Sand, Scrape or Plane? The REAL reason...

most woodworkers these days smooth and prepare their projects for finish with sandpaper we have several tutorials about sanding which i'll link to below this video but every time i make a video about sanding i get some folks who claim that scraping or planing are better options new woodworkers see this debate and they wonder what the real difference is between sanding scraping and planing several videos have already been made on the subject which compare samples of wood that are smooth with these various methods some seem to show that sanding produces the better surface others seem to show that planing is superior the debate is partly due to personal perception different people just see things differently but other factors such as the quality and grit of the paper used the quality of a tool's edge and the type of material being smoothed all factor into how others perceive the final result today i want to examine the subject from a different angle the process which method scraping planing or sanding will make the process your shop time better for you to me it comes down to three factors time effort and convenience let's begin with time most people will tell you it takes less time to plane a surface than it does to sand it and in my experience this is true if your plane is already sharp and ready to go i can grab a smoother from my till and surface this board in just a few strokes with the sander i'd have to work through several grits of paper to get the same results in fact i wouldn't even reach the same level of smoothness with my sander as i would with the plane because i usually stop sanding around 220 maybe 320 and plain surfaces are much smoother than that sharpening though does add time freehand sharpening takes two or three minutes but if you're relatively new to the process you'll need five ten minutes maybe even more to get out your gear set up your jig work through your sharpening grits and then get the plane set back up and ready to go so will that time spent sharpening add up over the course of an entire project to make planing more time consuming than sanding i doubt it because a good quality plain iron will stay sharp for quite a while it's not like you need to re-hone an edge for every board that you plane but there are other factors that may slow down your hand plane which we'll consider shortly what about scraping is that as fast as it looks like planing scraping can technically be faster than sanding because you simply remove a lot more material with each stroke and you only have one grit to work through but again depending upon the material a scraper's edge may need frequent sharpening far more frequently than a hand plane sometimes that's just a matter of reforming the hook along the edge with the burnisher but anyone who does much scraping knows how often you end up going through the full sharpening process again especially if you want a smooth surface because a scraper's edge must be kept free of nicks or else you'll get ridges in the board's surface still in my opinion scraping can be slightly faster than sanding but speed isn't the only factor let's talk about effort a random orbit sander is pretty lightweight if you're doing it properly you aren't using much muscle power at all with one of these and the bulk of your sanding can be done with an electric sander but not all of it i always hand sand the final grit to ensure a perfect surface and it takes a little more elbow grease to hand sand not that it's difficult to push a sanding block but that back and forth scrubbing over the surface can tear you out a bit over the course of a whole project a scraper also requires multiple strokes to achieve a smooth surface but in my opinion the real effort is improperly holding the scraper typically you will bend it slightly so you're scraping with a curved edge depending on how thick the steel is and how strong the muscles in your hands are long periods of scraping can make your hands pretty sore i wouldn't call scraping a workout but the first time you'll try it you'll know what i'm talking about they do make holders that will bend it for you but some people find those awkward when you add up the frequency of the edge maintenance too i think scraping requires more effort than sanding of these three options though i think planing requires the least effort remember we're talking about finishing a surface flattening and thicknessing rough boards with hand planes can be a workout but a well-tuned smoothing plane can be more of a pleasure than a chore while it is a heavy tool you can use your body weight and the weight of the plane to create momentum that will greatly reduce the strain on your arms and a razor sharp iron will cut through the wood and take thin shavings very easily even though it does require occasional effort to keep that iron sharp i think the relatively few numbers of strokes required to smooth the surface with the plane makes it the most effortless option of the three until now we've been talking about the tools themselves with little consideration for the materials that we're working with that's where convenience comes in and here's where this whole subject seems to get flipped on its head a hand plane will create beautiful shavings as long as the wood cooperates but wood rarely cooperates i can be going with the grain on this half of the bore and then against the grain on this half or the grain may curl upward or downward in the center of the board and before i know it my plane has torn out fibers and i have a lot of work ahead of me to repair that tear out when you work with planes you always have to be aware of grain direction or you could face disaster and this in my opinion is why so many modern woodworkers don't like to use hand planes scraping can be much more forgiving while you want still want to scrape with the grain you're unlikely to tear out fibers if the grain changes unexpectedly in fact a scraper is often used to smooth difficult grain or to repair tear out that's caused by a hand plane this is partly because a scraper is less aggressive but mostly because of the angle in relation to the board's surface this also makes it easier to work small areas with a scraper stopping in the middle of the board without leaving any visible marks but when it comes to convenience nothing beats a sander sanders never tear out you can technically work in any direction you want i say technically because while a random orbit sander may be moved all willy-nilly across the board's surface hand sanding should be done with the grain to make any scratches disappear in the wood fibers regardless i don't have to go in the direction that the fibers are laying like i do with the hand plane i don't have to worry about the grain changing direction unexpectedly i can just work through my grits add to that the fact that sandpaper doesn't require sharpening and you can see why so many people prefer sanding to scraping and planing the only real inconvenience in my opinion when it comes to sanding is the dust and the noise but that's what shopvacs earplugs and dust masks are for so let's review in my opinion sanding is the slowest way to prepare most surfaces for finishing scraping is slightly faster than sanding but a hand plane is the fastest method assuming the material cooperates i think scraping requires the most physical effort especially considering it's the tool that requires the most maintenance sanding requires less effort but you have to go through more grits and hand sanding isn't exactly my favorite part of the process planing on the other hand takes very little effort again as long as the material cooperates so if we were to stop there it would seem like the plane would win but we also have to consider convenience and the fact is our materials rarely cooperate so you simply cannot beat sanding for its almost total indifference to grain direction scraping does come in a close second but hand planing especially in the hands of a new or unskilled user can be a frustrating process when the grain is against you and to those folks the noise and dust created by a sander is far outweighed by the inconveniences of sharpening and working with the grain that come with these other methods again these factors can turn based upon the perception of the individual i'm sure you hold your own opinions and i'd love to hear about them in the comments below see you next time this is a koenigsegg sweden's finest sports car this is the jobergs sweden's finest workbench there are things for people who appreciate quality and high performance something they can pass down to their grandkids grandkids you can't afford this but this will cost you less than a good cabinet saw check out what showbreaks has to offer at the link below this video wait don't go yet if you're new here please subscribe and remember to ring the bell i would really appreciate that give us a thumbs up or better yet leave us a comment i always read them and be sure to check out the latest issue of stumpy nubs woodworking journal it's always packed with tips tricks and tutorials designed to make you a better woodworker

Channel: Stumpy Nubs

Views: 52,568

Rating: 4.9770641 out of 5

Keywords: woodworking, stumpy nubs, tips, workbench, table saw, scroll saw, drill press, quick tip, band saw, bandsaw, lumber, hack, hand plane, sharpening, tormek, worksharp, diamond stone, water stone, wood turning, bowls, lathe

Id: GXnU0uwWwsE

Length: 9min 48sec (588 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 10 2021