Jointing by hand

H

HSteier

Well-known member
I sold my Delta jointer several years ago and bought a Lie Nielsen jointing plane. I can get a long edge straight, but I have a heck of a time getting it square. Lie Nielsen and Lee Valley both sell "edge planes" for squaring off joints. Is that the solution? These short skewed planes look like they'll get the edge square but since they are short do I then loose the "straight"?
Comments from any hand tool users?

Howard Steier
 
You have an excellent tool at your disposal. I have the 07 and 08 myself. Having your self so equipped the rest is simple. Use my method, the K.I.S.S. method. The long edge joint must be straight. I put a light behind the joint to ascertain this. The long edge joint, however, does not need to be square. Lay out the boards in the manner you tend to glue them up and mark the faces of the boards somehow so you will always know which edges match. Then place the faces together (or the backs, it doesn't matter which) and align the edges to best match one another. Now plane both edges together. Take them out of the vice and place the edges together and see how well they fit. Even at this point (the first try) you should be able to place a short straight edge on the faces of the joined boards and see that they are almost perfectly coplanar. This is because, although they are not square, the angles are complimentary.
 
Howard,

I don't own a power jointer. I do my jointing and flattening by hand using an old Stanley Bedrock 607 and an old Stanley #8 which equate in size to the LN 07 and 08. It doesn't matter much which brand jointer plane you use, new or old, or whether it's wooden or metal, as long as it's tuned, sharpened, and set properly and you're using good technique, you can get good results.

Fran's description is a variant of what's called match planing. It is a very good technique and it works. Try it. I might also suggest setting up your clamps and dry clamping the pieces as you go along. Mark with arrows any gaps you see under slight clamping pressure and once the stock is back in the vise focus on those spots. Re-clamp, look and mark again, back to the vice for touch up then before you know it you're done.  Sounds simple and it pretty much is. But, like anything, it takes practice. You'll get better.

Are you using your left hand (assuming you're a rightie) as your fence by pressing down on the sole near the toe with your thumb and dropping your fingers below to run along the face of the stock as a fence? If not, and your left hand is on the knob, then chances are good the plane is rocking a bit side to side when you push. This just about ensures you're putting little bevels right where you want it dead flat and true to the adjacent piece. The off hand-as-fence technique stabilizes the plane as you push by keeping it upright.

The edge planes are good tools at giving you a perfect 90 degree edge but don't excel at jointing because they are short. Along short runs they're good. But anything over 12" and I think you're taking a chance of putting a bow in there. Remember, you just need the adjoining pieces to be coplanar. If you use the match plane technique, it doesn't matter if they are a perfect 90 or not. Just coplanar. 

Hope this helps.

Rick Yochim       
 
Howard - If you need to joint a long edge straight and square where the match-planing method will not work (a table edge, for example, or the edge of a drawer front), there's a reasonably simple way to do this. 

One puts a slight curve on the blade of the jointer - generally the curve put on it by running it over your finest grit honing stone 3 or 4 times with pressure placed on one side of the edge, then the other, is sufficient.  With the curve of the iron centered in the plane (you can watch where the shavings emerge when planing a flat board to determine this), run one side of the sole of the jointer over the part of the edge that's too low.  The curve on the iron will take a thicker shaving on the side that's too high, with less on the side that's too low.  After a few passes (dependent on how far out of square you are and how much curvature is on the iron), the edge will be corrected.  It helps to have a small engineer's square of about 3" to check this as you continue to plane.

This technique takes a bit of practice, but it is quite effective.  Most of the boards I use in my shop are jointed this way.
 
Yes, thanks. I've done match planing with narrow boards, but I've had problems with wider boards such as 3/4 to 7/8". When matched, the combined width seems to make it difficult to get a good continuous shaving. I suspect that "practice" is the operant word here.
I have tried the off center correction, and when I get "square" I often loose "straight". Again I think "practice" may be the answer.
It 's not that I don't want to spend the money for an edge plane (entertaining my wife costs me more than that every weekend). I just don't want another g-d edge tool that I need to keep sharp and keep from rusting, especially if it won't solve my problem.

Howard Steier
 
Give the sole of the plane a light waxing. The reduction of friction makes a large plane much easier to control and finess the edge to square. For myself, because of my bearing, stance and stroke length, I tend to roll over a tad on the end of a stroke on a board over 5 feet in length. No amount of practice has ever seemed to correct this. I have never owned a mechanical jointer so as you can imagine I have done a lot of practicing. A waxed plane allows me to grip the very heel of the plane with one hand and use the edge short of the end as a gauge. Between this and over sized boards I somehow manage to get an edge sufficiently square along the entire finish length. That might not read as clearly as I had wished it but I would be happy to clarify.
Fran
 
Howard,

Reading your response, it looks like you understand the basic principles here. What Fran, David and I have told you are practices that have been around for awhile and are proven. Keep at it learning the qualities and techniques of using the jointer plane and you'll have the "aha moment" soon enough.

As for the edge plane, also based on your response, it looks like it won't help you that much here. I have one, use in it on rare occasions (but not for jointing), and like it. But in this instance your time, (and perhaps money), is best spent mastering the jointed edge with a jointer plane.

Hope I'm not over the top with this well meaning advice. Good luck.

Rick Yochim 

   
 
More on that aha moment. With different woods and grains and densities most learn that different iron bevels produce different results. Most of my work is in mahogany and I keep the 08 sharpened for best results with that. The 08 won't do a great job on cherry or maple so I keep the 07 honed a bit steeper. The 08 is OK for black walnut too. Neither of them will plane ash or butternut worth a damn (wicked tear-out) so I try to get by with the smooth plane. After a while you just seem to grab the right one for the right wood. It's a habit that looses it's importance after a time until a question like this comes up.
 
Howard,
All of the information below is valid. Since you are using a L-N jointer plane you should be fine, it is an excellent tool. No one below has mentioned using the lateral adjuster to take a bit more off of the high side, you could try that too, small adjustments are recommended at first. Make sure you are clamping the stock low enough to effectively get a good result. Many benches are too high for this task. I would say that the top of the board should be no higher than 32", 30" might be better yet. If your bench is taller try working on a platform next to it to try different heights until you find your "sweet spot".
Mike
 
Howard,
Another consideration is buying a jointer gauge that attaches to your jointers. Its another investment but certainly less than a L-N plane. It can be moved to either plane. Used Stanley models are No.386 and Millers Falls made a model 88. The M-F fence is shorter so you might prefer the 11" fence of the No.386. I have not used mine on a L-N plane but I just now checked and it mounts securely on the L-N low angle jack.

If that doesnt work, just keep making coopered door projects :>)
John
 
John, that's a great suggestion!!! Glue up the panels first, then alter the plans to fit the curved panels. I wish I'd thought of that sooner.

Howard
 
Howard,

I have two long planes for this sort of work.  The first is a try plane. Mine is 22 or 24" long.  It has a curved (cambered) blade.  The blade removes a smile-shaped shaving.  By positioning the plane from side to side on a board's edge I can get it to remove half a smile, i.e. a shaving thicker on one side than the other.  This lets me square an edge with the plane flat on whatever edge I've got.  I don't have to hold the plane square to the board.  The plane works away the high edge this way.  When you get good at it, you can straighten the edge and square it at the same time.  I may have a 1/16" or 3/32" of camber on this blade.

The second is a jointer.  We call it that because it's designed to make joints.  I don't think it's a flattening or straightening plane.  I've seen a couple 18th c documents that referred to it as a "glewing joynter".  Mine is 28" long and has a wide 2-7/8" blade.  I use it solely for match planing, which Fran described earlier.  The jointer plane has a perfectly straight iron.

When making long joints, especially those glued with PVA, I like to "spring" the joint, planing a small hollow in the joint (length wise), such that the end touch before the middle.  Theoretically, a single clamp can be used to pull the boards together and provide good pressure all along  the length of the joint.  I don't think this works well with hide glue. I think the pressure at the ends gets too high and pushes the glue out.  But that really depends on how wide the boards are and how much spring you plane in.  For large tables, made up of wide boards. I think I plane a few strokes to generate the spring.  It's not much.

If your edge is short enough, you could shoot it with a shooting board.  That would give you good accuracy.  I, personally, don't like shooting.  I haven't come across a situation where I felt I needed it in recent years.  But it's certainly something to try. 

Adam
 
Howard, Every one needs a hand in making a job easier, jointing or any other job, we buy every modern hand tool & machine with a hope they will do the job by itself?
Well? The modern way in the 1960, one cabinetmaker (Genie Wright) scribed furniture to bent walls with one, all the time? A hand held electric router.no hand scribing,sawing or plaining  
For jointing boards?
First fix a new fence say 2” parallel with the router cutter (not crusual size), on the router face. (Could make Permanent, for jointing) First board edge needs to be fairly straight and square, cramp both boards  parallel, to a holding board. The gap slightly narrower than the width set on the hand router (set earlier), and then just run the router, cutting the bent edge, to the straight one, remember to hold the router securely to the first board edge.
Works a treat every time, Then  glue up as you would normally do.

                                                       Joseph Hemingway
                                                        Sharing the tricks of the trade
 
Thanks to all for your advice, I've spent some evenings practicing with a waxed plane sole and the boards clamped lower down as suggested (less likely to slip laterally off the edge) with better results. I'm getting ready to glue up some 60" case sides so we'll see how it turns out.
Thanks again.

Howard Steier
 
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