How To Use A Hand Wood Planer
Using a hand planer can look easy and effortless for some, but for most of us who have only started taking on wood projects, it can be a bit taxing. That is why in this article, I will be teaching you how to use a hand planer and will give you some additional tips on how to use it properly and smoothly. I will also give you some safety tips to ease off your fright.
Using a Hand Planer
I will first answer how to use a hand planer before giving you additional tips to complete this guide. You must first know the safety precautions of using a hand planer before proceeding with your project.
Safety Precautions
- Ensure you have enough stock for nails, screws, staples, and other objects for the planer.
- Ready your safety goggles, glasses, or your face shields.
- Also, grab appropriate hearing protection.
- Put the materials near you or in a strategic position where you can grab them quickly.
- Disconnect the hand planer from the power supply.
- Remove the wrenches and keys before you turn on the power.
- Make sure that the switch is off.
- Tighten the blade-locking screws
- Make sure the blades are of the same weight and height.
How to Use a Hand Planer
Now that you know the safety precautions for using a hand planer, I will now give you the steps on how to use a hand planer.
- Control the depth of the cut by rotating the adjusting nut.
- Square up the iron to the panel body by pivoting the lateral adjustment lever.
- Make sure to disconnect or release the iron cap.
- Extract the iron plane from the hand plane itself.
- Make sure to test the sharpness of the iron by making it stand on a nail. If it slides off, it means that it needs more sharpening.
- You can sharpen the hand plane by applying machine oil to the rough side by of a stone.
- Put the hand planer with its beveled end facing down on the slippery stone.
- Rub the hand planer against the stone in a circular motion, making sure that you tilt up the iron until the bevel is flush with the stone.
- Keep doing this for two minutes and then flip it over and then place it flat on the stone.
- Rub the hand planer back and forth to remove any metal shards.
- Reveal the smooth surface of the stone by flipping it over.
- Apply oil and then sharpen it again.
- Test again on the thumbnail.
- Get on to planing by starting on the narrow edge of the board.
- Check the stroke of the wood grain on the narrow area of the board.
- Do not plane against the upward direction stroke of the wood grain.
- Adjust the gap between the head of the plane and the bed of the hand plane.
- When planing the end grain, decrease the adjustment of the plane.
- When making deep cuts, increase the adjustment.
- You can also clamp a scratch wood to the end of the board before planing.
Tips For Using Hand Planer
Now that you know how to use a hand planer, you should also know tips for using a hand planer to add to your know-how.
Setting-Up
You have to make sure that the plane and the wood is properly set up along with the materials and the lighting. This way, you can save more time, and it can provide more safety for yourself and the project itself.
Direction
The direction into which the hand plane is going towards is also significant. You have to make sure that the hand plane is going upwards or towards the direction of the wood grain's stroke.
This will prevent the wood from tearing up or for getting ruined or being cut.
Check, Check, and Check
The last tip is to keep checking. Check the wood's surface, check the hand plane itself, and check the direction of the wood grain every time you use the hand plane. You also have to check if the hand wood plane is adjusted correctly.
Conclusion
Learning how to use a hand wood plane is easy. You have to ensure that your safety gear is in check and that the equipment you are using along with the materials. Make sure that everything is within your reach. You have to make sure that you have read the manufacturer’s instructions for your hand planer because they vary depending on the manufacturer.
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