But if you read Charlesworth, he argues that you MUST have camber in a jointer plane for it to function properly. But, camber to him is provided by leaning on the sides of the blade while you hone it.

I’m surprised, though, that you use so much camber in your fore and try planes. I’d guesss mine have have that much curvature. Different strokes (no pun intended) and I guess this at least suggests that there’s more than one way to do this stuff.

This is a great discussion.

Cheers — Larry

But, as I said to Shannon in a tweet, the original question asked about “grinding” a camber into their jointer blade. The camber in a jointer argument aside, I think that most camber discussions get lost in translation as many believe that adding camber means rounding the blade as a scrub plane, literally grinding a curve in its edge rather than putting a VERY SHALLOW camber in it via stones.

I know that Shannon, Bob and Rob all know this but I wonder if the person asking the original question understands what “slight camber” (from Shannon’s answer) really means?

Cheers — Larry

When squaring an edge, it is very beneficial to place the thumb on top of the front knob, curl your fingertips under the sole, and make a ‘fence’ w/ your nails or knuckles. If your hands are small, placing the thumb on the ‘bridge’ of the plane just ahead of the mouth will work as well.
I strongly agree w/ Bob that there is a difference between a try plane and a jointer plane. If you look at Clark & Williams’ site, you’ll see their try planes are about the size of a #7, and their jointers are ~30″ long. Apart from length, they are set up just as Bob said- trys have a camber, jointers don’t. IMHO, it would be worth having both, but since real world finances dictate tool purchases, having 2 irons for a #7 or #8 will work just fine- one cambered ~.006″ for trying, the other dead straight for jointing.

Keep up the great blog/boos!

To me, the real difference between the two is how they are set up and used. I use the try plane for truing (also referred to as trying in centuries past) surfaces. Think “try” square and you can see where the term “try” plane comes from. The point of the try plane is to make surfaces, be they faces or edges, flat, straight and true (square). For this reason, I camber the iron so as not to leave tracks on wide board faces when trying the face. Less camber than a fore plane but more than a smoother.

On the other hand, I consider the jointer plane a joinery plane like a dado, rabbet, moving fillester or plow. It may be the same length as the try plane, however, I sharpen the iron straight across. I never use my jointer plane on board faces. It’s a joinery plane, intended for making edge joints. With the straight edge on the iron, it excells at quickly match planing two boards to make a wider panel, or simply planing a flat, straight edge on a squared up board edge (squared with the try plane) to make an edge joint. My jointer sees much less use than my try plane but when I need it it excells at its job.

While I’m not typically an advocate of the versatility of a single plane with multiple irons, this is one case where the same plane can do both jobs equally well with a simple switch of the iron. I’d use a cambered iron for trying work and a straight iron for jointing work.

Secondly, your point on “do I need to do this” is outstanding. I have started to work that way myself and I love the freedom of leaving an edge less than perfect because no one will see it or squareness if not paramount. Something we should all consider.

FWIW, I use 2 planes when edge jointing. First is what I call a try plane. It’s similar in size to a #7 and is sharpened with a camber. I use it to square edges using the technique you described, and also to try board faces after using my fore plane. The second plane I use for edge jointing is my jointer plane. It is 30″ long and sharpened straight across (i.e. no camber) just like any other joinery plane (e.g. rabbet, dado or match planes). The purpose of the jointer is to create a joint, in this case an edge joint, so I like the iron straight. It just takes one or two passes with the jointer after using the try plane to have a glue up ready edge. I also use the jointer for match planing as described by Stew. I don’t like cambered irons for match planing as I feel the difference in shaving thickness between the sides and center of a cambered iron actually makes match planing harder to perform properly.

I will add one comment though. One thing I like to ask myself when working these days since I work only with hand tools is “Do I need to do this?” In Dirk’s case, “Do I need a perfectly square edge?” If the answer is yes (like in cases where another surface needs to join squarely to the one in question such as a typical M&T joint), then I get to making it square. But I often find that the answer is no, I really don’t (e.g. an edge joint that can be match planed). Don’t get me wrong, learning to plane an edge perfectly square to a face is a basic necessary skill that I think everyone should be able to do as it is often required to do so (e.g. rails & stiles for a frame). However, taking unnecessary tasks out of the equation helps to speed up the process of doing hand work.

One example I always like to give regarding planing edges square is a table edge. Its a common question, how to crosscut or plane table top edges or ends perfectly square. However, if you think about it, you really don’t need to. Most of the time, a table top edge is decorated with a molded edge and no one is going to put a square on your corners. So in cases like this, I get it close enough and then don’t worry about it. No one knows the difference.

Sorry for the rambling and for sticking my nose into your topic. It’s been a slow morning so far, lol.

Two other useful techniques come to mind:
1) Using a fence attached to the side of the plane (I believe Veritas make a fence for jointing)

2) Planing both edges that are to be joined at the same time, by putting the faces of adjacent boards together – in a concertina sort of way.