after a couple of boards, you'll probably find that it's not all that slow, either. Mostly, it seems to depend on the species of wood being trued.

At any rate, it is a very useful skill for boards that exceed the width of your jointer or thickness planer, or for boards that you don't want to cut more narrow so that they will fit in/through your machine(s).

_____

Ideally, you need 5 planes: a scrub plane, a #5, a #7 or #8, a #4 or #4-1/2, and a low angle block plane, but you can get away with a #5 and a low angle block plane -- it's just a little harder. (Or you can use wooden equivalents.)

You'll also need a good straight edge, an accurate try or combination square, a marking/panel gauge, and a pair of winding sticks (you can make these yourself). A card scraper is also handy.

Select a board face for the reference face. Use a pair of winding sticks and a straight edge to determine the high and low spots. Mark the high spots and use the scrub plane to reduce them to the approximate level of the rest of the board. Check for twist with the winding sticks. Correct with the scrub, as necessary. By this time, you should have a roughly flat (length and width) board with no twist and with a lot of troughs in it. Use the #5 to remove the troughs from the scrub plane. (Planing diagonally or straight across the grain in both directions with the scrub plane and the #5 to remove the scrub troughs will significantly reduce tearout in most woods. Then follow up with the #5 by planing with the grain.) Once the troughs are mostly gone, use the #7 or #8 with the grain to plane the face flat. Once you get full length and full width shavings, you board is very, very close to FLAT. Check with the straight edge and winding sticks. Correct as necessary. Finish up with the smoothing plane (#4 or # 4-1/2). Use the scraper on gnarly grain that gives your smoother a hard time, but be careful not to scrape a dip into the wood. Part 1 of 6, complete.

Mark this face as your reference face. All other measurements of square, etc., will come from this face.

Select one long edge, and use the #5 to roughly flatten/smooth it, and then use the #7/#8 to make it straight and square to the reference face. Mark this edge as your reference edge. Part 2 of 6, complete.

Use the reference edge and the try/combination square to mark one of the short edges square. You can use the #5 to plane to rough plane it flat and square to both the reference face and edge -- if the short edge is 4 to 6 or more inches wide; if not, then start with the LA block plane. (Chamfering the edges down to your cutting line will reduce tear out on the corner edges; alternative methods are to clamp a sacrificial piece of wood to the edge and let it tear out instead of your board, or to plane in from each outside edge.) Use the LA block plane to clean it up. Mark the other short edge to the desired length (saw it to rough length, if necessary) and do the same thing to the other short edge. Parts 3 and 4 of 6, complete.

Use your combination square or a marking/panel gauge to mark the other (unplaned) long edge to the desired finished width. As you did for the reference long edge, use the #5 to roughly smooth it down almost to the cutting line, and then use the #7/#8 to make it straight and square to the reference face. Check for straight and square to the reference face and to the 2 short edges. All 4 edges should now be square to the reference face and square to each other. Part 5 of 6, complete.

Use your marking gauge, basing off the reference face, to mark the thickness of your board around all 4 edges. Flip the board over to the unplaned face and use the scrub plane to plane down almost to the marked reference lines (The bottoms of the troughs should be about 1/16 inch above the cutting line). Use the #5, and the #7 or #8, as before on the reference face to make this face flat and square. Finish up with the smoothing plane and, as necessary, the scraper. Part 6 of 6, complete.

At this time, you should have a board with 2 flat, smooth, and parallel faces, 4 flat and square edges (long edges parallel to each other, as well as short edges parallel to each other, and all 4 edges square to the two faces and to each other), and of the required thickness, length, and width, ready for whatever needs to be done next.

The first board you do by hand will take what seems like an inordinately long time, but with just a little bit of practice, it becomes nearly as fast as -- and often faster than -- putting a board through a jointer, thickness planer, and sanding sequence.

If you have a shooting board, you can use it to assist with steps 2, 3, 4, and 5.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

Keep your plane irons SHARP!!

If you have only a couple of planes, open the mouth up for the initial rougher planing, and close the mouth for the finer, finish planing.

Let the plane do the work -- don't force it.

Skewing the plane often helps to reduce tear out and makes planing easier.

Try to keep the amount of wood removed from each face roughly equal; otherwise any internal stresses present may cause the board to warp or cup again, after you have put all that work and effort into making it flat.

Expect to get a good upper body work out!

The listed sequence is not the only sequence that this can be done in, but it works quite well.

Good luck, and have fun! There's nothing quite like the sense of accomplishment you get when you have taken a piece of rough lumber and turned it into a nicely finished, dimensioned board using only hand-powered tools, ready for the next step in building your project.

[Jake Darvall]

and stand like a boxer....and don't forget to grunt. Grunting always helps.

Something I personally thinks most important is you take a moment to check the grain before you make passes on all faces/edges.

Just crank your neck over a bit and eyeball the grain along the surface perpendicular to the surface or planing. You should be able to sight where tearout problems will occur going in certain directions....you always want to ride the waves.

ie. stop yourself from tearing out before it happens.

You read like this all day long and you learn without thought how to approach any board. Reading grain, is the most important technique in woodwork (IMO)It applys everywhere. Not just hand planing. .....jointer/thicknesser.....chiseling sometimes....scraping even.....

[Marcus Ward]

And put some wax on the bottom of that plane, holy smokes what a difference that makes.

[Jake Darvall]

agree....what I feels better lately is that camilia oil the japanese use.

For a long time I thought it one of those unnecessary things people try and sell to you. And so expensive.....but I saw the stuff in a much larger bottle in the health food section of the local supermart. Fraction of the price as it is the woodworking catalogs.

I filled up an old spray bottle full of the stuff. Give the sole a squirt and wipe over quickly. Brilliant. The only resistances you feel is that from the blade. Know exactly how sharp the blade is then. Use it for everything now, cause it doesn't stain up my hands, like WD-40 does.