Building DIY Gardening

Just did a quick bit of planing of a sticking door. I had the toolbox out to get some screws and there was the plane, moved by my wife. What a lovely thing. So I did a quick bit of planing, and now the downstairs toilet door shuts properly (which was embarrassing for all concerned). Carpentry is an easy skill with practise, and the damage is not too great if you do small jobs first.

Planing – keep the plane level with the door (parallel obviously) so you do not take chunks out of it. A smooth action is required. Plenty of oomph in the forward stroke.

I used to work in the Stanley Tools plane shop on Pitsmoor Road, Sheffield, UK, back when I was a student doing some labouring work between courses. This was a huge factory. Me and a guy Bill had to drag pallets of planes in wooden boxes all around this place, so you had to be pretty strong I suppose. Good exercise when young. Each box had about ten planes in, and the boxes were piled up high. Almost immovable weight. The story was that the management had ordered some little fork lift trucks to move these incredibly heavy pallets around, but when they arrived, they were too wide to get through the doors. That seemed typical of British industry at the time – why use machines when people can heave and haul all day (bit like China now perhaps).

Here are the pics:

Plane in its natural environment

Planed door

The door was sticking slightly at the top. Cannot use sandpaper for this sort of thing. A plane is not a common tool but is useful in the home as doors are often getting stuck.

Door shutting better. Bit of repainting, job done

Wood shavings everywhere but at least they are clean!

The end result of most DIY work – since I did this on impulse I forgot to put down any floor protection, newspapers etc. Oh well!

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