Planing Tip

Planing small and thin pieces of timber can be quite difficult. A brutish planing stop is overkill and risks the plane hitting its unforgiving surfaces. A tail vice or any other arrangement of moving dogs can and tension to the work and risks splitting it. So too a face vice will likely break the work and allow too much deflection to take place.

A quick and easy method I adopted was to securely clamp an old disposable saw to the bench. I have a plentiful supply of these from work as they are very popular within the construction industry and can’t be sharpened with a traditional saw file. For an extra degree of safety I cover the extra exposed teeth with masking tape to prevent fingers getting caught.