need a jointer

[Andrew Hughes]

I think a jointer plane is best used for truing up edges and you will drive yourself crazy with a plane that long on a table.
I use a Ln Foreplane to get things leveled out then go straight to a smoother.The key is to get down in those low spots without have to cut 90% of the table flat.
Good luck I don't remember if you mention the wood so I hope it's friendly.

[Wes Ramsey]

I think a jointer plane is best used for truing up edges and you will drive yourself crazy with a plane that long on a table.
I use a Ln Foreplane to get things leveled out then go straight to a smoother.The key is to get down in those low spots without have to cut 90% of the table flat.
Good luck I don't remember if you mention the wood so I hope it's friendly.

I guess I was just assuming that a longer plane would equate to a flatter surface. The current thickness is 7/8" and I'm aiming for ~3/4".

The table is a simple 4'x5' draw leaf table with 15" leaves. The wood is primarily red oak bordered in post oak with post oak breadboard ends. The breadboard pins are walnut, as are the wedges for the through tenons on the aprons. It is all from trees we cut out of our yard 4 years ago and sawed at my FIL's mill. I've made some goofs that are annoying, but nothing yet I couldn't recover from. I figure I have to make some goofs here and there to learn not to next time. And it is just wood. The simple design is almost modular and there's no hardware. If the goofs I can't fix bug me enough I can always rebuild just that part.

I will post pics when I get it done.

Also been meaning to post some pics and videos of our sawmill in action. It is an OOOOLD circular mill my FIL modified to run off the PTO on his tractor. Right now it has a 36" blade, but we also have a 46" for the big stuff. I'll shoot some video next weekend when we try to make a dent in our log collection.

[Andrew Hughes]

Sounds great I love harvesting and building from air dried wood.Its a real pleasure to handplane too.
I guessing your not planning on French polishing the top.So that level of flatness is just not necessary.
What wood really be nice if you can get a nice camber on your finishing plane that leaves a subtle waviness.( Is that even a word)?
Good Luck looking forward to see your work.

[Kees Heiden]

If you managed a good glueup with hardly any level differences bewteen the individual boards, then it is allready reasonably flat and you won't need a jointer. I would go directly to a smoothing plane, #4. It's advantage is that when the table isn't totally flat, this small plane will be able to dip into any shallow hollows. With a longer jointer or tryplane you would need to do a complete flattening of the table top again, which isn't really neccessary. When you goofed up the glueup and there are ridges between the several boards, then you are back to square one and need to do an entire flattening process.

A scraperplane like mentioned above would be usefull too, allthough it doesn't give quite as nice a finish.

And thicknessing is a process you'd want to avoid in handplaning as much as possible. If you want the looks of a 3/4" thick tabletop while the boards are still 7/8", I would relieve the underside of the edges, not bring the entire board down to 3/4.

[Chris Hachet]

If you managed a good glueup with hardly any level differences bewteen the individual boards, then it is allready reasonably flat and you won't need a jointer. I would go directly to a smoothing plane, #4. It's advantage is that when the table isn't totally flat, this small plane will be able to dip into any shallow hollows. With a longer jointer or tryplane you would need to do a complete flattening of the table top again, which isn't really neccessary. When you goofed up the glueup and there are ridges between the several boards, then you are back to square one and need to do an entire flattening process.

A scraperplane like mentioned above would be usefull too, allthough it doesn't give quite as nice a finish.

And thicknessing is a process you'd want to avoid in handplaning as much as possible. If you want the looks of a 3/4" thick tabletop while the boards are still 7/8", I would relieve the underside of the edges, not bring the entire board down to 3/4.

Agree with Kees..and if you are not terribly familiar with hand planes, even fairly basic #4 planes can be made to work very very well. I have a Frankenplane (Stanley lever cap, Sargent plane body, Eclipse blade, mismatched handle and tote....) that will cut a shaving you can read the New York Times through when it is good and sharp. Having several #4 planes can work out quite well.

I have six I use regularly...

The Frankenplane and a W II era type 17 Stanley that I use for coarse work.

A modern Stanly Sweetheart and a vintage type 13 Sweetheart (about 1927) for general purpose smoothing.

A ECE Primus wooden plane and a Lie Nielsen #4 bronze for final smoothing and detail work.

Not having to sand much has made woodworking infinitely more productive and enjoyable.

[lowell holmes]

I bought my 607 bedrock on line.

Check the auction site.
Also, Amazon sells them.

[Chris Hachet]

I bought my 607 bedrock on line.

Check the auction site.
Also, Amazon sells them.

A very fine plane, I love the bedrock design.

[Wes Ramsey]

Huh...I always assumed that flat meant flat. I hadn't considered that there were degrees of hand plane flat and machined flat. I still want to remove a little thickness to get rid of some imperfections, but maybe I just need a well-tuned smoother. I originally was considering a #6 foreplane - would that fit the bill here?

[lowell holmes]

I have a #6 bailey, but I go to the 607 bedrock for jointing. The #6 will do in a pinch.

[Jim Koepke]

My #6s get used for flattening, jointing and smoothing. A good plane for many jobs.

jtk

[Chris Hachet]

Huh...I always assumed that flat meant flat. I hadn't considered that there were degrees of hand plane flat and machined flat. I still want to remove a little thickness to get rid of some imperfections, but maybe I just need a well-tuned smoother. I originally was considering a #6 foreplane - would that fit the bill here?

That will depend on your level of skill. For a very long time I used a #5 vintage Stanley to joint everything. Tuneup and proper practice/technique matter far more than what size or vintage plane is being used.

However to answer your question, a #4 would be fantastic for smoothing the actual top, a #6 or #7 would be great for edge jointing.

[lowell holmes]

I also have a 5 1/2 Bailey that is a good jointing plane. It is a long, wide plane.

[john zulu]

I guess I was just assuming that a longer plane would equate to a flatter surface. The current thickness is 7/8" and I'm aiming for ~3/4".

The table is a simple 4'x5' draw leaf table with 15" leaves. The wood is primarily red oak bordered in post oak with post oak breadboard ends. The breadboard pins are walnut, as are the wedges for the through tenons on the aprons. It is all from trees we cut out of our yard 4 years ago and sawed at my FIL's mill. I've made some goofs that are annoying, but nothing yet I couldn't recover from. I figure I have to make some goofs here and there to learn not to next time. And it is just wood. The simple design is almost modular and there's no hardware. If the goofs I can't fix bug me enough I can always rebuild just that part.

I will post pics when I get it done.

Also been meaning to post some pics and videos of our sawmill in action. It is an OOOOLD circular mill my FIL modified to run off the PTO on his tractor. Right now it has a 36" blade, but we also have a 46" for the big stuff. I'll shoot some video next weekend when we try to make a dent in our log collection.

With that thickness I would use a scrub plane then hit it with a jointer. But it is very possible to use a jointer for the whole process with 2 blades. One blade to hog out the board first and another to finally level it.