![]() ![]() The Hutchins Water Bug III Sander uses a 3/32″ random orbital action. Let me explain what we’re working with here. And that’s where the Hutchins Water Bug III makes such a useful addition to the shop. It can be an effective but time-consuming solution. I sometimes use the wet sanding method with other applications as well, like final primer coats it ensures a flat surface before the base coat and clear coat go on. For the uninitiated, the idea here is that the water will keep the sandpaper from scratching the delicate surface as well as washing away any contaminants. When we wind up with a clear coat that just won’t behave, we’ll reach for the tried-and-true foam block, sandpaper, and bucket of water. While this is great for keeping the trash out and speeding up processes, it’s not always so great for getting the clear coat to lay down slick. Current clearcoats are very hard and dry rather quickly. Hand tools lend a hand when machines fall short.Clear coats don’t always lay down as smooth as we’d like. I remember the day my seventh grade shop class teacher handed me a plane and rough-sawn plank and tried to teach me how to flatten a board. Needless to say, my efforts fell short of his expectations. For a long time, I assumed the man was clinically obsessed with flat, straight, and square, or else dreamed of becoming a drill sergeant. Many years later, the lesson finally sank in. Flattening stock may not be elementary, but it is an essential woodworking skill. Most woodworking starts with a flat reference face. A shop full of heavy machinery can help, but there are instances when you must rely on muscle power. ![]() For example, should you ever score a clear 24"-wide plank for a tabletop, it would be crazy to rip it into smaller boards to fit your jointer and then glue them back together. On a similar (and more practical) note, when a board’s only a few inches wider than your jointer, you may not want to rip it to fit.Īs much as I love using hand planes, my mama raised no fool. Like electricity, I always take the path of least resistance. My favorite approach to flattening wide boards involves a combination of hand and power tools. By practicing my technique, you’ll be able to tackle boards that are too wide for your jointer as well as flatten wide boards and tabletops with ease. Of course, you’ll need a few hand planes. The sizes of the planes you use partially depend upon the size of your stock, but I find I can get by with a jack (#5) and jointer (#6 or #7). For final smoothing, I like using my #41⁄2 (see “Smoothing Savvy,” page 56). To check for cup and bow, and to assess your progress while planing, you’ll need a couple of straightedges. For long boards, I use a straight 1⁄4 × 11⁄2 × 60" piece of cold-rolled steel. For shorter boards, I use a 24" straightedge. To check for twist, you’ll need a pair of winding sticks. (The 1⁄8"-thick stock is straighter than the thinner stuff.) They can be made from straight-grained wood or plywood, but an aluminum angle from the hardware store works just as well. Last but not least, you’ll need a flat and stable work surface equipped with a vise and stops to secure your boards, and a variety of wedges and shims to keep the board from shifting or rocking during the flattening process. ![]() (If your bench is a featherweight, use cast-iron weights or sandbags to keep it from sliding around your shop.)īefore you begin flattening, it’s important to secure the board to your bench. When using a tail vise and bench dogs to secure your work, apply just enough pressure to keep the board from moving. If you crank down too hard, you risk bowing the board and you’ll never get it flat. To level the high spots, some woodworkers use a scrub plane, a narrow-bodied plane with a heavily cambered blade designed to remove large scallops of wood. I find a scrub plane to be a bit too aggressive for most purposes. Instead, I usually use a #5 jack plane outfitted with a cambered, or crowned blade (see Photo C). The crowned blade allows fast stock removal without leaving hard-edged tracks which require you to remove even more stock to make the face smooth. Plane perpendicularly or diagonally across the high spots using overlapping strokes, as shown in Photo D. This step requires some muscle, but it usually goes surprisingly fast. Check your progress frequently with both a straightedge and winding sticks. ![]()
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