Scraper vs Smoother?


matthew-s

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Hi. Maybe someone can help me?

I am a developing hybrid woodworker (slanted towards hand tools). Hand tools are pretty new to me though.

I'm making a small table out of Birch. It's my first "major" woodworking project. My other experiences have been closer to carpentry / DIY home improvement.

I'm finding I'm getting some tear out, especially on the aprons. I need to clean that up, but how?

I have the LN low angle Jack and block planes. What is my right next move?

1) Get better at sharpening, close up the mouth, and use what I have.

2) Get the 90* scraper blade for the bevel up Jack, save some money.

3) Scrapers and smothers are different. Get a smoothing plane. Don't look back, everyone needs one.

What say you? And if the answer is 3, can I make due with a bevel up scraper, as offered by LN, or will I be sorry if I don't invest in a bevel down scraper, like a number 4?

Thanks in advance!

Matt.

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Hi Matt-

You could just put a higher angle micro-bevel on the iron that you have now for your jack. I have an extra blade for this, but I leave the higher angle blade in all the time unless I am removing a lot of material when flattening a board. I use a 40 degree micro-bevel by the way. Like you said, close the mouth up pretty tight. Set for a light cut and keep that blade sharp sharp sharp. :)

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Short answer, you need both a smoother and a scraper.

Longer answer, you need to get better at sharpening and get both.

Personal input, if you like your low angle Jack, follow up with the LN low angle smoother. You will not regret it.

Edit. When I say scraper, I mean card scraper. :)

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A smoothing plane is a specialized plane, with only one real task - to prepare a piece of stock for finish. Many people go right from no 4 to finish. Others will sand or scrape after using the smoother. It really depends on your work style, and how well your plane is set up.

I use a Veritas smoother, but normally sand afterwards. The smoother gets me really close, but I always find myself sanding with 220 regardless.

If you are getting tear out, I would certainly ensure the blade is sharp. Sharpening is one of the best skills a woodowrker can have.

Is the piece you are having trouble with highly figured? Are you planing in direction of the grain?

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Hmm. Maybe I'll take another pass at sharpening. I just received a lapping plate for my stones. lapping the stones was way easier than. I expected it to be. Time for another sharpening attempt.

The wood is not figured, but there are areas where it reverses some (the grain forms a circle of sorts on the face of the board). That is where I'm having some difficulty.

It sounds like for this project I should be able to get close with the planes I have, plus some sandpaper, no?

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Try planing at that point by angling the plane across the grain say 30 degrees or so - but still move the plane along the grain. Back the iron off retract it in a hair. Try planing from the opposite direction too - again by canting the plane.

This actually reduces the angle that the blade is presented to the stock and sometimes works (not always).

 

The other way of doing it is going the opposite way and increasing the blade angle by putting a steep microbevel on the blade. As you have a bevel up plane that is easy to do. There are pros and cons at going lower or higher then 45 degrees inclusive though (37 on your BU). The higher you go the more difficult it is to push the plane. The lower you go the more chance at getting tear out on regular grain (low angle works great on end grain).

 

On my bevel up planes I have three blades: low angle, regular pitch and york pitch so I don't have to regrind just swap the blades out.

 

Card scrapers are dirt cheap though and just go out and buy one.

They work at very high angle of attack.

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There are pros and cons at going lower or higher then 45 degrees inclusive though (37 on your BU). The higher you go the more difficult it is to push the plane. The lower you go the more chance at getting tear out on regular grain (low angle works great on end grain).

Aha! Duh. I found those sentences to be very helpful. Thanks!

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+1 for increasing the angle of the bevel on the iron for you 62.  I have that and just started using it more, and was getting tearout from maple and cherry with the 'regular' bevel (I think it's a 25* angle as shipped from LN).  I went to a 30* secondary bevel on it and it works much much better.

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You could just put a higher angle micro-bevel on the iron that you have now for your jack.

 

 

Excellent advice that is free to try, and easy to undo.  It's even easier to do on the smaller block plane iron, just to see if a high angle helps.

 

Card scrapers are cheap, here's a great video on setting one up.   If you have a decent quality chromed socket extension, or can come up with an old valve pushrod, you can skip the burnisher for now.  Both are hard enough to burnish a scraper.   You may be able to get a pushrod for free from an auto repair shop that does real repairs, as in full general repairs, not an oil change or brake shop.  Pushrods are even cheap to buy new...

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