Replies

1. 
   Samson | Jul 13, 2008 03:14am | #1

   The answer is really that it depends upon how skilled you are at jointing.

   If you have a table saw to rip and all the 5 1/2 has to do is clean off the blade marks, there is really no limit.

   Likewise, if you build yourself a shooting board, the limit is the size fo the shooting board.

   
   

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   Edited 7/12/2008 8:19 pm ET by Samson

2. 
   philip | Jul 13, 2008 05:26am | #2

   The length of the longest piece would be about the same as the longest board for your dining table top (;). A six foot length is not too hard at all to joint with a 51/2. A longer plane such as #7 just makes it more convenient. Anyway for glued butt joins one would like to have the edges slightly concave in length-not dead straight.
   That 51/2 is a most versatile size and I think it more important that you have a reliable convenient way of holding your long lengths at a suitable height to help you joint.

   Philip Marcou
1. 
   Zappa | Jul 13, 2008 07:07am | #3

   Thanks for the info.. I think the longest pieces would be about 24 inches or so.   I want to do a few small shelves and work on so ideas as well as get use to my new plane. I have been a fan of David CHarlesworth for a while and I will be putting his version of a straight edge to good use.  I just want to get some fairly straight boards from woodcraft and not have to spend a long time getting them into shape as I do not have a band saw or table saw. The only saw I have is a circular saws and although i have some jigs for cutting 4x8 sheets I am not sure how they would work with lumber ... but it might now that I am thinking about it...  Z

1. 
   Lataxe | Jul 14, 2008 02:10pm | #4

   Z,

   Being a relative newcomer to planing with handplanes, I found jointing a rough-edged board quite challenging at first.  Getting the edge straight is not so much a problem as is getting it square all down it's length. 

   Whislt a straight edge is useful to check one edge, it's also possible to check the actual joint by butting two planed edges together with the planks stood vertically, one atop the other, on their edges.  This allows you to also see if you've managed to get that desirable slight central gap; and to see (by looking down the ends of the boards) if they are co-planar (forming a single flat surface).  Any deviation from 90 degree edges shows up immediately.

   Getting that 90 degrees of face to edge freehand with a plane is apparently possible with practice.  Either I haven't practiced enough or I am clumsy, as I still can't do it freehand - especially on a longer edge.

   I can do it using match-planing - planing two edges together that are to be butted for gluing.  Any deviation from 90 degres in one piece is automatically compensated for by the same deviation in the matching piece.  Even then, with longer edges (6 ft and more) I have managed somehow to get a slight wind down the edges, which is not a disater but is not ideal either. 

   If the planks to be jointed are thick (say 5/4 or more) match-planing is not an option.

   Where possible I "joint" edges on the tablesaw (which makes them perfectly straight and 90 degrees) then carefully remove the faint sawmarks and make that slight dip in the middle, as Philip describes above, using a plane.  The saw marks from the TS provide a guide so you can see exctly how much you have removed and whether you have done so eveny - i.e. keeping the edges straight and at 90 degrees.

   One day I might become skilled enough to get them 90 degree edges freehand......

   A final and heretical point: even if the edges are not exactly 90 degrees, you can sometimes force a panel to stay flat on the show face with slight gaps in the non-show face.  Biscuits or a spline are then necessary to give strength to the joints.  This is very naughty; but I have seen many a panel in commercially-made items with these characteristics, in stuff that I have reclaimed.  Surprisingly, the joints are still strong and have to be sawn apart during the reclamation process.  Belting them with a mallet or bendng them over a fulcrum does not separate them.

   Lataxe

1. 
   nboucher | Jul 14, 2008 05:21pm | #5

   For what it's worth, I find the biggest hindrances to jointing an edge 90 degrees to a flat face are any imperfection in the edge of the blade or the slightest play or misalignment in the lateral adjustment lever. Either of these things can cause the plane to favor one side of the edge over the other. When this happens, I do one of the two things: either use my fingers as a fence against the true face to have the entire plane hit only the high side of the edge, or use the lateral adjustment lever to have the blade cut more deeply on the part of the edge that's coming out high. Norman

1. 
   veggiefahmah123 | Jul 14, 2008 06:36pm | #6

   Yall know I love this thread, but it's also fun to see a little good practical woodworkin advice sneak itself in. 

   Regahds,

   Tom

2. 
   Lataxe | Jul 14, 2008 07:20pm | #7

   Norman,

   I have paid attention to that blade angle in the plane body, as you describe.  I also tried a Veritas fence on the jointer, as well as that "fingers as a fence" grip.  These techniques do help me to get towards that elusive 90 degrees but often I still fail to a significant degree. 

   Having successfully cut and joined edges for many years using the TS and sanding the edges clean of sawmark, I revert to the familiar (planes now replacing sanding block) so I still haven't practiced enough with the plane.  Perhaps it is necesary to take the pain and practice, practice, practice.  :-)

   Lataxe the lazy

    

3. 
   TaunTonMacoute | Jul 15, 2008 06:59pm | #8

   As long a piece as you care to, however it won't be as mindless a process as if you'd had a longer plane.

    

4. 
   SawdustSteve | Jul 15, 2008 08:17pm | #9

   Try this on some 'scrap' wood.....

   I'll assume the two faces have been flattened....

   Place the two faces together and clamp in a vise with the two edges to be joined facing up. Make sure the two ends are CAREFULLY alligned.

   Now plane the (combined) edge. Any 'plus' variation will be mirror immaged by a 'minus' variation. Even if the two edges are not perfect, the two edges will be a nice tight fit.

   As for the original question of how long a board you can plane with a 5 1/2, the answer is... as long as the longest board you can purchase.

   Try it.... it works for me. SawdustSteve

1. 
   Samson | Jul 15, 2008 08:21pm | #10

   This match planing only helps with the issue of getting an edge perfectly perpendicular to the face (avoids it be creating complements).  It does nothing to help with the problem of hills and valleys allong the edge (i.e., the problem you court when using a shorter plane like a 5 1/2 instead of a 7 or 8 on a long edge).

5. 
   WillGeorge | Jul 16, 2008 03:29am | #11

   I have no idea.. BUT I have a wonderful old Stanley I occasional will use to 'clean up an edge.. I have a nice really square maple block I stick to the bottom with the expensive double sided carpet tape on one edge. As in a guide... Holding a plane that way is a bit strange but so am I.. Seems sort of natural to me! You know, one hand on the plane and one hand holding the block against the surfaced face!

    

   By the way.. Takes a dead blow hammer to get that block off!

   
   

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   Edited 7/15/2008 8:30 pm by WillGeorge

1. 
   Zappa | Jul 17, 2008 06:00am | #12

   Thanks for the advice and inspiration everyone...  as well as the reading enjoyment.. Z

1. 
   WillGeorge | Jul 17, 2008 10:11pm | #13

   as well as the reading enjoyment??

   Gee... I remember reading ...

   Lady Chatterley's Lover.. My Mother took it away.. And smacked me upside the head.. I never told her I bought TWO just in case I ran into this...

   My furtue wife and I read it together.. She said I was SICK!! I asked her why she stayed untill the story ended..  She said Marry me and I will explain.. ???

    

    

    

    

6. 
   dkellernc | Jul 19, 2008 05:26pm | #14

   Comment about fencing a plane to do edge-jointing with:  Auxillary metal fences as sold by Stanley and others (and now reincarnated with magnetic attachments by Lee Valley) are very nice-to-haves when it comes to getting the edges 90 degrees to the face.

   However, if you don't want to spend the money on one of these, there is an alternative if you have a couple of very small "cabinet makers clamps" - the kind that have screws on opposite sides of the clamp.  I use 2 4" clamps like this to clamp a flat piece of maple to the side of the plane to act as a fence.  The advantage to these over the older Stanley models is that the japanning on the inside of your nice, new L-N or L-V plane doesn't get messed up by the threads of the attachment points of one of the metal fences, and a square block of maple is a lot cheaper.