(B.) In using a jointer for squaring or jointing an edge, it should be carried to one side or the other of its face as may be necessary to take advantage of the elliptically shaped edge of the cutter, by cutting a shaving thicker on one edge than on the other, thus making the edge of the board square with the face side.
To make a perfectly square edge, the cut should be made in the center of both the iron and the width of the face of the plane. The plane should be held as shown in Fig. 55, the fingers under the face of the plane, the tops of the finger-nails touching the board lightly, guiding the plane, and keeping the bit cutting in one place upon its edge.
Fig. 55.—Method of Guiding a Jointer.
43. The smoothing plane (A.) is of the same type and mechanism as those described above, though it is but 9 or 10” long; if satisfactory work is expected from it, it must be kept in good order, with the cap iron perfectly fitted. For general work, it is not necessary to spend the time to insure that the plane should be continually in readiness to work upon hard, tough, cross-grained wood, as a plane to do the latter kind of work well is unnecessary upon softer or straight-grained wood. For ordinary work, the cap iron should be set from ¹⁄₃₂” to ¹⁄₁₆” from the edge of the bit, but for the finest work, the closer to the edge it will fit and allow a shaving to be taken, the finer the work that may be done. No wood used upon ordinary work is so cross-grained or knurly that it cannot be smoothed economically, if a properly sharpened and adjusted plane is used.
Fig. 56.—Knuckle Joint Block Plane.
(B.) A smoothing plane should cut a shaving as nearly the entire width of the bit as possible, therefore a very flat, elliptically shaped edge must be maintained. In using a plane or any kind of cutting tool, the direction of the grain of the wood should be carefully studied, and every advantage taken of it to facilitate the work.
Fig. 57.—Use of the Block Plane.