Flattening Boards by Hand Hand lend a hand when machines fall short.

By Craig Bentzley

I remember the day my 7th grade shop class teacher handed me a and rough-sawn essential skill. inches wider than your , plank and tried to teach me how shopMost full woodworking of heavy machinery starts you may not want to rip it to fit. canwith help, a flat but reference there are face. instances A As much as I love using hand say, my efforts fell short of his when you must rely on muscle planes, my mama raised no fool. to flatten a board. Needless to Like electricity, I always take assumed the man was clinically you ever score a clear 24"-wide the path of least resistance. expectations. For a long time, I plankpower. for For a example,tabletop, shouldit would aMy combination favorite approach of hand to and and , or else dreamed of be crazy to rip it into smaller flattening wide boards involves obsessed with flat, straight, technique, you’ll be able to tackle boardspower tools. that are By toopracticing wide for my your becoming a sergeant. Many aboards similar to (and fit your more jointer practical) and notyears be later, elementary, the lesson but finally it is an note,then gluewhen them a board’s back together.only a few On sank in. Flattening stock may jointer as well as flatten wide Photos: Paul Anthony; Illustrations: Christopher Mills Feb/Marboards 2013 andwoodcraftmagazine.com tabletops with ease. 53 A B Aluminum angle winding sti cks Using a pair of metal or wooden straightedges, sight Mark the high spots with chalk. Insert wedges to keep across the top of the sti cks to any twist. the board from rocking or defl ecti ng when .

Getti ng Started Cupped and bowed boards are 1 8"-thick stock is hardware store works just as ⁄ straightedge along the length and youOf course, use partially you’ll need depend a few upon hand well.Last (The but not least, you’ll need widththe easiest of the to board identify. in a Simply few spots lay a planes. The sizes of the planes straighter than the thinner stuff.) equipped with a and stops the size of your stock, but I find toa flat secure and yourstable boards, work surface and a and look for light underneath. 1 I can get by with a jack (#5) 2 variety of wedges and shims to Mark the high spots with chalk. and jointer (#6 or #7). For final Twisted boards are a little ⁄ keep the board from shifting or identifying twist–assuming smoothing, I like using my #4 trickier. An easy way of to(see assess “Smoothing your progress Savvy,” while page 54). by pushing down on opposing planing,To check you’ll for needcup and a couple bow, andof featherweight,rocking during usethe cast-ironflattening cornersthat your and bench seeing top if is the flat–is board weightsprocess. or(If sandbags your bench to iskeep a it 1 1 use a straight 4 × 1 2 winding sticks to tell exactly straightedges. For long boards, I rocks. If it does, I use a pair of ⁄ ⁄ × 60" piece Assessfrom sliding the around material your shop.) of cold-rolled steel. For shorter endhow of much the board,twist I’m crouch dealing a few boards, I use a 24" straightedge. size, the next step is to evaluate feetwith. away I center from a stickmy bench, on each and canTo check be made for twist,from straight-you’ll need After cutting boards to rough sight across the tops of the sticks graineda pair of woodwinding or ,sticks. They (Photo A but aluminum angle from the your material. Tackle the biggest of it, you’ll be amazed at how defects first. I try to start on ). Once you get the hang Figure 1: Flatt ening Strategiesthe board’s “show side.”

Bow Cup Twist

54 woodcraftmagazine.com Feb/Mar 2013 C Grind a slight crown, set the 1 D chip breaker ⁄16" inch back from the edge, and your Plane across the board to quickly level high spots. Use shims and is ready for scrub work. wedges to steady the stock when doing the heavy work.

the high corners with chalk or indicate that twist has been aaccurate pencil, asthis shown method in Photo is. Mark B purposes.with a cambered,Instead, orI usuallycrowned removedWhen the and winding the straightedge sticks bladeuse a #5(see jack Photo plane C outfitted makes contact with the tops of Flatt en the face . crowned blade allows fast stock most of the scallops, you can removal without leaving, above). hard- The important to secure the board edged tracks which require you Before you begin flattening, it’s to remove even more stock to planemove (dependingon to the next on step.the size of vise and bench dogs to secure Here, I’ll use a #6 or #7 jointer to your bench. When using a tail perpendicularly or diagonally pressure to keep the board from acrossmake the the face high smooth. spots using Plane the board) outfitted with a lightly your work, apply just enough overlapping strokes as shown widthcambered shavings blade–about and plane .008 along inch. hard, you risk bowing the board in Photo D theAdjust length the ofblade the forboard light as full- shown moving. If you crank down too some muscle, but it usually goes in Photo E . This step requires more slowly because the shavings woodworkersand you’ll never use get a scrubit flat. plane, progress frequently with both a . This work will go a bit narrow-bodiedTo level the high plane spots, with some a surprisingly fast. Check your scallops are leveled off and you heavily cambered blade designed Depending on the defects you’re getshould full bewidth much shavings, thinner. check When the to remove large scallops of addressing,straightedge you and may winding not need sticks. to board with your straightedge as plane the whole surface of the shown in Photo F and winding be a bit too aggressive for most Figure 1 . I find a to board. (See at left). sticks. If there are any remaining

E F Run a along the board’s face to Periodically check your progress by skim off any remaining high spots. Skewing laying a straightedge along the board the plane can help reduce tear-out. and looking for light underneath.

Feb/Mar 2013 woodcraftmagazine.com 55 can check with local cabinet or millworkface, you haveshops two to seechoices. if they You will run your board through their

planer or wide belt . Or you can flatten and thickness handthe opposite is basically face bythe hand. same as Thicknessing a board by that you’re now working to a flattening the first face, except G set a marking to the Set the to the desired thickness, and then scribe a line specific thickness. To do this, across all four edges. Reference the head against the flattened face. of the board and scribe a linedesired all the finished way around thickness the high spots or twist, these areas face with the planer, and then board as shown in Photo G can be quickly addressed by a few additional diagonal stokes of the after each pass until you reach . continue to flip the board over Starting with your #5, scrub material from each side helps the face just shy of your marking jointer plane. At this point, your the desired thickness. (Removing gauge lines. Next, switch to Powerboard should Up orbe reasonablyKeep Planing flat. desiredyour jointer thickness, plane tothe remove marking the maintains moisture equilibrium. gaugescallops. lines When will you produce approach a the This minimizes future cupping, If your can enoughbowing, to or handle twisting.) the opposite n handle your board, you’re set. If your planer is not large small flap of wood. A few more Simply flatten the opposite passes will remove the flap. Smoothing Savvy Even when I’ve used my planer, machine, it’s important to pay I prefer to do a final smoothing attention to the grain. (See 1 with my #4 ⁄2 plane. Hand- Figure 2 below). If your board planing not only leaves a polished exhibits any tear-out, try planing surface, it erases planer marks from the opposite direction. If faster than a sander. Like my all else fails, switch to a card jointer planes, I grind a very slight scraper or cabinet scraper. Just be camber on the blade (about sure not to dwell in any area too .002). I set the blade tight to the long or you may create a hollow. Set the blade to make whisper-thin mouth, and adjust the depth to Gradually work your way out of shavings and skew the plane to limit take gossamer-thin shavings. the trouble spot, feathering the tear-out. Change planing direction When planing by hand or depression out as far as you can. as needed to go with the grain. Figure 2: Going With The Grain

On the pith side, plane in the On the bark side, plane When grain changes direction, take direction of the peaks. against the peaks. shorter strokes from both directions.

56 woodcraftmagazine.com Feb/Mar 2013