# Infuriating plane problem



## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

My shop is without a table saw or a jointer, so all my rips are done on my Laguna 14 12 followed with a few strokes from a hand plane. I have been using hand planes for a few years now with little issues. I have a Pre-WWII stanley Baily #3, and #7. Along with a Wood River #5, and a Shelton that looks to be close to a Stanley #4. 

A few weeks ago I offered to make a end grain cutting board for a friend in exchange for some light electrical work in my house. I have never made an end grain cutting board before but logic seems to indicate that all the edges of my starting stock need to be perfectly square. Of course I always check my stock for squareness but I'm working with much tighter tolerances this time around and its just not working. For some reason once my edges start getting square to the board face they start going "twisted". I'm not sure twisted would be the correct term so maybe this will explain what I'm getting.









I had this problem initially so I invested in a pile of sandpaper, which is ironic since I try to use planes due to my hatred of sand paper, and a 19" x 2" x 6" granite surfacing plate. I started by flattening my #7 which seemed to have a "twist" pattern similar to what my board edges were doing. Once that was done I assume my problem was fixed but when I got back to it with a different plane (new WoodRiver #5) and got the same results. 

What with this happening regardless of the plane I'm using I assume either all my planes are "twisted" somehow, or more likely there's something I'm doing wrong here. I assure to hold the plane bed firmly to the board edge. I put my thumb on the front end of the plane and run my fingers along the board face and do my best to apply uniform pressure throughout the stroke. I try for uniform strokes but still having this problem. Can anyone offer pointers on technique or any idea of what may be happening here.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*I'm no handplane expert but...*

Here's what I would try. Clamp a straight and square board next to your workpiece so you can rest part of the sole of plane on it as reference.

Hold the plane a at a skew angle to the workpiece and move your entire upper body along when you plane, not just your arms. 

Run your iron out a bit past the sole to see if it's parallel to the sole opening by backlighting it. You can feel a slight difference with the palm of your hand, if you are "good" at that. Run a shaving off a Pine board and see if it's a uniform thickness or a wedge.

You can make a handplane sled as someone here posted.. Delevin:

"The sides of the plane run on the strips of wood which I attach using double sided tape normally and then I plane the timber down until it takes no more shavings. Works a great for my circumstances."


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

I've had similar issues that I think were caused by how I was standing and moving the plane. The way I was working it was easy to put more weight on the workbench side of the board at the beginning of the stroke and more weight on my side of the board at the end. I started keeping my upper body pretty much locked and moving myself along the board with my legs, and it resolved a lot of the issue.

Now my boards are still out of square, but at least they're consistent!


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## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

woodnthings said:


> Here's what I would try. Clamp a straight and square board next to your workpiece so you can rest part of the sole of plane on it as reference.
> 
> Hold the plane a at a skew angle to the workpiece and move you entire upper body along when you plan, not just your arms.
> 
> ...


Appreciate it woodnthings but I'm a little confused by this. However I will try locking my upper body and walking the plane down the stock. 

by the way, the difference in "High" and "Low" is probably about 1/32". Are my tolerances too high? Will a gap that size offer issues in joining?


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

The longer the board, the more difficult it is to keep the plane in a constant motion... you run out of "room".
If you can keep your boards under 24" that would help.

You plane iron may be set too deep and you are using too much effort and thereby twisting it a bit. I think 1/32" is still too much, but over what distance?


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## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

They are about 24" long. And my plane was set to take very light cuts... wispy light curls was all i was taking off.


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