Search results

Information on planemaking is very scarce. I don’t know why it’s not far more popular, those old planes are fascinating and work so well (except mine) I think the dark floats are just some mild steel I had lying about, which obviously I hardened. I made these first but they were too thick for...

I do have a biscuit jointer somewhere. My current bench was biscuit jointed together by the maker and across time the joints came apart and gaps appeared between the boards through expansion lengthways. But yes, I have one and that’s what they are for. I actually started out with the threaded...

no, it’s square edge and half the price of their PAR timber. If I use their PAR timber I may as well do it in beech from Chiltern timber. I’ve had a couple of lengths of it to prototype the tail vise section, it is straight and relatively clean.

Hi Quick question …. My current workbench isn’t really a woodwork bench, so I’m thinking of building a new quick-and-dirty bench using Wickes comstructiom timber, with a bench top that’s thick enough for holdfasts, vise moved to the left end, tail vise on the right end etc. of course I’d like...

A planemaker’s float is a part saw / part rasp tool for making planes. So far I’ve made 10 of them by the looks of it. Also useful for cleaning up M&T and lots of other tasks.

Great job, looks like they worked well. Interesting project too - that’s the same kind of reason I would like to be able to make planes. Looking on the LN website it looks like they’ve stopped selling them altogether now. My issue is I’ve gone too far. In this exaggerated example Ive taken too...

That would be cheating! It’s not like I‘ve had no success with the traditional method. It’s just not yet good enough, and takes a very long time. And I suppose for me it’s about learning how to make planes, that’s the fun part.

I turned one a few weeks ago from a log in my firewood store. took. 5 mins and cost £0. It’s pretty terrible looking ,but works nicely. I will make a nice one out of boxwood shortly.

Hi I‘m back on my project trying to make a set of hollow and rounds. A while ago I made about 6 planes up to the point of shaping the soles - I’ve finished a couple. Now I’m trying to finish some more. I’m finding that my mortises weren’t very good. I’ve made 2 sets of floats and watched the...

That’s a good tip, thanks. Any idea what temp oil to quench in? Our deep fat fryer has a temperature control 60-200 deg. Don’t tell SWMBO.

I actually have an IR thermometer which measures up to 1200 deg which I use for my home made foundry. But I guess this isn’t about temp as much as the Curie point, so the loss of magnetism is the key. I like the idea of hotter oil for quenching. thanks

Hi My chisel set has built up over the last couple of years by buying vintage from eBay/ car boots etc. They are mostly Marples/Sorby etc and generally seem very good. I can get them very sharp and generally it takes a small amount of regular honing to keep them that way. Except one….. I have...

A little drawer I was making to practice dovetails. No sniggering.

Hi Deema Thanks for your advice on my sawblade, it’s at a level now where it’s working very nicely. Probably not perfect, but I can tweak it. I had a problem at first because in fact the file was not at exactly 8° in the alignment block. So it was sticking because it was cutting too...

Ordered, thanks :) One question, on a 15TPI saw, what setting would you use on an eclipse saw set? I’ve tried the minimum but it is very, well minimal. One thing I’ve been doing is bluing the teeth with machinists layout fluid, after which the saw set leaves a lovely mark on the teeth that...

Is there a brand / size of file you’d recommend for 15 TPI?

I think that the file is sharp on the face but probably dull on the corner.

I did read your article and basically followed most of it. I can see it’s a case of gradual refinement and homing in on a good result carefully. If one goes too far, options narrow rapidly to file it all off and start again. I had another half hour at it this evening, filed a tad off the top...

Hi Deema, not quite, I did various test cuts on a piece of scrap blade to see how that worked. I found that one stroke wasn’t enough to leave a reliable mark, so I ended up with four strokes actually, which looks like it was too much. As you suggest I will top it off with a file later and work...

Initial tooth cutting done…. Nasty feeling if I’m not careful I will end up with cows and calves before Ive even started!