Joinery - Making a Paring Board
To proceed with making the box. The piece of wood will be placed upon the bench, and the first thing to be done is to plane off the rough outsides; for this purpose the plane-iron is set to take off a thick shaving, in order, as far as possible, to let the edge cut deep into the clean wood, for there is always more or less grit upon the rough surface which blunts the tool very quickly. When all the rough outside is removed, the plane must be sharpened, and set to take off a very thin shaving.
In using a plane, it must not be pushed slowly, but as quickly as possible; first one side of the board is planed over, so as to make it quite smooth and true. For this purpose a straight-edge will be required; a common ruler will do for this, such as is used for ruling lines in a note-book, but it must be tested and straightened; it should first be tested by “sighting,” which is done by holding the ruler in such a position in front of one eye, that upon looking from one end along the angle of the edge, the length of the ruler appears shortened to about inch or less; any slight hollow or rounding will then become apparent, and this should be rioted.
The ruler should next be laid upon a piece of clean board or paper, and a thin line drawn with a sharp pencil the whole length of the ruler, which should then be turned over and carefully compared with the line; if the ruler be Iollow (they never are straight), when the ends touch the line the middle will be at a short distance from it; and if a second line be drawn, the two lines will enclose a space; if the ruler be round, the middle of the first line will be covered. To straighten the ruler, the plane must be set to cut as thin a shaving as possible, the high places planed off, and the ruler tested again, then planed, etc., until it is true as tested by lines, and also looks true upon sighting. This sighting requires much practice, but in time the amateur will train his eye, and eventually be able to detect very slight errors in his work; also, by constantly passing the tips of his fingers lightly over his work, he will train them to feel very slight inequalities, and thus save himself much time and trouble.
It has been stated that after the rough outsides of the board have been planed off, one side of it is to be planed up smooth and true. To do this, the plane having been sharpened and set to cut the thinnest possible shaving, the side of the board is planed over to make it smooth. The straight-edge is then applied across the board in several places, in order to see whether it be flat, round, or hollow, or in winding; if the board be flat (which is not likely to be the case), as shown by the straight-edge when tried lightly across it, the board must be tested for winding.
The expression “in winding” means that the board has a twist in it; if, on a straight-edge being applied both crosswise and lengthways, the board appears to be true, but when the straight-edge is applied diagonally from corner to corner, it is found that, in one direction, the corners are high and the board hollow in the middle, and that in the other direction the corners are low and the board round in the middle, the board is in winding.