10
votes
Accepted
What kind of plane is this?
Although the manufacturer call this a Stepped Rabbet Plane this is a bullnose plane.
Although their forms vary all planes with the iron bedded at a typical angle* and mounted in such a way that it's ...
9
votes
Stanley Bailey frog adjustment problem
To update on what I finally did:
I worked up my courage to file the frog and it came out very good! ;-)
First I put some washers under the contact areas of the frog on one side to find out how much ...
8
votes
Accepted
Sharpening - grit progression
Many videos and tutorials from the much respected internet woodworkers show them always going from a coarse medium through to a fine.
I think there are three key things here.
With respect to a few ...
8
votes
Accepted
Squaring boards with only a #4 plane
Yes.
It is very much not ideal to do so, but it is always possible to flatten surfaces with planes shorter than the wood you're working on (obvious really, but many people don't see this and assume ...
8
votes
Accepted
Is it bad practice not to pick up the plane as you pull back for another pass?
Is it bad practice not to pick up the plane as you pull back for another pass? Why or why not?
No. Yes. Depends on who you ask!
Since it appears it's subjective it runs the risk of all answers ...
7
votes
Accepted
Use planer to even out edge sawn with scroll saw?
So I was wondering if an electric planer would do a better job at making those edges straight?
Yes. In addition to being far far faster it is much more likely to result in straighter edges. It's ...
6
votes
Mouth of a Plane
Wood is not totally rigid. As the plane iron is cutting the wood it is pulling the wood up. This force is transferred ahead of the shaving and the material flexes up slightly. This causes the ...
6
votes
Accepted
How to plane the end of a through tenon without damaging surrounding area?
Flushing the tenon
There are a couple of ways you can approach this, but it is actually most common to take the projecting tenon down until just about flush1, and then planing right through (in the ...
6
votes
Hand plane gouging wood even with fine adjustments
As I mentioned in my question, I found the solution just as I was about to post the answer. I first read @Graphus's answer to someone's question:
hand plane controls (bevel down)
I had always tried ...
6
votes
How to flatten stubborn hollow on the back of a plane iron?
How to flatten stubborn hollow on the back of a plane iron?
You don't have to.
If you alter your strategy here things will go a lot faster. And I mean a lot, something that can otherwise take an hour ...
5
votes
How do you plane end grain?
I just hand-planed several dozen blocks for an end grain cutting board using my shooting board.
It worked pretty well, there was minimal tearout on maybe 10% of the blocks. I could have improved on ...
5
votes
getting edge of plane square to sole for shooting
Stanley/Bailey #4 w/ corrugated sole, #5 1/4, #6, Wood river low angle block plane, Stanley sweetheart dual rabbet plane, Simmons #6--longer than Stanley/Bailey #5 but smaller than #6).
Which of these ...
5
votes
Accepted
What's a quick, easy home-made honing guide?
I'm thinking for a 25 degree surface, just cut a block of wood to 25 degrees on a mitre-saw and then screw the plane blade flat to it with the blade end just proud.
Close, this is nearly all that's ...
5
votes
Accepted
Is this plane any good for anything?
Please refer to my Answer to this Question from only a few days ago, this plane and that plane are nearly identical so all my comments there apply equally here.
I get dust instead of shavings when ...
5
votes
Joint all sides square?
No, you cannot. This will make the board square, but it will NOT ensure it doesn't taper. With the jointer you can only make each corner square. You can't make the opposing faces parallel with each ...
4
votes
Make one end of a board thicker than the other?
The best way to do this would be to put it on a slanted sled and run it through a planer repeatedly.
How you make the slanted sled is up to you. I would consider cutting a series of wedges from ...
4
votes
getting edge of plane square to sole for shooting
A side flat enough that it doesn't rock is all that is needed.
The squareness of the edge produced is determined by the (adjustable) angle the blade edge forms with the side. The angle of the sole, ...
4
votes
How do I use a handplane to smooth a cutting board?
I had this idea that I would be able to run the hand plane over the surface of the (already smooth) cutting board and peel off whisper-thin shavings.
Yes that is exactly what you should be able to do ...
4
votes
Sharpening - grit progression
there is none. eventually you will wear the blade down enough at 3000 grit to the point where it will take too long to sharpen while maintaining the same bevel angle. At that point a return to coarser ...
4
votes
Is it bad practice not to pick up the plane as you pull back for another pass?
In my limited experience I've found only two cases where I have problems when pulling back without lifting up:
final smoothing of soft woods - if you'll get some shavings stuck in the mouth of your ...
3
votes
Accepted
Problems adjusting block plane
Hmm, interesting. Off-hand I'd say that's a design flaw. You could confirm that by measuring (perhaps with a dial-indicator) the full length of blade travel available from the fine-adjust and ...
3
votes
Kanna setup: blade/mouth width, osae-bo bending
Most kanna irons that I have seen have their own mimi formed by grinding off the corners so the cutting edge is the same width as the mouth. As it is now the iron is cutting a shaving that is wider ...
3
votes
How can I flatten the floor of a small carved box?
Paul Sellers has a video on making a Poor Man's Router Plane using a chisel and a block of wood. Depending on the depth of the box, this method may work for you.
NOTE: I take no responsibility for ...
3
votes
How can I flatten the floor of a small carved box?
I'm going to expand somewhat on my Comment above.
Hide it
I don't think you're would be really happy with any smoothing option here so I strongly recommend you just sidestep the issue and line the ...
3
votes
Accepted
Planing thin material to consistent thickness using hand tools
You can devise a jig of some kind to help in making multiple pieces of smaller size but at heart producing strips of wood like this doesn't have to be any different from getting a board to final ...
3
votes
How do I use a handplane to smooth a cutting board?
Odds are your that your plane is not sharp enough and is not correctly set yet for your project. A quick test is to attempt shaving a few hairs off of your arm with the iron. If the blade tugs ...
3
votes
Different ways to set up a Number 4 bench plane
like a scrub with a cambered iron and wide mouth. It's a little wide for a scrub, and will be a little heavy as a consequence, but it'll certainly work.
with a very tight mouth and very closely set ...
3
votes
Accepted
How to preserve sole of transitional plane
Wooden-bodied planes were very commonly oiled (sometimes heavily) with linseed oil and the same could be done with the body of a transitional plane. Many transitionals restored by present-day users ...
3
votes
What is this plane
This is built in the style of a British infill plane, with an iron or steel body, hardwood 'stuffing' (mahogany?) and brass or bronze lever cap.
It's a smoothing plane, or as commonly called today a ...
3
votes
How to flatten stubborn hollow on the back of a plane iron?
There is no reason to get the entire back of the blade perfect flat and polished - you only need the area from the cutting edge to just behind the chip breaker. I typically flatten about 3/4 to 1&...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
Related Tags
plane × 70hand-tools × 24
hand-planing × 14
sharpening × 11
tool-identification × 8
tool-maintenance × 7
technique × 6
chisel × 5
sanding × 4
tool-repair × 4
power-tools × 2
tools × 2
jointer × 2
end-grain × 2
blade × 2
wood × 1
safety × 1
cutting × 1
tool-selection × 1
table-making × 1
paint × 1
warp × 1
thickness-planer × 1
traditional-techniques × 1
green-wood × 1