TO cut the ridges left by the jack-plane down to the level of the valleys is the next operation. It may be performed, imperfectly, with the jack-plane. To do this the cutting-iron must be drawn back so that it shall not project so far through the block, and as this adjustment is frequently needed for the purpose of adapting the jack-plane, or any other plane, to hard or crooked-grained wood, it may be learned and practiced here. If you strike the upper surface of the plane near the front, two or three moderately hard blows with the hammer, the wedge will be loosened and the iron will move up out of the block. You must be careful not to strike too hard, or you will, in the first place bruise the plane-block, and in the second place loosen the wedge and iron too much. By turning the plane up and looking down the "sole" from front to rear you can see how much the iron projects, and judge whether you have it right. If you get it back too far, you can drive it forward again to the right amount by gentle blows of the hammer on its upper edge. When you have it just right, you must drive the wedge tight again.

Exercise 16. Adjustment Of Cutting-Iron

For the purpose for which you are now going to use the plane the iron should project very little, and the cap should come very close to the edge of the iron. As the edge of the iron is curved, it will not be possible to make the surface of the wood plane: you can only replace the deep valleys by shallower ones, and to make them as shallow as possible the iron must project as little as possible. With this precaution, go over again the sides that you have already planed and make them as smooth as you can, remembering the warning concerning planing against the grain. The operation you have just performed can be better done, particularly on large surfaces, with another plane, called the fore-plane. This is longer and heavier than the jack-plane, and has an iron which, as shown in Fig. 28, b, is broader than that of the jack-plane, Fig. 28, a, and has an edge which is straight, except just at the corner. It is easy to see that this plane, if properly used, is capable of making a large surface even, or "plane." It is managed in the same way as the jack-plane, only requiring a little more care to prevent either end from dropping at beginning or end of the stroke. It will not be necessary to use this tool on the small pieces of this exercise, but we will finish up these pieces with the smoothing-plane. This plane is usually employed after the fore-plane. It is short and light, and specially adapted for making short and quick strokes. It is therefore exactly fitted for following the fore-plane (or the jack-plane when used as in this exercise) to remove the small pits which result from the former plane's having worked, in some places, against the grain. Observing the same precautions as with the jack-plane, and in particular reversing the direction of your work as often as the grain of the wood requires it, go over your pieces with the smoothing-plane till the ridges left by the jack-plane are all cut down, and the first surface of each piece is made quite straight and smooth. Test this with the straight-edge.

Exercise 17. Smoothing With Jack-Plane

We supposed, a little while ago, that the surface of one of your pieces' was winding. If it was not so, it is very likely that one of the surfaces may have become so during the operation of planing it. Test these pieces and pick out any that are winding, or make one so by planing off a little from one corner. Suppose A B C D, Fig. 29, to be the piece, and suppose that, when you hold it up, with the edge D C towards you, so that the end C just hides B, the end A stands above D. This indicates that some-thing has to be taken off from either A or C Place a bit of shaving under the corner A to support it. Then, applying the jack-plane near D C, take first a short stroke at C, then a little longer one, and so on, ending with a stroke nearly but not quite the whole length of C D. The portion of the board near C is now lower, and when tested as before the piece will be less winding. If you have taken off too much, the winding will even be reversed, and C and A will appear too low instead of too high. You must avoid this result by testing the piece frequently while working, otherwise you will get first one winding and then the other, and will plane your piece too thin before you get it true. Having at length made one surface of each of your pieces quite free from winding and perfectly straight and smooth, mark this with your pencil as the standard surface from which all the others are to be formed.

Exercise 18. Use Of The Smoothingplane

Exercise 19. Removing Winding

Having now finished the first faces of all your pieces, these pieces must be reduced to the proper thickness, and the second surfaces must be made parallel to the first, and smooth. The proper thickness is first to be marked round the edge of each piece with the gauge. If you have not wasted material in making the first surface true, you ought to be able to finish up the pieces of your last exercise to a thickness of half an inch.

Loosen the screw of your gauge, and, holding your rule in the left hand, set the gauge by it to half an inch, and tighten the screw moderately. Try, with the rule, whether the gauge is set exactly right. If not, move it the necessary amount by striking one end or the other of the handle a few times on the bench, and when it is exactly right fasten the head in position with the screw, but not so tightly as to bruise the handle with the point of the screw.

Exercise 20. Gauging

To mark a piece, hold it in the left hand with the edge up and resting on the bench, the finished side towards the right. Place the head of the gauge against the finished side, and push it from you along the edge of the piece from end to end, not with a series of short jerks, but with one long, steady stroke. The point, resting lightly on the edge of the piece, will make a straight mark parallel to the face of the piece. The commonest fault in the use of the gauge is to bear too heavily on the marking-point, causing it to sink too deeply into the wood. It then moves along, not smoothly, but with a series of jumps, marking deeply in some places and in others not at all, and sometimes following the grain of the wood, and thus making a crooked mark, instead of being directed by the face of the piece and making a straight mark. To avoid this fault proceed as follows: When you set the head of the gauge against the side of the board, if you hold it so that the marking-point shall stand perpendicular to the edge of the board, as in Fig. 30, a, it can penetrate the wood to its full length. If you incline the top of the marking-point forward, as in Fig. 30, 6, the corner of the handle will bear upon the board and lift the point up so that it will penetrate to a less depth or not at all. Now, hold it at first so that the point shall only just touch, and in this position make a very light mark the whole length of the piece. Then returning to the beginning, hold the gauge so that the point may penetrate a little deeper, and again mark the whole length of the piece, and so on until a sufficiently plain mark has been made. It is seldom necessary to make a deep mark. All that is required is a mark that can be readily seen, and the lightest mark that will serve this purpose is best.

Fig.30.

Page 75, Fig. 30. - The set screw should be in the head of the gauge, not in the rod. It is shown correctly in the annexed cuts.

Mark in this way the four edges of all your pieces. Then, with the jack-plane, plane them down just to the marks, being very careful not to go even a little too far. If you go beyond the mark the piece is spoiled. Finish up with the smoothing-plane. If the work has been well done, each of the faces should be perfectly plane, free from winding, and quite smooth, and the pieces should be everywhere exactly half an inch thick.

After planing the sides of your pieces, plane one edge, holding the piece in the vise, and being very careful not to cut off too much at either end, and not to let the plane tip over either to the right or the left. Test for the first fault with the corner of the jack-plane used as a straight-edge, and for the second with the try-square. In applying the square always apply it to the side first finished and marked. One edge being finished straight and square, set the gauge to 5 3/4 inches, and mark the pieces to this width from the finished edge. When the gauge is set so wide as this, it is even more necessary than before to bear lightly on it. It is more difficult to control the gauge when so wide open, and if the point enters too deep it will jump and make a crooked mark. Having marked all the pieces to the proper width, plane the second edges down to the mark, but not beyond it.

Exercise 21. Planing To Thickness

Exercise 22. Squaring The Edge Of A Board

Exercise 23. Gauging And Planing To Width