I’ve made MUCH more progress on this top than I thought I would. Especially in one night.
My question is this: When do I switch from the scrub plane to the #5? I only have a scrub, a #5 and a #4 smoother. My plan was scrub, jack with aggressive cut, jack with lighter cut, then finish with #4. I know I SHOULD be using a jointer, but I don’t have one, so it’s not an option.
My straightedge is just about riding on the tops of the grooves left by the scrub plane all the way across the board now.
Hard to see in the pic, but I thought I would try:
I went from having a definite hollow in the middle (as a result of not being able to reach fully across) to having pretty even grooves all the way across.
Not bad for a short, out of shape lady! I’m pretty proud of myself. This is my first real woodworking project.
-- I'd like my life's resume to read "Lots of experiences"
3 comments so far
Dave Pearce
home | projects | blog
44 posts in 855 days
#1 posted 177 days ago
Based on the picture there, I’d say switch to the jack when the surface looks like that! Go cross-wise across the grain with the jack at a light cut to minimize tear out. Once you’ve traversed the surface cross-grain with the jack, and you’ve knocked down those high spots, run it with the grain until you’re getting nearly full length savings. Once that’s done follow with the smoother (or not, I didn’t), with the grain at a light cut.
Don’t forget to use some parafin wax on those plane soles, frequently and often. It’ll make the passes much easier, believe it.
—dave
ps: sharpen your blades often.
parkerdude
home | projects | blog
79 posts in 634 days
#2 posted 151 days ago
Yeah what Dave said.
I don’t have a scrub plane but I do have another blade sharpened with a gentle radius. I just switch blades, re-adjust the mouth opening larger, and scrub away!
As a matter of fact, I don’t plane the length of a surface until it’s flat and fairly close to even thickness. Most of the passes are at 45° or 90° to the grain.
I rub paraffin right on the wood if I plan on taking off a considerable amount of material.
Then I either switch blades again and re-adjust the mouth or switch to my #4.
By the way, I sharpen with wet / dry sandpaper and usually touch up the smoother blade. It only takes 5 – 10 minutes.
Good luck, the build looks good!
later,
-- dust control
bigike
home | projects | blog
2262 posts in 471 days
#3 posted 151 days ago
I would have to agee with what was said being a handplane user myself.
-- Ike, Big Daddies Woodshop, http://www.icombadaniels@yahoo.com
Have your say...