Okay, so I had 30 minutes to work on the TSDC desk organizer build challenge. I figured the first step is to prep my stock – plane, then sand if necessary. I’m hot and grumpy. It’s like 85 to 90 degrees outside, like always, and I don’t have any fan in the shop.
But my Stanley #4 seems to be doing its job pretty well. At least, until I ran my hand over the board.
So I guess I’m going to work on cambering my blade before doing anything else. Either that or go over this board with the cabinet scraper. But with more wood to prep, I may as well take the time to do this right. Right?
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May 5, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Gye Greene
Doh!
Well, yer learning stuff…
None of my plane blades are properly cambered: I just rock them side to side a bit, on an (intentionally!) non-flattened whetstone.
–GG
May 5, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Bob Easton
From what I see in the picture, the edge marks are always from the same edge, not both. If that’s the case, very subtle adjustment of the lateral lever may be all you need.
There’s rarely a need to camber a #4. Knock off the sharp corners, but don’t camber it. A smoothing plane is for smoothing, and part of that is keeping things flat. You can’t have flat with a cambered blade. Leave the cambering for the roughing plane, the #5 or #6.
May 6, 2009 at 10:23 am
Eric
That’s what I love about this blog! I have a whole community of people
out there from whom I can learn.
Thanks for that tip, Bob. Such a basic element of hand planing, checking
the blade (and testing it on scrap first!). Hand planing is definitely
my weakest link right now.
How would you “knock off the sharp corners”? Just run it over a 800-grit
stone with some extra pressure on the corners?
May 6, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Gye Greene
Eric,
Dunno how Bob does it, but I just “extra-hone” the corners, by hand. (I forget whether you use a sharpening jig. If you do, you’re gonna have to freestyle…)
Also: I could be wrong, but I think The Schwarz would disagree: pretty sure he has a curved blade on **his** smoother. But, I think that’s a “style” thing — like curved versus straight on a jointer plane, or pins-first vs. tails-first for dovetails…
“Flat” is good — but we’re not building pistons or gears, it’s a desk organizer. Wood moves and bends — if you’re taking thin enough shavings, the micro-scalloping (esp. on an outside surface) shouldn’t matter — should it? (Actually, pretty sure The Schwarz had a post saying this, during the last 30 days I think (the one on planing before dovetailing), as well as another post where he looked at the old furniture up close and saw the ripples left over from the smoother…)
–GG
May 6, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Eric
My impression on cambering is that in most cases, the camber is so
slight that it would be barely noticeable to the naked eye. And while I
do have a honing jig, I’ve been moving towards freehand sharpening, so
no worries there.
And no, I wouldn’t worry too much about micro-scalloping myself. But
I think Bob’s right, though – I
this macro-grooving has got to go.
just need to straighten my blade!
May 16, 2009 at 4:39 pm
geemoney
While I would tend to bow to Bob’s experience, I think that you can find a nice middle ground. On the last few strokes when honing with your jig, just put a little extra pressure on each of the outside edges. This should result in a “camber” that is hardly noticeable, leave 99.9% of the blade flat, and still knock off the corners that are causing those ridges.
I recommend this because I, also, am still in the learning phase with the handplaning, and it gives me enough wiggle room in the plane setup for me to keep working on the mechanics of planing, while still getting reasonable results.
I look forward to seeing what you come up with for the organizer.
May 18, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Luis Martins
Hi Eric,
Looking at the photo I have to agree with the comments above, the problem is either the lateral adjustment of the blade or the blade itself is not totally flat. I probably have one of the corners digging more that the other.
Take care,
Luis
May 18, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Luis Martins
Eric,
Also check that the plane sole is completely flat. It’s easy to hit a nail, a metal bench dog or other metal part and get a nick on the sole that will leave tracks on the board, run the plane on some sandpaper on a flat surface to flatten the sole.
Also, it the wood is soft like pine, and you have a piece of wood stuck between the blade and the frog (just behind the cutting edge), that can leave some nasty tracks on the boards you’re smoothing.
Take care,
Luis
May 24, 2009 at 5:35 am
Bob Easton
Sorry for missing a question and not getting back. I knocked the sharp corners off my smoother blade by swiping the corners a couple of times with an Arkansas stone (use a medium India stone, or even 220 grit sandpaper). I hit it at a 45 degree angle to the corner. That blunted them enough to stop tearing. I also take a couple of extra honing swipes with finger pressure directly on each corner, in effect making an imperceptible camber.