Popular Woodworking 2007-10 № 164, страница 41

One reason is to get rid of snipe, which is that irritating change of level near to the ends of the components. This small fault is almost inevitable unless the blades of the jointer are set perfectly relative to the outfeed table. We also get a slightly different snipe when components go through the thickness planer. This occurs when each end of the timber is only held down by one of the feed rollers, and a little bouncing happens due to the pounding of the planer knives. Snipe leaves small steps in our surfaces exactly where we want to use a square to mark out shoulders or ends, and a square is useless when the stock is resting on a bump or step. If the stock isn't stable the tool rocks and gives two unreliable readings.

A second reason for handplaning is to improve the surface finish and eliminate tear-out, which may have been caused by the machine planer.

A third reason, the one stated by venerable British craftsman Alan Peters, is to check over the accuracy of the machine result. Timber sometimes "springs" due to the release of internal tensions during machining, and it is also possible to machine a convex edge on a board and leave it just as convex as when you started! For the best results in furniture making, we need to pay attention to accuracy throughout the project. If the preparation and marking out are as accurate as possible we will be well on the way to a good result. Sod's law (you call

it Murphy's Law) predicts that small errors have a nasty habit of accumulating during the j ob and conspire to produce maj or errors at the end. They very rarely oblige and cancel each other out.

The first thing to consider is: How can we use a handplane to take a set of "through-shavings" (shavings that are the entire length of our work) off a machined board without losing the flatness of width that is already there? If we work at random, concentrating on the problem areas, flatness will undoubtedly be lost.

I like to work with nothing shorter than a No. 5 or No. 5¹/2jack plane, which is about 15" long from toe to heel. Longer planes such as a

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