On Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:07:24 -0400, Greg Guarino
wrote:
My general woodworking skills: Modest at best
My plane skills: None
Keep working on it. It doesn't take long if you pay attention to 3
things: your own body, the plane, and the wood. Once you get them into
some kind of harmony, beautiful things begin to happen.
I recently "inherited" a Stanley block plane that I intended to use to
fix a sticky door in my house. I asked how to clean the rust off it on
this forum and got rather more answers than I expected. I can't wait to
see the crop this question reaps.
g
The cleaning went fine, after which I blundered about trying to sharpen
the iron and adjust the plane at least well enough to shave down the
door. Despite my inexpertise, it went pretty well; the door now opens
and closes nicely.
Congrats, sir.
But in the process, I noticed something interesting. I had set up a
scrap piece of 1x2 oak in a vise to test the plane after each clumsy
tweak. I of course hacked it to bits at first, but after a while I got
things reasonably functional. And the test piece (I was planing the
edge) got smooth; surprisingly so, and a different sort of smooth than I
would expect from sanding. It was glassy, or perhaps waxy, looking
rather than dusty.
That's the burnishing the plane does to the surface. Beautiful, isn't
it?
I have no illusions that my junior high shop teacher would have
pronounced my scrap piece "SSS" (Straight, Square, Smooth) and I didn't
dare run a try square over it,
That comes with time and practice. No worries, mate.
but the finish was quite surprising. I
looked briefly online, and it seems there are craftsmen who prefer
planing over sanding, at least in some situations.
Yes, indeed.
So I'm wondering if this has any practical use for an occasional weekend
shelf-and-cubbyhole maker like myself. If I were to get a proper plane
for the purpose, could I reasonably expect to, for instance, smooth down
a face frame? Or does it require more learning and practicing (both in
the sharpening and the actual use of the tool) than a guy like me is
likely to have the time or patience for?
It's learnable. Go for it.
Next, we introduce you to the cabinet scraper. You're likely to toss
out all of your sandpaper the week after that.
Books to peruse:
_Handtools: Their Ways and Workings_ by Aldren Watson
http://goo.gl/S5Cyt
_The Handplane Book_ by Garrett Hack
http://goo.gl/L19n2
_The Complete Guide to Sharpening_ by Leonard Lee (Of Lee Valley fame)
http://goo.gl/4kRSF Buy it even if you've already discovered the
Scary Sharp(tm) method. It covers a lot more types of tools.
_The Workbench Book_ by Scott Landis
http://goo.gl/ml9q9 You'll benefit by having and using a good bench
once you start using planes and scrapers more often.
Welcome to the slippery slope, Greg!
--
Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt