Popular Woodworking 2003-06 № 134, страница 51
Planing stop slips into dog holes in bench A shop-made planing stop is a simple and effective way to hold your work for smoothing (left).The force you use to push your plane also holds your work down and against the stop (above). fills, this usually involves filing the wooden bed of the tool. Then turn your attention to the device that holds the iron in place. On wooden planes, this is a wedge that might require a little sanding to seat just right. For infills and metal planes, the lever cap must be screwed down tight. Now set your iron square to the sole. For planes with adjusters, set the iron so it projects a little from the sole. Turn the plane upside down and look down the sole from the front of the plane. Adjust the iron until it projects evenly from the sole, then retract the iron. Now advance the iron until it takes the lightest cut possible. Your wood should already be true - either from machining or earlier planing. Final smoothing removes just a few thousandths of an inch of wood. A Stop Before you Start The boards you plane need to be fixed on your bench so you can smooth them quickly. Some woodworkers use bench dogs and a shoulder vise equipped with a dog to secure the wood. This works, but it's a lot of trouble and should be reserved for times when your other efforts fail. In my opinion, the best way to keep your boards in one place during planing is to use a "planing stop." This simple j ig is a piece of hardwood that's 7/l6n thick, about 2" wide and as long as your bench is deep. My planing stop has a couple dowels screwed to it that allow the whole thing to be slipped into two dog holes on my bench (see the photo above). Place the far edge of the wood to be planed against the stop. The downward and forward pressure of your plane will keep most work pieces in place against the stop. Very narrow wood or irregular shapes require some thought to clamp. This little jig works for about 90 percent of my needs. One more thing you should consider as you set up your area for planing: A lower benchtop height (34") is better for planing than a higher bench (36" or higher). With a lower bench you can use your weight to hold the plane against the work instead of relying mostly on your arms. Old-time benches were 28" off the floor. People were shorter then, but you get the idea. Reading the Grain and Actually Planing It's almost always best to plane with the grain. The illustrations at right show you what I mean better than words ever could. Planing against the grain - tearout Planing with grain - no tearout Reverse grain - plane both directions to avoid tearout popwood.com 49 |
