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I'm currently working on joining my bookmatched pieces of spruce. It is for a flattop mandolin. I'm trying to do it using a hand plane and a shooting board. It involves layining the bookmatched pieces on top of each other and sandwiching them between two boards. A handplane is then laid on it's side and shot down the edges that are to be joined. I've done this several times and I can't get the edges to fit perfectly together. Is anyone familiar with this technique? If so, what am I doing wrong? Is there an easier way to join the two pieces?
Thanks in advance.
# #Walt
Steve Hinde
Oct-10-2006, 6:48pm
Make sure the pieces have the bookmatched (front or back sides) facing each other. Then any opposing angles during the leveling will match when the pieces are put together. But try to maintain 90 degrees. I don't use a plane though. I use sandpaper on a FLAT surface. Then I use a sharp scraper blade on the last pass to get rid of any sanding residue or scratches to try and get a better bond. Hold the plates up with a light behind and look for light through the joint. Watch out for the Sruce. You usually get some strands of wood along the edges. Don't let them get between the plates when you glue together the pieces. I always leave the plates a little thick, so I can run them through the thickness sander to get the sides and the joint flat. On mando tops and backs to be carved, I glue on waster pieces of wood on the angled faces. Then run them through the sander. That way I can get the inside face flat, and get the final center thickness.
Are you going to reinforce the joint on the inside? Some people do others don't. Try to save some of the excess material from the plates to make the reinforcing strip.
Steve
sunburst
Oct-10-2006, 7:11pm
A plane will do the best job you can get on the jointed edges, but it has to be very sharp and well set up.
Assuming your plane is good to go, it still isn't automatic that you can plane a straight edge. If, for example, you have a gap at one end of the joint, or both ends, consiously try to press harder against the center part of the pieces. Wherever the tight part of the joint is, press harder there and make a few passes and check your progress. It takes a little practice, but excellent results and virtually invisible center joints can be had.
Is it best to check your progress after every 1 or 2 passes with the plane? Also do longer hand planes make it easier to make a straight edge?
Bill Snyder
Oct-10-2006, 7:23pm
Also do longer hand planes make it easier to make a straight edge?
Yes. A short plane like a block plane can follow low places in the boards while a longer plane like a jack plane or a jointer plane span the low places and remove material from the high spots until it is all flat.
This plane is approx. 6". Is that enough to plane straight?
sunburst
Oct-10-2006, 7:38pm
A #5 is about as short as I would want to use for jointing. It's about 12" or 13" long, I don't remember exactly.
I suspect you would really have to get good at it to get consistent results with a block plane.
I use a #7 jointer plane, but before I got it, I used a #5 and it was fine.
As for checking progress, I used to joint veneers for the backs of banjo resonators with a shooting board and a #5 plane, and I needed to check progress often.
For tops, with my #7 plane, I check as soon as I'm getting a shaving all the way down both pieces, and if It's looking good at that point, I watch the shavings, and when I get a uniformly thin, full width shaving from poth pieces, I check again. Usually, I have a good fit then, but if there's any light showing through anywhere, I keep going until I have a "vacuum" fit.
That sounds like the problem. I'll have to get a longer plane. Thanks guys.
Bill Snyder
Oct-10-2006, 8:01pm
FWIW a Stanely #5 jack plane is 14" long and a Stanley #7 jointer plane is 22" long. Generally the numbering system for the Miller Fall's planes was the # given to the plane was the length of the plane although there are exceptions to this rule.
The newer Stanley planes are not of equal quality to the older ones. You can frequently find some decent old hand planes at garage sales (although they may need a bit of tuning up). Ebay is also a source for old Stanley planes, but the prices can be a bit high.
I really, really like these:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood....1,41182 (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=48944&cat=1,41182)
I have the low angle Jack plane, and it serves me well as a jointer and a smoother. #With an additional high angle iron (sounds counterintuitive, I know, but it works wonders on hardwoods with difficult grain) this is an extremely well designed and versatile tool. #No financial interest, however it is apparent to me that this firm reveres good design, I suspect they plow a lot of their profits back into R & D.
This is, IMO, your best choice for a new handplane, if new is the way you choose to go. #If you like old Stanley stuff (and I do, I have a #7, a couple of #4s, half a dozen #5s, and a bunch of specialty planes like routers, plows, bullnose, etc) they by all means feed your muse at flea markets and garage sales - you can get excellent value there. #Antique dealers can sometimes be a good value, but in my experience their stuff is a overpriced for people who actually want user tools.
dunbarhamlin
Oct-11-2006, 6:58am
I'm making flat tops, and find it easier to get a good joint shooting the tops against a stationary plane (#7) rather than the other way around.
Backs I treat differently, but I'm bending them and my bending form doubles up as a holding/shooting fixture for jointing. For this, I plane right down to the fixture, which has sacrificial plates so I'm not trying to joint an edge just millimetres across.
Steve