Hey everyone! I'm a hobbyist working with just a few hand tools. I attempted to saw my table in half to fix a failing joint, but my cuts weren't as straight as I wanted. Now, when I try to rejoin the pieces, there are gaps. I thought of using a hand planer to smooth the edges, but it seems to make things worse instead of better. Here's what I have: clamps, a drill, a hand plane, a hand saw, and a sander. Any tips on how to get those edges perfectly flat?
5 Answers
It sounds like you really need more than just one hand plane. Typically, having a couple of different planes is best, depending on the amount of flattening needed. If you put both edges together face up and use a jointing plane on them simultaneously, they should match up better. Just make sure your plane is sharp!
The key with your hand plane is to make sure it's sharp and set up correctly. Be careful not to plane against the grain, as that can cause more issues. Check out this YouTube video from Wood and Shop that demonstrates how to prepare the two halves of your table for rejoining: [link].
Pro tip: many of us find it hard to get a perfect joint with just a saw cut. You definitely need to tune up that hand plane first. I learned a lot from this video by Paul Sellers that might help: [link]. A sharp plane can really make a difference!
If you're dealing with solid wood, a sharp hand plane (not a power one) should do the trick. Here's a good trick: put the two table pieces together, clamp them, and plane them at the same time. This way, any slight angles will match up because they're working in tandem.
You might not need the edges to be perfectly flat; they just need to be close enough to mirror each other. You could try a method similar to 'table saw jointing' with your hand saw. Posting some pics of the edges would help others give you better advice!