Planing a square edge (long).

What is the title of your second book?

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

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Re-read Dean's post!

Adam Cherubini, NJ

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Re: Planing a square edge (even longer).

Adam Cherubini, NJ

>Like a mathematical proof, you Gentlemen have arrived at the reason why I believe there must be two long planes in every traditional tool shop.

Moxon, I belive, failed to make the distinction you have all determined must have been there.

As has been mentioned, this is a trick anyone can learn in 10 minutes, not a matter of years of skill.

Speaking of years of skill, I am not thoroughly familiar with Mr. Charlesworth's methods But the few that I am aware of seem overly complex, and wholly out of step with traditional woodworking. Rather than disparaging a worker I respect, I'm saying he can do things because of his experience, skill, and clientel that the rest of us can't.

I'm sure he can use a straight iron to square an edge quickly and efficiently. I cannot. I use a simple trick well known to all of us. I don't use my finger as a fence. I have two planes.....

Adam

Re: What is the title of your second book?

GolfSteve in Calgary

>Volume I was "David Charlesworth's Furniture-Making Techniques" (The Best from Furniture & Cabinetmaking Magazine) ISBN 1-86108-125-1.

Volume II was imaginatively titled "David Charlesworth's Furniture-Making Techniques Volume Two" IBSN 1-86108-295-9.

ps. David, when I'm reading your books in bed, my wife always looks over my shoulder and compliments how nice your nails are in your pictures :-)

Both are excellent books. Vol. II has a good article on drawer construction & piston fitting drawers. There is also an article on edge-jointing with a cambered blade. Although to me cambered isn't really the right word as it magnifies the scale of what he's talking about.

I follow his technique for jointing a square edge. I think that he actually uses very little camber on the blade - he recommends that the shaving thickness be about 0.05 mm (0.002 of an inch). He also mentions that "The curve on the plane blade is varied according to the work being done. Thinner edges require a greater curve on the blade edge. With a standard shaving [thickness of 0.05 mm] - the width of blade exposed needs to be about twice the thickness of the edge".

Assuming a 1" thick board is being edge jointed the width of blade exposed will be about 2", and with a 0.05 mm (0.002") blade projection at the centre, this means he's putting 0.002" of camber onto his blade.

I sharpen my jointer just like I sharpen my smoother - with just a very slight amount of camber introduced by putting a bit more pressure on the sides of the blade during the final honing. With the smoother this allows track free planing. With the jointer this makes getting a square edge fairly easy.

Re: Planing a square edge (even longer).

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I do that. I always thought it was an accident, but maybe I've done it on purpose :^) In any case, it seems to work. My #8 blade is too wide to fit my LV sharpening jig, so I do it freehand, thus the edge tends to get a bit of a curve. My L-N #7 is sharpened straight across, with just the corners relieved, and set with a narrow mouth.

Thanks! :-)

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

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Re: Planing a square edge (even longer).

paul womack

>I'm sure he can use a straight iron to square an edge quickly and efficiently.

Adam; if you're going to disparage someone's techniques, you at least might take the care to disparage the right one.

FYI, and as detailed extensively in the the thread, Charlesworth is a proponent of cambered irons...

BugBear

Re: Planing a square edge (even longer).

paul womack

>I checked DC's artice over the weekend. He does indeed keep the plane fully "grounded" on the edge surface. (*)

The heart of the cambered iron approach is that a full width tapered shaving is taken. This means that each pass leaves a full width reference surface (hopefully nearer to truth) for its successor.

A 2 2/8" #6 or #7 blade with DC's recommended 4 thou camber make a controllable change in angle on each stroke, of upto 2 degrees. Removing any angular error becomes a simple matter of stroke counting.

If you can consistently hold a plane square in free air to this kind of tolerance you have my admiration.

BugBear.

(*) The illustrations of taking a tapered shaving are a little unfortunate, even deceptive. They show a square edged board, with a "square" plane taking a tapered shaving to leave an out-of-square egde. I suppose it illustrates the principal. but is not as helpful as it could have been.

Re: Planing a square edge (even longer).

Adam Cherubini, NJ

>I apologize to Mr. Charlesworth. I don't know enough about his work, haven't read any of his books cover to cover. I shouldn't have mentioned him at all.

I use a hefty camber in my try planes (that's what we're talking about). Its probably .060". I wrote an article on this subject that was accepted by FWW, then later dropped. This is only different from Jeff's website in a few details. I don't use or recommend using a finger to fence the plane for example. For those privy to the Hand Tool Challenge, the entirety of that article as editted by FWW appears on my website.

One thing that may need mention in this thread, is that the try plane does not produce a joint. Therefore, if the edge is off a few degrees, or if there is a hollow, it simply doesn't matter. The edge left by the try plane is good enough for drawer sides, carcass sides, moldings and the like.

I really wasn't disparaging Mr. Charlesworth. I think he's awesome. I was just trying to say that sometimes the best woodworkers use techniques that are really easy for them, but can be hard for the rest of us. Straightening an edge without camber sounds like such a technique to me. The converse is so simple. But I shouldn't have used Charlesworth as my example in this case, since, as you point out, he uses the traditional cambered technique.

Sorry David Charlesworth,

Adam