This week I address a common problem when hand planing: inadvertantly tapering the board. This was something that Brian Meeks, @extremelyavg on Twitter brought to my attention. First off you should go check out Brian’s site because it is a humorous and refreshing look at our fine craft taken from the eager neophyte’s perspective.
Enjoy the episode and like Brian, let me know if something is on your mind that you want to learn more about. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll make up something witty and add music!
5 responses so far ↓
1 Brian Meeks // Aug 26, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Thanks so much for the video. I just cut a piece of really messed up wood, to practice my flattening skills. I didn’t know anything about weight transfer, so this should help a bunch!
2 Practice Time - Extremely Average // Aug 26, 2010 at 9:31 pm
[...] I mentioned some of my troubles with using hand planes. His video today addressed my problems. RWW 96 Avoiding the Planing Taper: Planecraft 101I could spend a lot of time explaining the things he taught me, but then you would be getting it [...]
3 swirt // Aug 27, 2010 at 9:52 am
Great video Shannon. One other tip though for smaller stock like Brian was using is to use the jointer clamped upside-down in a vise and actually moving the wood. If he was doing a lot small pieces, a bit of a handled push block would help keep hands safe.
A second approach for longer stuff is to actually make it a bit hollow in the middle of its length then when you get one continuous shaving from start to end, then it is flat (easier to do on edges rather than faces). The idea is that it is easier to remove a hollow, then to remove a round because the plane will tend to track the round.
4 Shannon // Aug 27, 2010 at 10:48 am
You’re killing me here. These are both topics I was thinking about doing as additional planecraft videos! Great points and thanks for chiming in.
5 Tico Vogt // Aug 28, 2010 at 10:09 pm
Winding sticks! First of all, they give you the knowledge of what to remove and where. I wouldn’t just begin planing without that first step. Then going over the board with soft pencil squiggle lines. Ultimately you want a very small dish in the middle, either on the face or edge you’re working, and you do this with stopped, as opposed to through, shavings. This is information gotten from David Charlesworth’s excellent video on planing.