Mike CHS
Herd Master
You could probably find a hand plane at a flea market for a few dollars and spend a bit of time sharpening the blade. You would be surprised how much use they can get.
Mystang's Homesteading Circus
- Thread starter mystang89
- Start date
Nicely done and great job by your son! Everyone needs kids like that! That will be a beautiful shelf when you finish it. Will you stain it, just seal it, or leave it bare?
CntryBoy777
Herd Master
One thing is for sure....it is a "keepsake".....and could be returned to him, later....down the road of "life", just be sure to date it and have him put his initials into it......
- Thread starter
- #194
mystang89
True BYH Addict
You need a planer!
Indeed I do! I actually have a couple of hand planers with blades I have sharpened already. HOWEVER, having a hand planer and knowing how to USE a hand planer are two completely different things. I've watched many Youtube vids about the proper way to use them but I'm the type of person who needs hands on help with this for the proper technique. If someone knows how to use them and would like to teach me I'd be willing to say thank you.
I haven't decided if I am going to seal it. I don't have much moisture in the house so I don't expect warping. It shouldn't be touched by hand often so it shouldn't get oils on it. On to of that it's black locus so even if it did get water or oils on it, I don't believe that would affect it much in the least. So I'm leaving towards not print a sealer on it. It's already seasoned so I don't have to worry about that either. I like the look of bare locus so I don't think I'll drain it either. If I did decide to seal though if end up using a matte polyurethane.
Thanks for the compliments everyone. I'll pass them to my son too. He'll enjoy that.
greybeard
Herd Master
Using a hand plane is fairly straight forward. Adjusting the cut depth and angle of the blade tho for each type of wood, can be daunting, and that's what most people (myself included) have trouble with.
(you will find out how good your wrist and other arm muscles are if you use a big one very much.)
(you will find out how good your wrist and other arm muscles are if you use a big one very much.)
Bruce
Herd Master
If it is going to warp, it will whether you seal it or not. How long has the plank been sitting around? If a decently long time it has already warped as much as it is likely to.
Given the option of a hand plane or a belt sander, I'd go with the sander and spend the money on some 40 grit belts. That is a big chunk of wood, my hands would be complaining long before one side was smoothed with a hand plane. I have a 3 blade 13" Delta power planer for smoothing rough lumber. When using a hand plane, I find it helpful to go at a slight diagonal to the grain, seems to catch less that way. And for a piece that long, you want a long plane so you don't make a bunch of peaks and valleys.
Given the option of a hand plane or a belt sander, I'd go with the sander and spend the money on some 40 grit belts. That is a big chunk of wood, my hands would be complaining long before one side was smoothed with a hand plane. I have a 3 blade 13" Delta power planer for smoothing rough lumber. When using a hand plane, I find it helpful to go at a slight diagonal to the grain, seems to catch less that way. And for a piece that long, you want a long plane so you don't make a bunch of peaks and valleys.
- Thread starter
- #197
mystang89
True BYH Addict
Yep, that's exactly my problem. Each piece of wood is different, and I haven't a clue where to adjust everything to. I have a hard time with the hand planer catching on the wood. I try to set the depth more shallow but it seems that even then if I hit a small bump it catches.
Thanks for the advice! I'll try going at a more diaganal angle. It's 2 years aged so I'm not worried about warping. It should be pretty solid.
I did take the belt sander to the part I cut with the chainsaw and it made relatively short work of the piece. I hung everything today. It's functional but I'm not completely happy with it. I'm out of screws so I had to nail it to the anchors you see on the wall but I didn't have drill bits of the correct size to drill a pilot hole meaning I had to have 8d nails through black locus while it was pushing down on 4 lag bolts. A few bent nails later, or partially hammered in nails, and it's up there. It won't come down. That much I'm fairly sure about but I am going to buy some screws, take the shelf off the anchors and screw it down after drilling a couple of pockets holes. It will give it a much more "finished" look instead of a "hurried" look.
It is large enough so I can put more books as the years go on too so that's nice.
We started school today for a half day, just to get everyone accustomed to it. Went fairly well. We'll do a full day tomorrow and get into the fill swing. I feel I'll be able to give more of my attention this year than in the past two years that we've lived here since most of the large "must get done now" projects are finished and therefore not on my mind. I don't feel pressed between the two. Here's to a quick school year!
greybeard
Herd Master
Blade bevel up or bevel down? Initially smoothing up rough cuts, I've had better luck with bevel down.
Bruce
Herd Master
Interesting, I've not heard of flipping the blade for working rough wood.
Mike CHS
Herd Master
I use a plow plane when I'm really hogging rough wood and have an old smoothing plane to straighten out the rough work.
The picture is a cedar slab that I was working on for a friend and it didn't take but about 20 minutes.
The picture is a cedar slab that I was working on for a friend and it didn't take but about 20 minutes.
