Download the video in Quicktime format (*.mov)
The heating season ended a few weeks ago, and it is now time to flatten the workbench.
You will recall that my workbench had developed a severe crown, or high spot, along most of the length, and in the middle of the bench. This made for for a poor work surface, as items would not sit flat on the surface.
What likely caused the crown to develop was uneven moisture content in the wood making up the bench top. Heating during the Winter months can and will lead to drying out of the wood; it slowly loses moisture, ultimately leading to the problem I experienced.
The solution to the problem: Flatten the top.
I elected to use my Fulton #7 jointer plane to do the flattening. In this episode I show how I went about doing it, stopping along the way not only to catch my breath, but to measure progress with a straight edge and also with winding sticks. I then used my Stanley # 4-1/2 smoother to eliminate most of the blade marks left by the jointer. In the end I had to use my random orbital sander (ROS) to eliminate even the smoother’s blade edge tracks. This was necessary, as I always put a little camber on the irons.
I hope the galoots of the world find my hand plane technique acceptable. If you don’t, I ask that you don’t laugh too loudly. I am trying to get better with my hand tool use.
Relevant links:
Look at your workbenches!
Heating season is almost over – %RH for my shop
A great little bargain – monitor %RH and T
Thanks John!
I now make it a practice to check for flatness every month, to determine if / when to do it again. I look forward to reading about the results you get when you flatten your workbench top!
Thanks for the demonstration Al.
I’ll be flattening my top soon and seeing you do it first is reassuring. I hope it stays flat for you.
Thanks,
Graham,
Thanks for your comments and suggestions.
The suggestion to use a #5 is great. THAT will be so much easier than doing the whole thing with the BIG iron!
On the return stroke: I was terribly worried that dragging the blade would cause me to have to sharpen it more often. It did not! So, I learned from this workout – and what a workout it was!
Hand plane work can be a real workout; I would probably use my #5 with an aggressive camber for most of it and follow up with the #7 later, but there’s nothing terribly wrong with what you’re doing. Sometimes people advocate lifting the sole of the plane on the return stroke to avoid dragging the blade across the wood, but this is still a subject of some debate. Nice job.
Mike,
I am glad you pointed out that I should go *with* the crown – THANKS! I will take some boards and practice on them, until I have a better feel for this. And THEN try on the hollows of some of the boards – I have plenty of those too!
Al,
Looks like you gave yourself quite the workout. I’m building a bench and just went through the flattening process. So, I know what you went through. I’m more of a hand tool guy and there are some strategies that might help you next time. When you have a crown you should try to remove the crown by going in the same direction as the crown. In your case lengthwise. Even with a a “big” #7, when you go across the crown the plane can “follow” the crown and rise and fall. You showed it can be done, but I think it took you a lot more work to get it done. To go across the grain with your #7 you really should have a slight hollow. Crowns can be a real pain to deal with.
Mike