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44-Shoulder Planes-3-B
44-Shoulder Planes-3-B
44-Shoulder Planes-3-B
A
An Eclipse-style honing guide works well to ensure that the cutting
edge remains square to the sides of the blade when sharpening.
46 woodcraftmagazine.com Dec/Jan 2012
B C
Set the lateral blade projection by resting the plane Trim a tenon shoulder by holding the workpiece
body on notebook paper shims, and then pressing against a bench hook, whose fence secures
down on the blade before locking it in position. the piece and prevents exit tear-out.
blades on many new planes mind that some shoulder planes shoulders. I then cut them on
come the same way. This just have a tendency to clog, the tablesaw a hair shy of the
shortcoming can be corrected especially when cutting across knife line. After sawing the
by adjusting the blade to the grain. This isn’t a defect; cheeks, I place my workpiece
project from whichever side is it’s just the nature of the beast. on a bench hook, butting the
being used as a reference for Simply clear the throat manually tenon shoulder against the
a particular job. To make the when the occasion arises. bench hook fence to prevent
adjustment, lay the plane on its tear-out at the end of the cut.
side spanning a couple pieces Shaving tenons A couple light passes with the
of paper on a flat surface. Then Before the advent of power tools, shoulder plane is all it takes
push the blade down with your tenons were hand-sawn, and their to shave perfectly to the knife
fingernail, and tighten the blade shoulders almost always required line as shown in Photo C.
clamping mechanism (Photo B). some cleanup to achieve a tight- Fat tenon cheeks can also
The downside of this approach fitting joint. Although there’s a be trimmed with a shoulder
is that the blade must be shifted good chance you’re making your plane, although it’s a bit trickier.
to the other side when you tenons on a tablesaw or router, Because there is little frame of
need to use the opposite side misalignment can still creep into reference, you have to take care
of the plane as a reference. your setup. That’s where the to cut parallel to the tenon cheek
To set the blade projection shoulder plane comes into play. to prevent tapering it. With your
from the sole, use the blade When laying out tenons, I use plane adjusted for a very light
depth adjustment screw. a marking knife to lay out the pass, start the cut with the toe
For most joint-trimming
purposes, you’ll want a cut of
no more than .002"-.003" (test
it on scrap). When hogging
out a rabbet or dado, you can
set it for as heavy a cut as
possible without suffering
clogging or blade chatter.
The mouth opening, which is
locked in place by the toe-locking
screw, should be adjusted to
suit the depth of cut. As with
a smoothing plane, close the
mouth as much as possible D
to minimize tear-out without To trim a tenon cheek, use a fine cut and a steady hand, resting as
clogging the opening. Keep in much of the sole as possible on the tenon before beginning the cut.
Dec/Jan 2012 woodcraftmagazine.com 47
Stop prevents
E F exit tearout.
Chamfer the ends of a tenon for easy When planing a rabbet, use a wooden fence to guide
insertion into its mortise. the tool and a backer block to minimize exit tear-out.
Tweaking tongue-
and-groove joints
Most of my cabinets are fitted
with tongue-and-groove
G backboards. If you’ve ever
Removing the tool’s toe allows it to act as a chisel machined a batch of T&G joints
plane for getting into tight corners. and found the fit a little too
48 woodcraftmagazine.com Dec/Jan 2012
H
When refining a tongue-and-groove joint, I
shave an equal amount from each side of A small shoulder plane is great for trimming misaligned
the tongue to prevent offsetting it. moldings to make the edges meet properly.
snug, it’s a simple matter to in Photo H. Then flip the board shift while gluing or nailing
tweak the joints with a shoulder end for end and take a second cut it into place. If the misalignment
plane. If the tongues and their from the other side. Test the fit in is small, a shoulder plane
mating grooves are perfectly a groove, and repeat if necessary. can help acceptably refine
centered on your boards, clamp the joint. Since the blade will
the boards on a bench and take Flushing up moldings nestle into a corner, the case
a thin, continuous shaving from Despite care when aligning side can be used to support the
one side of a tongue, as shown applied moldings on cabinets, plane while removing small
it’s not unusual for a piece to amounts of material from the
top edge of a molding strip
(Photo I). Complex moldings
About Our Author may require some additional
Craig Bentzley has been restoring antiques gouge or chisel work to
and building furniture for nearly 40 years. In bring curved surfaces into
addition to writing, Craig also teaches at guilds, alignment, but the shoulder
woodworking shows, and at Woodcraft stores. plane will handle all the
flat edges and faces. n
Build this
classic
SPICE BOX
And learn how to…
n Dovetail a case
n Divide a cabinet into
n
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