How To Control Tear Out With Hand Planes - Understanding The Cap Iron

[@Sokane]

Holy moly... I am a believer!! I have been setting my cap iron way too far back! I would love to see a close-up view of how your smoothing plane's cap iron and back iron are set.

[@joshblakey7978]

That was the most entertaining no nonsense video I've seen on this subject. Bring on the next rant!

[@abgski87]

Great video! You are the first Woodworker on KZbin who doesn't make me want to fall asleep. And for a younger person who is just starting out, your detailed descriptions , coupled with your enthusiasm, and passion is something this hobby/industry so desperately needs. Will highly recommend.

[@davidatkins6919]

The camera was able to show some of the tear out! Great Video, I spend a lot of time setting up my #4 plane much like your #3 in the video, I like the end result I get when I set the cap iron as close as I can to the flat iron blades edge.

[@waldtricki]

I learned so much from this - plus your teaching style is great and i laughed out loud probably louder than I should have at this hour. I've noticed you get all fired up about getting people to understand the principles behind whatever problem you video is attempting to solve. I am the same way so I really appreciate when people take the extra time to articulate themselves so well as you have done here.

[@rayangarrett8016]

i guess I am kinda randomly asking but do anybody know a good site to stream new movies online?

[@gavinjoel905]

@Rayan Garrett Ehh try flixportal. Just google for it:D -gavin

[@rayangarrett8016]

@Gavin Joel Thank you, signed up and it seems like they got a lot of movies there :) Appreciate it!!

[@gavinjoel905]

@Rayan Garrett glad I could help =)

[@richardbrunelle7517]

Excellent description and demonstration Richard. Years ago I saw an old black and white video showing this, magnified from the side view. It was exactly as you describe it.

[@hambone4402]

Man! I just watched one of the best tutorials I’ve ever seen on KZbin. The demo with the twig was just excellent. “Oh no, that’s gonna be a sot!” lol.

[@christopherharrison6724]

After seeing some of your finished pieces I will listen to your opinion every time ,thanks for the info.

[@jacobdegeling]

Love watching this every once in a while. I'd love to have a new rant! Even if it's a rant on rants 😂

[@gilessteve]

Thank you Richard. I'm new to woodworking and was having problems with grain tear out near knots. I watched your three chip-breaker set-up videos, adjusted the chip-breaker and no more tear out. It was that simple! Thanks again.

[@mikejose8966]

I'm sure someone else has addressed the topic, but this is the first practical example I have seen of what the cap iron is accomplishing while you plane. The twig may have seemed silly at the time, and yet it was a perfect teaching tool. Fantastic job, sir. Well done.

[@caigner]

So far I have enjoyed each video you published. Learned a lot. Love your style.

[@Aud1b1e1nc1s1on]

The slick sound of a plane coasting across the edge , while it cuts into the grain . The by- product of thin shavings produced. Man oh man... this is it for me! I just fell in love with hand planes , Something about it is just 😎😎 Your vids are helping me tune up hand planes I picked up from thrift shops . Most helpful + entertaining! Thanks so much !

[@sonicbluestrat934]

How have i not seen any of yoour vids before. One of the best wood working videos I've seen. Great presentation too. Subscribed

[@LaoZi2023]

I'm glad to hear that you don't scrape your work. I find, especially with the wood planes, that the planes burnish the wood if you can get a real nice cut. I've been holding off on getting a steel plane, but I like your demonstration with yours.

[@MultiWarrior63]

Brilliant and Honest video. Thanks Richard

[@ianstewart7605]

Thank you Richard for the most sensible and clear presentation I have ever seen on this subject. I look forward to the next instalment, as I have been negligent in my cap iron setting. I have been pondering the making of a small wooden smoothing plane myself, as I have an I. Sorby 1-5/8" double iron I don't need, and a piece of hornbeam that is too short for most uses, but suitable for a small woody. I'm now going to wait for more insight from you.

[@auscurrymaster]

Fantastically entertaining and informative video

[@chm1701]

I was just watching a video about tear out, and a comment mentioned your video, so I’ve come to take a look. I’m really struggling with a piece of oak at the moment, so I’ve found this very interesting. Anyway, I’ve just added this series to my library so I can take a look at the other two videos you have. Have a like.

[@truckermatt5825]

Very wise explanation. Lots of experience here. The twig demonstration really helped me understand tear out. Thank you and God Bless!

[@sunquest2]

I have no advice about this video. It simply cannot be improved upon. Very good explanation and great work piece in which to show it with. Keep sharing your knowledge. Thanks from Texas.

[@malango255]

Brilliant. you saved my life. I love old knotty wood and I enjoy 'up-cycling'. Been making stuff out of pallets a lot recently and tear out is a mine field for me. sometimes I found planing the opposite way helped but I had no clue the cap iron helps so much! been loving wood work recently. I cleaned up all my dads old tools and have been building a lot. he had some stanley and record planes and some nice chisels amongst other things. Taught myself dovetails and stuff. Love your videos mate.

[@truebluekit]

It's 1.08 a.m. here, and I was going to bed when I decided to cool down in front of the pc, because a few minutes ago I was just planing some merbau and what I believe is ash, now that I've seen that chunk of wood of yours. I had just put a 23 degree angle on my no.5 blade for a higher pitch. There was no tear out with the merbau - even against the grain the tear out was miniscule - but the ash is a bit of a primadonna it seems. I just can't calm it down at all at the moment. I would love nothing more than to have at it again with the cap iron really close to the blade edge, but I have to get up early tomorrow. However, this is definitely something to look forward to. Thanks so much for making and posting this vid.

[@TheEnglishWoodworker]

truebluekit Hi, if high angle isn't solving it it sounds like a right sod! I hope you get chance to have another crack at it, I'll try and get that video on fitting a cap iron out as soon as I can. Cheers.

[@truebluekit]

The English Woodworker Success! That 23 degree angle plus the very close-set chipbreaker did the trick! Thank you so much for your suggestion, Richard. Where there were lots of tear-out, there's almost none now. I noticed that there was some tear-out where the grain were close together and wavy. But these are miniscule, with the torn surface resembling "sandy patches" instead of looking like planed wood, and the lifted fibres, with a raking light, looks more like dust motes than shavings. Not too bad, I suppose. This is done with my Stanley no. 5. I'll hone my no.4 to the same angle and see if I can get it perfectly smooth. Asking as a complete woodworking noob, how fine do I have plane and dress boards before they're ready for layout and marking? Of course the boards should be square four sides (or six sides, depending), and mill marks should be made to disappear, but how smooth do the boards be before marking them can proceed?

[@codemannc704]

I was excited to hear you say a video was in the making for plane tuning.

[@ronin4711]

Richard I stopped twice this video because I wanted to test your theory and after the first test I must admit: You're absolfuckinlutley right about that (excuse my French). I have a piece of flooring board that I suspect from the looks is the same like yours (Ash, kiln dry, or should I say, the "wood from hell") and every plane I used, including Low Angle Veritas, and in any angle or direction teared the wood, only my LN scraper plane came to the rescue. I have a WoodRiver #4 (a cheap LN imitation but works great, and I'm not crying for what I payed for it) with a blade sharpened to 35 degrees, so, after I made sure it's hair shaving quality, I set the chipbreaker at 1/32" distance and "Voila" no tear ! My second stop was to set the chipbreaker even less(about 0.5 mm) and try a "heavy" shaving, well it works! Thanks for this, it really frustrated the hell out of me.

[@springwoodcottage4248]

So extraordinarily helpful I have struggled terribly with tear out, not having a clue how to stop it, now perhaps I can beat it. Thank you!

[@KingStudebaker]

I think you brought up some great points.. Going to reset my chip breakers now. I have always as a machinist coming to woodworking felt calling it a chip breaker is the wrong term, but the purpose is much more clear to me now

[@blackfender100]

I appreciate your opinions They come from experience.Great video thank you.

[@dickda1]

Looking forward to your further details on how to set up the top iron

[@caseyjwatson]

I’ve been fighting some terrible tear out on some douglas fir. Didn’t matter how sharp I get the blade, what direction I plane, skew. This helpful video has made it very obvious that I am not using the cap correctly. Thanks!

[@xunilpenguin]

I am still learning about using planes . Coming from a rough carpentry / stage building background .. using a plane to smooth out a piece of wood instead of using my power sander is liken to magic to me. :) , I am enjoying this series of videos. thanks!

[@TheEnglishWoodworker]

Dave Smith Hi Dave, once you get the hang of using a plane to smooth wood, you'll often find it's a lot faster than using a power sander. Keep at it and it'll click!

[@hardnox6655]

Thanks for making this video. It was extremely helpful.

[@paz2263]

That was cool, light bulb moment. looking forward to the next video. Thanks

[@ahikernamedgq]

This is a really helpful video. I just bought a new plane (my first) that I am working to set up. And, this really helps me to understand how to set up the chipbreaker in relation to the blade. Thanks for putting this out there!

[@petertiffney4561]

richard richard well you sound just like what the world needs right now a straight talking man . i have a full set of marples baily patten planes but i go straight to my marples transitonal plane i get the ease of wood on wood and the ease of the baily adjustment if you come accross 1 you realy owe it to yourself to try it . please keep up the great work . you are a fine ambassedore for woodworking pete

[@TheEnglishWoodworker]

peter tiffney Thanks Pete, a transitional plane is very high on my list of things to get past the other half, I can imagine them to be a wonderful tool. Cheers.

[@michaelmclaughlin4374]

Very good tutorial, thanks for sharing

[@deancarr10]

Excellent video. Really well done. A very difficult topic to understand from text alone.

[@ljlatorre1943]

Well done and very informative

[@kmattar]

Excellent explanation that actually makes sense

[@GrantHendrick]

Very helpful. Thank you!

[@MrJsteed2009]

Brilliant! I've seen so many explanations, and even taken classes from some high-end woodworkers, but I find your explanation the most helpful, really. I can't wait to try out my Stanleys, again. I frankly got a bit frustrated with them and switched to the high-end fancy new-wave planes plus a generous bit of scraping to get my work done. Thanks, again!

[@ornamentalconifer5765]

thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with straight to the point, and entertaining information... you're brilliant..

[@arnquist]

Really good video on planing really learned a lot on this vid look foreword to more on planes

[@tonyminehan7144]

Really looking forward to the next video, I've finally acquired a long wooden plane and I'm interested to see what it can do

[@SeanSmith73]

What a great video - greetings from Ireland.

[@markhynek3341]

Thanks so much for that video. I only have a Bailey no. 4, no.5 and a no.7. My go to is the #4 and have been able at times to produce beautiful shavings leaving a incredibly smooth surface, but didn't really understand why at time it worked and at other times it didn't. Thanks so much for your statement about scrapers and scraping. Right now that seems to be my nemesis with trying to get a sharp scraper. All I seem to produce is dust.

[@TheEnglishWoodworker]

Mark Hynek Hi Mark, I've been woodworking as my living all my life and the only times I've had to break out scrapers is in inaccessible areas. All my smoothers are either cheap Baileys or wooden bodied, I would certainly love a Lie Nielsen one though!

[@markhynek3341]

The English Woodworker Amen to the LN. Have a question for you thought. I will be turning 50 later this year and have been sending little hints to my wife on how wonderful it would be to have a premium hand plane for my 50th, hopefully she is getting the hints. But my question is, is there any benefit to getting the higher angled frogs. I live in Costa Rican and the wood I use is Guanacaste. I am told it is similar to mahogany. I would at times have a lot a tear out and reversing grain. Now watching your video I wonder if the problem was with the cap iron. So if my wife fulfills my birthday wishes would you recommend a higher angle from or just a 45 degree? Thanks for your input.

[@TheEnglishWoodworker]

Mark Hynek It sounds like you're dropping the same hints as I! I have high angle planes and they work very well but they do lack the versatility of the standard frog. Myself, I would go for the standard angle and just refine the cap iron.

[@superphilschneider]

Hey, mate, nice work. Glad I found your channel!!

[@carlodevivo2928]

fantastic explanation!!! You make that fir look like maple or oak. lovely

[@damonmanni]

Great video and I learned much from you! But afterwards I realized that you never showed us a close up of the blade/cap iron setting setting side-by-side of the #3 & #4. So I can’t really emulate what your settings were. That would be so so helpful. I long for that feeling & finish of that #3 u show here. Hope u can provide this. Cheers mate.

[@Withplaneandsaw]

awesome video !you are one of the best on youtube ! cant wait for more content

[@ginocentofanti4111]

You've deepened my understanding, thank you for taking the time to make the video. I will recommend it my fellow club members. Gino

[@ingwiefreak]

Great slang and termanology your a great teacher Richard, thanks for sharing.

[@BlackSwan912]

If the dog hadn’t blinked I’d have thought it a renaissance painting. Fantastic color and staging.

[@hernancoronel]

Love it at 10:05 when you pull out a full tree out of nowhere! I'd like to see John Oliver comment on that ;-)

[@GARDENER42]

Two things I've done with my Stanley 5½ plane which have hugely improved the finish are do as you say & move the cap iron as close as I can to the cutting edge & replace the iron with a thicker one* (Ray Iles). I don't know whether it's the reduced vibration of the thicker iron or the reduced mouth which helps. *Needs a longer cap screw, which Thomas Flinn sells.

[@olafpayne]

Fantastic explanation

[@jimzearfoss777]

Great demo of what happens with different settings to the plane iron. Perhaps some information and demonstration of what the differences are between the two would be useful. Your thoughts?

[@ITSAWOODTHING]

thanks for the video............

[@jameslockwood5113]

Thank you

[@MarcoACasco]

Hand planes....love them....specially old English ones, they are superb !!! Power sanders vs hand planes, I keep going back to my hand planes all the time, but sanders are so easy to use, they make you lazy. Anyway, great video !!!!

[@sbs128]

Aha! Finally. Thank you

[@osrictentaqclesmin]

Great stuff thanks. I remember a few years back finding your benches and drooling over them but never thought to see if you were on KZbin. Your an inspiration. Just wondering about that bevel up/low angle(?) plane you have and why, if it does work so well on end grain and long grain (as the manufacturers say, would anyone bother buying a normal bench plane? It also has no cap iron yes? So it's like the metal version of the wooden wedge planes? I'm fascinated by japanese planes which until the introduction of western methodology didn't use any separate wedge - the bodies were the wedges. Kinda cool. Also, any chance of a video series on bench construction? It would be a great lesson to how you apply your planes to each stage, such as flattening your worktop sections flat for gluing up.

[@GPCster]

I'd like to hear your thoughts about the low-angle, bevel-up plane I saw on your bench in this video.

[@houstonsam6163]

Many thanks for a clear explanation. I've never understood why changing the set back of the chip breaker would minimize tear-out, but your presentation here makes it completely clear. Why would one not set up all Bailey-style planes, even a Number 5 Jack, with this sort of very close position of the chip breaker to the cutting edge of the iron? Is there some other advantage from setting up more coarse planes with a chip breaker a bit farther set back? Sorry if you've answered this question elsewhere and I have not found it.

[@Cactustone]

Excellent video! You said not to skew the plane when approaching tough grain. Do you have a video that explains in greater detail? First time I heard that

[@TobIas-or9dj]

Love the videos and love the accent. I actually let my son watch these videos to get used to hear english and get better in school😂😂😂

[@johnmason2501]

How are there any thumbs downs? Maybe someone is a hippy who is upset that you need wood for your job... haha. You know all those dead trees. But seriously I love watching your videos. You have something very personable about you.

[@ianandlesyannegardner1356]

I am a veritable sponge for your info. please keep giving to this old bloke that also loves a rant and a bit of woodwork.

[@HeirloomGameCalls]

Very interesting. I just made my first wood plane and was wondering if I needed to add a cap iron. The wedge is about 1/4 in h from the edge now. Still learning to adjust and use this plane.

[@patbassman8251]

Thanks that was a great tip just recently I understood 30 degree edge on the iron helps to stop tare out , but as most of my irons are 25 degrees I was still getting tare out if the grain changed direction , I have always avoided putting the chip braker close to the iron cutting edge cos of clogging the mouth up , personally I will keep a smoother the way you suggest just for the finishing touches .

[@whyturtleracer]

Good video about a much debated subject. One small observation, if you permit is the seemingly lackadaisical interest shown by the company dog; has he heard this before I wonder?

[@newinspiration2108]

thanks for the well thought explanation P.S.: your dog was like "come on, how many times more you want to practice such script?" haha

[@mikepavuk7387]

Do you think that the cap iron reduces blade chatter which could contribute to tear out?

[@68HC060]

According to Lie-Nielsen, it does. (I know this reply is 10 months late, but it's also intended for those who have the same question).

[@fouroakfarm]

I have been struggling with my #4 to get the cap iron to sit flat against the blade. There's always a corner not sitting perfectly and shavings jam up until it. Ive tried flattening both so many times. The very old blade does have a bit of a kink in the back of it from god knows where so Im thinking maybe thats throwing off the cap iron.

[@322doug]

well done .... ty subscribed

[@monoseq9797]

you legend!

[@teosinghsyiem9426]

Interesting 🤔

[@HolyDriver999]

Great channel mate. I'm having a hard time planning Wenge, I'm able to get great results with slightly softer wood like mahogany. The planer refuses to dig in and grab on when it comes to wenge. Is there anything I'm missing?Any way I can plane it without a machine?

[@metallitech]

For me the frog was slightly askew. I had thought that the blade was not square. Setting the frog helped a lot with tear-out. It seems like there are about half a dozen possible causes.

[@deemdoubleu]

I think I agree about scraping and sanding. When I get a lovely finish with my smoothing plane, why on Earth would I want to spoil it? The only problem I have is when I make, for example, a picture frame and because of all the glueing up etc. I inevitably get it slightly smutty/dirty but I can't plane it because it's hard to plane a mitered joint without scuffing one or the other half of the mitre.

[@Kikilang60]

Thanks, very helpful, but can I use a cat instead of a Jack Russel?

[@jeffreydustin5303]

often in my cap iron and blade assembly the wood chips get stuck between the cap iron and blade. Why and how to fix that?

[@rebeccadonaldson1464]

A Double Iron Plane is one with the cutter and the back iron - 2 pieces of iron.

[@josephinebennington7247]

Ok, I’ve known the theory of a cap iron since school in the 60s. Where do you show us how much blade tip you expose beyond the cap iron edge? (My woodwork teacher would be taking a shaving off of you for putting the planes blade-down on the bench!)

[@rogerboucher1913]

I suspected the chip breaker to be part of the problem/solution on tear outs. I’ve tried different angle filings on the top and bottom edge of it, but ain’t got it right yet. Could you show us how to prep that freaking chip breaker?

[@DavidKirtley]

Planes were used for centuries without cap irons. And they didn't work as well... It didn't make quite as much difference when using wood with very straight grain. Especially wood that was riven. You can get around the problem some with very high pitch irons, changing planing direction and scrapers but the cap irons certainly make life easier.

[@Patbwoy]

But why would you set the cup iron in any different way then? Through this vid I got the impression, that the results are generally better with a cup iron. Why wouldn't I always use it then?

[@ardvarkkkkk1]

Patbwoy Setting the cap iron back a bit makes it more free cutting. on softer wood, setting the cap iron to close to the edge will push the chips back into the wood causing a bad finish.

[@rhysebanks5674]

You should try a Japanese pull plane

[@Jeff034]

My refurbed Stanley no3 is a gem on crappy wood.

[@faabzeeland]

I miss you man, are you still alive?

[@ThePhoenixlad]

It's not often you see someone pull out a tree from under their bench lol!! Enjoyed the video though ;)

[@Tome4kkkk]

Isn't it possible to slap a hardwood piece onto a single-iron design that would mimic a chip breaker?

[@deezynar]

+Tome4kkkk I don't think that even a piece of dense hardwood would be dense enough to take the impact of the shaving being rammed into it. What I might try is putting a bit of metal on the end of a piece of wood. It would be interesting to experiment with securing that piece of wood with the metal edge into the plane, and not have it screwed to the iron. That way you wouldn't have a chip breaker to deal with when you sharpen the blade. The wood/metal chip breaker could be held in the plane with a metal pin running through the plane sides. A wedge would squeeze the chip breaker tight against the blade and keep it from moving. Since you never adjust the cutting depth of a smoothing plane by very much, having the chip breaker being fixed in place inside the plane should work OK. But it would take a lot of trial and error to grind the business end of the chip breaker to get it to the perfect length.

[@moomastico]

Are you a full blown wooly back?

[@toddschriver9924]

If you shoot light across from the side, that tear out will stand out better.

[@夏敏]

虽然听不懂语言但加上手势还是能够理解要表达的意思。

[@jbinroom2038]

I’m going to go try this. I just ruined two ebony violin fingerboards because of tear out.

[@TheHibener]

I'm a bloody beginner at woodworking/planing - afaik the tear only shows if you work against the grain !? - btw English is not my first language

[@oakleyjack7600]

You've got everyone's interest except for the bloke on the couch.! Breaking the fibers at their weakest (thickness), prevents tear out, if the cap iron sets further from the iron edge it gives the shaving a chance to gain thickness before breaking, resulting in a tear instead of a shear. Jeff

[@Snooze-vy1yo]

Sr. where are your safety glasses and ear protection?

[@68HC060]

Put away with the power tools. =)

[@jamesfergusson546]

To better show the tearout, dust the surface with coloured carpenter's chalk. It will highlight any imperfections.