Chapter VI

Squaring Up Mill-Planed Stock

Practically every lumber yard carries in stock lumber that has been mill-planed on two surfaces to stock thicknesses. Wood-workers can specify the thickness wanted for the work they have in hand and thus avoid much of the drudgery necessitated by plan­ing up stock entirely in the rough as it comes from the sawmill.

The first broad surface and the first edge planed have a peculiar use and definite names. The first sur­face is called face side or often working face. The first edge is called face edge or frequently joint edge. These are marked to distinguish them from the others, as shown in Fig. 27. They are the only ones marked. From these two faces, and these only, all testing is to be done, the beam of the try-square and the head of the gauge being held against one or the other.

Fig. 27—Face Marks

Fig. 28 —Surfacing a Board

In selecting these faces, the better broad surface and the better edge are taken, if the object is to consist of but one piece. If it is to consist of several parts, such as a table or a chair, the poorer surfaces are to be selected for faces. Where several parts are to be joined, the faces are turned "in" because, being the first prepared, they are more accurate than the others. Any inaccuracies in the first surfaces will appear in the others, since they are worked from the first sur­faces. Some inaccuracies may be present in the second surfaces which are not present in the first set. For this reason the face sides when joined together are more likely to make close-fitting joints than the others. Fre­quently there is little choice of surfaces. Generally, however, slight streaks of sapwood, smoothness of surface, etc., will be the determining factors.
Planing First Surface

Should the piece not be of equal width and thick­ness, select the broad surface which is desired for face side. With the smooth plane remove the mill-marks from it. Mill-marks are the little ridges and hollows which extend across every piece of mill-planed lumber. In mill-planing, a series of knives, two and some­times four, are caused to revolve very rapidly above or below the board, sometimes both above and below, as it passes through the planer, shown in Fig. 28. If the knives are properly set, revolve very rapidly, and the board is not made to travel over the planer bed too rapidly, these marks are hardly noticeable. They must be removed with the hand plane, however, from any lumber that is to be used for in­terior finish or cabinet work. If they are not removed, the filler or stain will tend to “bring out” and emphasize every hollow and thus give the wood an ugly, streaked appearance.

Since it is difficult to tell where the smooth plane has or has not cut in removing these marks, it is a good plan to make a series of light pencil lines across the board at frequent space intervals before beginning to plane. When these have been removed the mill-marks will have been removed, too.

In planing, press firmly on the knob in starting and upon the handle in stopping the stroke (Fig. 29), or the ends of the board will be lowered too much. If the board is a long one, it will be necessary to start and stop some of the strokes in its middle. That no marks may show where this takes place, the shavings must be "feathered." This is done by lowering the toe of the plane first in starting and by raising the heel of the plane gradually as the completion of the stroke is neared. This is shown in Fig. 30.

Fig. 30 —Feathering a Shaving

A board will very often become warped or dished after having been planed level at the mill. The nature of the work in which it is to be used will determine whether or not this first surface is to be leveled or merely smoothed. If dished much, and the work require a level surface, a new piece or a thicker piece will be needed. In many cases the dish will "nail out" so that the first surface needs only smoothing. This is illustrated in Fig. 31, where a bottom board is being nailed to the side of a box. When this surface has been sufficiently smoothed, mark it for a face side.

Fig. 32 — Sighting for Straightness of Edge

Select and prepare one of the edges for a face edge. Place the piece against the bench stop or in the vise. The jointer is usually used for edge planing after the jack plane has been used to remove the roughness. After a few strokes, hold the board toward the light, close one eye and look along the edge (Fig. 32), to see whether it is straight or not. Practice will soon enable one to know when the edge is straight. At first it may be well to use a straightedge test in addition to the sight test. This is done by placing something having a straight edge as shown in Fig. 33, holding the board and straightedge between the eye and the light so that any unevenness may show plainly.

FIG. 33 — Using a Wood Straightedge

FIG. 34—Try-Square on First Edge

The second test is to place the try-square as in Fig. 34. Hold the beam firmly against the face side and make the test at a sufficient number of places along the edge to show its true condi­tion. Should light show under the blade, note where it is, place the piece in the vise again and move the plane over to the side oppo­site that at which the light appeared, Fig. 35. Take off no more shavings in planing this edge than are absolutely necessary to get it straight and square. The final stroke should be taken the full length of the board and the shaving should be very thin. Mark this edge as in Fig. 27. It is to be known as the face edge.

Fig. 35- Taking Shaving at High Arris

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