Hi! I’ve only posted here maybe once, but I’m looking to change that and have been working to improve my joinery.
Specifically, I recently had the geometric realization that adjusting the horizontal angle on my miter saw is one of the least precise adjustments I can make, when trying to make two cuts that add up to 90 degrees. So instead, I now set the angle for the smaller angle, make the first cut, then set the workpiece for the second piece using a square against the fence. Basically, I’m rotating the piece so it’s 90 degrees to the saw fence, and that lets me cut the complementary angle without realigning the saw angle.
The new problem is that because I’m still using slightly-warped and slightly-twisty stock, the surfaces aren’t terribly great for gluing up. In one case, I glued up one end of a diagonal brace but the other end was lifting up, off-plane. Hand sanding with a block helps, but more often than not, I end up rounding off the edges and glue leaks out. So I’m now seeking recommendations for a small hand plane, so that I can have better, flatter surfaces to glue together.
Is this the right approach? If I’m mostly working with narrow stock like 1x4-inch, is there a correct-sized hand plane to smooth out an end-grain on that small of stock? Apologies in advance for not really knowing all the right wood terminology. I’m still learning.
Ideally, I’d like to buy something that will be versatile and serviceable for a long time. So cost isn’t too important, but ideally it’d be proportional to my (few) other tools. If I know what to look for, I’ll keep my eye out for such a specimen while at the thrift store.
EDIT: To clarify, a use-case would be if I’m gluing a diagonal brace at mid-height of a post. If i had a plane, I could work the post so that it has a flat face, so that the brace won’t deviate left/right. For the diagonal brace itself, I can mostly trust my miter saw to cut the angle reasonably plumb.
EDIT 2: Might I actually want a card scraper instead?
EDIT 3: y’all are awesome and I now have a fair number of suggestions to consider. I guess there goes all my disposable money for September, once I go visit the nearby woodworking shop.
No, a shoulder plane has a single cutting edge. If a normal bench plane is a chisel wearing a pair of steel toed boots, a shoulder plane is a chisel wearing strappy wedge heeled sandals.
A normal bench plane has a sole with a hole most of the way across it for the iron(blade) to emerge through. So there’s a little bit of sole on either side of the blade. When using a shooting board, the iron will actually cut the shooting board at first until that little edge of the sole makes contact, and that prevents it from cutting any farther.
A shoulder plane has a block behind the iron and a block in front, attached above/through the iron, and the iron extends the entire width of the sole That lets it cut right into the corners of rabbets or tenons, but it also means that, if you tried to use it with a shooting board, it would just keep cutting the shooting board eventually ruining it.
This made me laugh, but was also effective at explaining the difference, as did some more image results that specifically show the iron of each plane.