One Approach To Planing Small Pieces of Wood
Trying to plane short pieces of wood for joinery can be difficult. One of the most common needs for that in lutherie is jointing a neck heel before joining it to the neck shaft. Ideally, you can plane the heel flat before it is cut short, but all too frequently you end up having to plane a short 3-5" piece.
Here is a method that works for me. I am indebted to Oregon luthier Pat McGowan for this idea. It works with both a handplane and a power jointer
Here is a method that works for me. I am indebted to Oregon luthier Pat McGowan for this idea. It works with both a handplane and a power jointer
The same parts are used for either hand planing or power jointing. Shown are 2 pieces of 1" thick material in a length longer than the plane you will use if hand planing. They should be the same size, flat, and square. I use a soft wood for these pieces so as not to cause rapid wear on the plane blade. In this case it is Norfolk Pine. The middle piece is a Spanish Cedar ukulele heel block that needs jointing.
The heel block needs a piece of good quality double stick tape applied to both sides. If hand planing, you only need a small piece of tape. If power jointing, you need a much larger piece.
The jig is assembled upside down on a flat surface, with the face to be planed down. This will automatically give you a fairly flat edge across the 1" pieces and the heel face to be planed.You want the double stick to adhere firmly, so applying some pressure with a clamp or a vise will set the adhesive on the tape.
Jig assembled and ready for planing. I have a good power jointer, and with the parts very firmly held with the tape, I run this carefully over a jointer, taking light cuts. I can't say enough about using really good sticky adhesive if power planing. The tape I use is so powerful that I have to put the pieces in the vise to twist them apart when I'm done. If the jointer is sharp I may be done, but I usually go to light handplane cuts to finish. I am not advising anyone to use the power jointer for this. It is something I am comfortable with, but jointing short boards is extremely dangerous!
Hand planing is a much more gentle and safe procedure. The tape only needs to be strong enough to hold the parts together while you are putting them in the vise. The side boards should give you a nice broad base for planing. The same pieces can be used over and over again. You just have to plane their top edges flat and square.
And, the finished neck glue up.
