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Anyone used these for thicknessing? I just learned about them, and they've got me wondering if a Scrub is usefull for lutherie stuff. Are they too aggressive? Since most of the tonewood from vendors comes about 1/8" thick would a Scrub hog too much off?

CrowDuck

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Chris Nielsen
Soquel, CA.

Scrub planes are used primarily across the grain to get a surface "mostly" true. I would not use on anything less than about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. I do use them in other woodworking endeavors when I want to get back to basics and not use a motorized planer or jointer.
Tom

i think you will find most tonewood suppliers deliver their wares a bit thicker than !/8", particularly backs and tops.

as with any plane, the depth and accuracy of cut would depend a lot on the tuning and setup of the plane. the scrub was originally used with a slightly radiused edge to hog off waste in rough sawn stock.

but the reason i would not elect to use my scrub plane for thicknessing is its narrow base. they are just easier to use in an uneven manner than a wider plane. when i did my thicknessing by hand my favourite was a no. 5 jack, either flat or ribbed sole. i feel that the longer planes are just too much tool, too heavy, too cumbersome, for working the stock we use. you will no doubt hear from others who think they are the greatest thing since sliced bread, and perhaps someone who likes a scrub for thicknessing. but it would not be my choice.

#5 Jack Plane here as well...followed by a wide Smoothing Plane to get it to final thickness.

I have no experience with a scrub plane and curved iron but I would be afraid of removing too much and without sufficient control.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I agree with the advice above, the scrub plane is much too aggressive for the wood we usually work with. I use a wooden scrub plane with a very large throat and a curved 2" iron when there is much wood to remove from large surfaces. On softwoods you can really dig in and create a series of "valleys" diagonally over the wood. This way you can very quickly remove a lot of wood with surprisingly little effort. The surface will then be levelled with a jack plane, typically followed by a jointer plane and a smooth plane to give a nice finished surface.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin