I'm aiming to gauge my skill level based on how much time I spend planing wood. When I'm glueing up panels, it really feels like it takes forever, and I'm using only hand tools. Here's my general workflow:
1. Rip and cut stock to size
2. Address warps and cups on some boards
3. Flatten a reference face and edge on every board
4. True all boards to the same thickness—this part usually takes the longest, especially when fixing warp/cup issues that might remove an eighth of an inch, meaning I have to scrub down each board again.
5. Edge joint the boards side by side, which involves a good amount of manual clamping and unclamping.
6. Finally, glue everything up!
This entire process often takes me a full day (around 10 hours) just for a small panel of approximately 13x35 inches. And then there's still final sanding to consider after gluing, which I know can be quick if done perfectly, but I sometimes need to address uneven spots. My question is, am I particularly slow at any specific step? I suspect that starting with warped boards is a big part of the problem, and I'm wondering if even a handtool woodworker should consider using a planer to speed things up.
1 Answer
Prepping stock really can be a slow process, especially thicknessing. That’s why my first power tool was a thickness planer, followed by a bandsaw. But hey, practice makes perfect! How's your collection of planes? You’ll want a foreplane or scrub plane with a heavily cambered iron to really hustle through those thick materials. That’ll help you speed things up considerably!
I’ve converted a No. 4 into a scrub plane with an 8-inch camber, and it's doing wonders for me! I also have a No. 5 that's pretty versatile for smoothing and jointing, but I'm thinking of getting another scrub plane just to see if it makes a noticeable difference. I mostly scrub with the grain and it's pretty fun to see those thick shavings fly!