Trying my hand at hand planing

[formariz 11,987]

11 minutes ago, pullstart said:

 Cas, thank you so much for the tutorial!  I even learned you don’t loosen the blade clamp to adjust the screw!   

LOL. You are welcome. I am always glad to see someone using these tools. As for the blade clamp ( called a lever cap) you want that screw just tight enough that you can lock the cam with a little bit of effort but not too much. Too much, makes it hard to adjust the thumb screw to lower or raise blade. Too loose and it will pop upwards with the resistance from the wood as blade starts to cut not allowing blade to remain adjusted.. There is also a cap iron (chip breaker) attached to that blade. you want that about 1/16" or less from the edge of blade. It make a difference on how smooth blade will leave wood. It causes the shaving to curl immediately after being cut, this way eliminating the wedging effect blade has when it cuts. If they are perfectly tuned there is no other tool or sandpaper that leaves a better finish. That is a fact.. Perhaps a plane tuning tutorial next.

[wh500special 2,187]

10 hours ago, formariz said:

 ...Perhaps a plane tuning tutorial next.

 

I would LOVE that!  I've been a power tool hobbyist for a while but have played with handplanes a bit on larger pieces of wood that were too cumbersome to cram into the machines.  It was so gratifying to watch the shavings pile up on the floor as the board flattened and the soreness in my upper body really felt good.

 

I'm not a romantic, but making little pieces of wood out of big pieces of wood with hand tools is as close as it gets for me!

 

Steve

[WHX?? 48,828]

Those doors must real popular all over now Kev, last two houses I did they had store bought ones. More for decoration than to close off a room. 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

11 hours ago, bcgold said:

 

If you download the video you will save bandwidth that the ads are leaching from ya.

 

 

Utility outside of YouTube?  I've read a bit about them but never bothered.

[Pullstart 62,912]

Hey Cas,

 

These boards have quite a few knots.  They don’t seem to peel off like the rest, obviously.  Do you have any suggestions, other than just keep checking and peel off what is needed to fit?  The header, middle board, and footer will surely help to hold it together as well.

[DennisThornton 4,769]

14 hours ago, formariz said:

If it is a table he needs to put ends on it which will keep table from cupping and allow for wood movement. That is another chapter. If it is a barn  door he can just put battens on the inside screwed with slots for movement, or a sliding dovetail if he wants to get fancy.

If unclear, when I mentioned tongue and groove, I meant without glue and to allow each board to move, like a cabinet door.  I was NOT implying the need for additional surface area for the glue.

[Pullstart 62,912]

27 minutes ago, DennisThornton said:

If unclear, when I mentioned tongue and groove, I meant without glue and to allow each board to move, like a cabinet door.  I was NOT implying the need for additional surface area for the glue.

  I actually considered cutting each edge at say a 20 degree angle, then not gluing them together.  The cross pieces could be glued and screwed and let the vertical pieces move with the weather.

[DennisThornton 4,769]

8 minutes ago, pullstart said:

  I actually considered cutting each edge at say a 20 degree angle, then not gluing them together.  The cross pieces could be glued and screwed and let the vertical pieces move with the weather.

If you don't have the means to T&G.  Even a higher angle to help hide any gaps.  If you don't allow for expansion/contraction it will choose where somehow.

[wh500special 2,187]

I like these projects.  And sliding doors are certainly the current trend.  I suspect in a few years when this runs its course that all of our homes will appear dated.

 

I don't have better pictures, but I made these sliding doors from Alder for my basement to close off a bedroom.  My wife looked at lots of doors and didn't find anything that was to her liking (that we were willing to pay for) so asked if I could make something instead.  She wanted them to be heavier looking than the off the shelf models.

 

The vertical boards float in grooves I cut into the stiles and rails.  To block vision between adjacent boards, I cut grooves into the edge of each vertical board and put splines in between.   The splines are glued into only one of the boards so they don't rattle.  Because I didn't know when to say when, there is a little bit of EPDM foam in the grooves of the rails here and there to keep it snug but still let them grow as needed, hopefully without blowing it apart.

 

So far, so good.  No massive movement or problems due to humidity swings.  I had planned to tenon everything together, but got lazy and used a fancy gizmo that makes floating tenons instead for expediency.  No metal fasteners, but it felt like cheating.

 

I don't have pix of the finished doors.  They are sort of gray now.  The top and bottom panels aren't the same height but the angle of the photo makes it appear so.

 

If I had to do it over, they wouldn't be so thick. I think they ended up around 1-3/4" which means the track at the top needs to stand off the wall further than I wanted.  Didn't think that through...

 

Steve

 

PS - in anticipation of the "you sure like expensive tools comment" I'll defend myself by saying I buy all of my stuff used. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by wh500special

[formariz 11,987]

Everyone likes solid wood myself included. I probably use more solid wood than most. However there are many jobs or items where solid wood is not advisable  and there are better alternatives. I have probably built well over several hundred doors up to now. Probably 75% have all been solid wood using traditional mortise and tenon work with floating panels. Barn doors are not so critical because they are merely attached at the top and do not have to critically fit within a frame where any warping and or twisting will be a problem but as I will describe later they may be a problem also. A regular door however is critically  different story and  materials have to be carefully selected from specific cuts so as to prevent any warping or twisting. The process of gluing and clamping such a door can already create a problem if done incorrectly. Barn doors can also many times be a problem if they twist badly. A client that I have worked for for years is very fond of barn doors and had in the past two of them built by someone else. They are used to close large openings into other rooms and are around seven feet wide and eight feet tall. They are solid wood built from rough boards. I have probably fixed them at least a dozen times. They constantly warp so badly that they either wedge themselves on the bottom guide not working at all or have actually popped off the top rollers. Every season is an adventure with them.

One of the last jobs I did for them was the woodwork for their pool house. Again she wants a large barn door. She was so disappointed   with the others that she said no more.  I assured her that it can be done without any problems. This is an area totally exposed to all kinds of moisture from the pool having large patio doors always open in the Summers and showers right next to it. So I built the door on the photo. It is a little over 6 feet wide by 8 feet tall. Rather than to use solid boards for the panels I used instead special grade knotty pine plywood having only solid wood for the frame. It is a hybrid construction technique essentially making a sandwich of different materials. Door has now been up for two years and there has not been any warping or twisting on it with all joints being tight. It is perfectly straight horizontally and vertically and with a slight push it will slide by itself all the way to the stop bumper on the other side.

 

The lore and appeal of solid wood is wide spread and sort of a romantic thing. It is however in many cases not the appropriate material to use unless one is willing to deal with and tolerate the consequences. On top of that is also makes some of these projects unnecessarily expensive and troublesome. In our modern homes with air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter, and constantly changing humidity content solid wood goes essentially through shock treatment. Totally solid wood furniture today in these homes would slowly self destruct and be a nuisance with stuck drawers , badly fitting doors and unsightly cracks just to name a few. Is it possible? Yes, however not many know how to build it correctly and few clients have the finances to afford such pieces if correctly built..

 

Below is a photo of the three tools which precede all of my work, whether it is to purchase material, build it in the shop or to install it in a clients home. Prior to any installation of major work, a circular chart recorder is installed at least one week before and if all conditions are conducive to installation afterwards it will stay recording for about one month. This way there is an actual visual accurate record of what is going on environmentally which always explains what problem may show up.

 

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by formariz

[wh500special 2,187]

Oh my god, a Sling Psychrometer!  I'll bet that garners some attention when you start whirling it around!

 

Cas, I love when you get involved in a post.  I always pick up a couple dozen things I didn't know I should know.  I'm fortunately (?) at the level where the precision of my work isn't high enough to be so demanding, but I can truly appreciate what you do.

 

When I first saw the pic of that gigantic door I thought, "wonder if that's plywood?" but figured it wasn't.  Makes sense to go that route.

 

Steve

Edited March 3, 2021 by wh500special
spelllleengue

[formariz 11,987]

Thank you. I really appreciate that. I am only able to do it because so many others shared their knowledge and wisdom with me without any reservations. I am always looking for the opportunity to do the same for as long as I can sometimes at the risk of sounding boastful. The end result is however always worth the risk.

[Ed Kennell 38,227]

I learned a little about the criticality of wood stability a couple years back when I installed 3/4" white oak T&G flooring in my home.

 

At the recommendation of the  mill supplier, I stored the flooring for a month  on battens in the rooms where  it was  going to be installed .   It had to reach the same moisture content as the subfloor.

[8ntruck 7,016]

5 hours ago, formariz said:

Thank you. I really appreciate that. I am only able to do it because so many others shared their knowledge and wisdom with me without any reservations. I am always looking for the opportunity to do the same for as long as I can sometimes at the risk of sounding boastful. The end result is however always worth the risk.

I appreciate you recognizing these 'teachable moments' as they show up in various threads.  Your comments are always interesting.  I enjoy learning about woodworking techniques, even if it is something I might never use.

Edited March 4, 2021 by 8ntruck

[Pullstart 62,912]

2 hours ago, formariz said:

Thank you. I really appreciate that. I am only able to do it because so many others shared their knowledge and wisdom with me without any reservations. I am always looking for the opportunity to do the same for as long as I can sometimes at the risk of sounding boastful. The end result is however always worth the risk.

I take every word in your explanation to heart Cas, never feeling like it is you boasting.  There can easily be a difference between boasting and humble pride in a skill.  

[953 nut 55,321]

11 hours ago, wh500special said:

I cut grooves into the edge of each vertical board and put splines in between.   The splines are glued into only one of the boards so they don't rattle.

           That is old school there.