Jointing two boards with a hand plane.

[formariz 11,849]

I made this video for another post and thought it may be useful  for it to be here. Many of us sometimes need to glue two boards together particularly edge to edge.  No need to feel helpless if a jointer is not available. If one has a hand plane it can be done easier, safer , quicker and better than with any machine. It is not only simple  but also an enjoyable task. The longer the plane is the easier that task is, assuming of course that the board is longer than the plane. One chooses the plane accordingly. Most of us will only have one plane most likely a smoothing plane about 9" long. Not a problem it will just take a little longer and one just has to check board a little more often. During this process what happens is that plane will first cut the high spots, just riding over the low ones. Eventually plane will take one continuous shaving from beginning to end. If for example it is an 8" board and the plane is anywhere from 18" to 30" long, the board then will most likely be straight or close to it when there is a continuous shaving. If the plane is shorter than that it may most likely be a little high in the center. A little hollow in the center is desirable so when clamped in center, ends will easily come together. By "hollow" I am referring to about 16/32" or 1/2 sixteenth of an inch. Board has also to be square. That is also easily achieved by using the lateral adjustment on the plane as needed. Just a couple of critical ways of handling the plane need to be followed as illustrated on the video.

 

[Gregor 4,838]

I thought I was a woodworker at one time. Apparently,  I was a hack at best. You do some amazing work. Although, I do have to take issue with a "hollow" amount of 16/32". Seems extreme to me. LOL Just messin' with you, I know it's a typo. The trouble I have seen with most people gluing edge boards together is. when they apply their clamps, They really crank them down. To me, it seems they are squeezing out all the glue, leaving little to hold the boards together. I have used biscuits in the past, but the boards seem to swell up at the biscuit site. Maybe the wood is absorbing water from the glue, I don't know. You may have addressed these issues n your video, but I can't hear a word. It's early, and I don't have my hearing aids in yet. Keep up the excellent work. I will watch again, when I put my ears in.

[DennisThornton 4,769]

Can't say that edge planning boards will ever become a hit action film, but yours is certainly informative!  Done very well!
One can layout a whole table top with all the grain arranged and still plane two boards at once.  When I first tried doing singles mine didn't turn out nearly as good as yours did!  So I switched to planning two at a time.  Maybe now I could do a little better with one at time, but I guess we tend to do as we have always done.
Gregor brought up something.  I have both biscuit cutter and biscuits but have never used them.  I've seen glued joints and dowels swell so I'm sure biscuits do as well. Only fix I've seen for that is to work on something else until they completely dry and return to their pre swollen state.  Pretty sure we will both say that neither biscuits, dowels, tongues or dominos are needed for strength but rather alignment.  What if any do you use?

Hard to hollow out the middle with a big power jointer!

[formariz 11,849]

9 hours ago, Gregor said:

"hollow" amount of 16/32".

 

9 hours ago, Gregor said:

when they apply their clamps, They really crank them down

 

It is not a typo. You want to have a "hollow" but not really a visible one. 1/16" is extremely visible. The idea is that when board is finally straight one merely takes about two or three swipes on the center area only with plane. If one would measure the thickness of the shaving  generally for ease of usage that shaving would not be more than about 4/32".

The reason why most people overtighten their clamps is because they don't have a perfect joint , therefor they are trying to close the gaps. Believe it or not I even many times do not clamp them. Take for example the two boards on the video. Clamping those two boards at 8" in length and 24" width would require a large table and for most at least four clamps, probably more if jointing is not done right. Boards would have to be flat on table causing a lot of the glue to escape of the bottom. You would also have to prop them off table to allow for clamps. In reality that way one is doing everything possible against that joint. I would glue them the way the board is right on the vises after planning it. That is also a big part of the reason why I insist on jointing one board each time rather than two. I do not want to compensate for any errors as far as the edge being square when I joint the board. I want that board perfectly square so when I place  the previously jointed board on top of the one in the vises they stay together without any aid and are straight across their faces. Gravity holds them together and glue is not coming out of one side due to them being flat. A minimum of glue is used. Glue is placed on the bottom board, top board is placed on top and "rubbed" back and forth until it starts dragging a bit. . That action spreads and removes excess glue and air naturally "sucking" the two boards together. Joints were perfect so there are no gaps. At the ends then I use one pinch dog on each end to keep boards aligned and tight since it is where most air will seep in opening the joint. If boards are excessively misaligned in the center ( all of this is checked before gluing of course) I can clamp two small sticks on the top board on each side slightly overlapping the bottom board this way guiding them into place. All edge glued boards will be face planed anyway so a slight deviation there of something like 1/16" is not a problem.

This method works well for boards up to one inch thick or so. Thicker boards will require some clamping.

 

9 hours ago, Gregor said:

I have used biscuits in the past, but the boards seem to swell up at the biscuit site.

One can use biscuits, dowels, etc but in my opinion they just add more unnecessary work. Boards have been joined for thousands of years successfully before there were any biscuits or dowels. 

 

Biscuits were really introduced to deal with man made materials such as particle board and MDF. The way a biscuit is designed to work, hence the direction the way it is made, meaning how it is cut from a piece of wood and how it is machined, is that when glue is applied and biscuit inserted into slot it will expand to the correct fit creating the glue joint. It should be used as far from the face of of material as possible  so it does not telegraph though the face. When used in solid wood for alignment purposes where the joint is glued anyway, do not put glue in the biscuit slot! There is no need. The actual glue joint on the two solid edges is stronger than the actual wood.

 

Now, why do they many times telegraph through faces specially on man made materials or thin solid wood? Biscuits are dried and compressed at manufacturing.  If one does not very carefully store them in an air tight container, they will expand. A sure sign of that assuming one is using the correct cutter for that specific biscuit size is if they do not fit in slot without resistance to being inserted without glue. If there is any resistance they have expanded. Used that way with glue they will telegraph through face of any 3/4" man made material. I worked in Architectural Woodwork most of my life and this was always a problem. Many times extremely expensive veneered work was rejected because of that. It can also happen with solid wood specially if a high gloss finish is used. The thing to do first, is to store them properly in a closed glass or plastic jar. If I have to use them what I do is prior to gluing the compress the on a good vise so they can be inserted without any resistance.

 

6 hours ago, DennisThornton said:

One can layout a whole table top with all the grain arranged and still plane two boards at once.  When I first tried doing singles mine didn't turn out nearly as good as yours did!  

Yes one can do that. My objections to do it that way are the following.

Many time one of those two boards will have the grain going in the wrong direction for planing. That edge will not have the same quality finish as a glue surface. If bad enough will also tear excessively possibly even being visible on face of joint once glued.

 

If one is joining thick material like 1" or thicker it just makes the process of using the plane harder contributing to doing it incorrectly. Combine that with the fact that one may be going against the grain as mentioned before and you have a great source of frustration.

 

If the jointing is incorrect such as too much was removed from ends and boards touch in the center with gaps at the ends, now that error is doubled since it is on both boards and it will go on opposite direction when boards are put together. One now has todo both boards again where most time only a minor adjustment needs to be done on one.

 

One may also change ones mind as to which way a board looks best, so now if edges are not square, one eliminated that possibility without reworking board. Its good to leave all options open.

  

Depending on much out of square one may plane the boards together, it will contribute to the boards faces sliding out of alignment when clamped with the slippery glue. I have found that any amount out of square contributes to that.

 

6 hours ago, DennisThornton said:

Hard to hollow out the middle with a big power jointer!

Yes it is.  Depending on the length and thickness of pieces being jointed the "hollowing" is relatively a "non measurable" amount. Hand plane can start and stop cutting in the middle of material by lifting it gently onto and out of it  without leaving a noticeable mark as you can see in video. Any power planer portable or stationary will leave a "snipe". It is however a very important action. Gluing should be done immediately or as soon as possible after jointing board since it is at the ends that moisture will first enter causing ends to "curl" up. Hollowing gives you a sort of head advantage. It is also where air will enter first and first through glue joint creating it to separate. The action of placing pressure with a clamp, specially when excessive, will also cause ends to "curl" up. Now, when one combines all of that it is easy why so many people have trouble with the ends.

Edited March 6, 2021 by formariz

[DennisThornton 4,769]

You make an excellent points, especially about planing two boards at the same time. Dissimilar grains could be a problem and force a change in the boards layout for sure.

I've restored some furniture, made a few decent kitchen/bath cabinets but most of my work is utilitarian, never done anything high end but I really enjoy reading and watching others.  Nice to know how even if I never do it.  But there's a lot of "Devil is in the details" that tend to show up when I actually get around to doing some things.  And like you wrote, it's sad when a lot of work has gone into a piece and there's no easy way to fix a problem.

 

Thanks for the video and the explanations!

[Gregor 4,838]

Am I thinking wrong? How much is 16/32" ?

 

[squonk 38,861]

14 minutes ago, Gregor said:

Am I thinking wrong? How much is 16/32" ?

 

Can't find 16 /32" on a chart but it should be 1/2"  15/32 is .46"

Edited March 6, 2021 by squonk

[formariz 11,849]

2 hours ago, Gregor said:

Am I thinking wrong? How much is 16/32" ?

 

Lol I am getting old. It was obviously a typo. That would be an impressive gap enough for a mouse to go through. I meant to say two or three 32”.