Abutment wall thickness

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Oskar, this may help. Sunnybob, with your "plane" as well. It is the build method that you will want to look at in my article.

The abutments on the Jack plane, below, are 8mm wide. This is the same as the HNT Gordon abutments. Keep in mind that the wood used was hard and tough.

The link is: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTo ... Plane.html

I built this plane in 2009, and it has been my main jack ever since. It has stood up to a lot of hard work.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[sunnybob]

Derek, I dont use planes as such. Arthritis in the thumbs means its too painful to grip and push through the wood.
But i am going (one day) to rebuild the preston plane, just because I can. 8)

 

[D_W]

Oskar - how far off will you be in thickness? It may be better to use the billet for another plane and save the iron for later.

Or, if the difference is relatively minor, you can take a little bit off of the iron width (not too much or a try plane iron becomes a jack iron, etc).

 

[Oskar Sedell]

Thanks for the measurements Derek! I´ve seen your Jack plane build before, nice that this is still your main Jack. I will make a traditionally mortised plane.

 

[Oskar Sedell]

Oskar - how far off will you be in thickness? It may be better to use the billet for another plane and save the iron for later.

Or, if the difference is relatively minor, you can take a little bit off of the iron width (not too much or a try plane iron becomes a jack iron, etc).

Hi David,

Now, before cleaning up the blank (which is straight and almost perfectly quartered) it is 5/8 wider than the blade. I hope to true the sides without loosing much, but I guess I´ll loose a mm or so.

I also thought about filing the iron a little narrower. At least taper it in width, so that I don´t have to take off more at the top of the abutments in order to get lateral adjustment. Not sure how much taper in width my iron has.

I´d love to use this blank for something else, but it is the widest I have (save for a 80 mm blank, which however has twisted grain and I don´t want to build a twisted try plane). But, maybe I´m lucky and manage to find some dry beech or birch while I´m finishing up some other projects.

 

[D_W]

The plane was infested both ends with woodworm. I thought it was all dead when I got the plane. A week later there was a little pile of dust underneath the thing. In a panic, i cut it into three on the bandsaw thinking of just burning everything. But when I looked at the cuts the wood of the middle section was pristine. I made a very thorough search and there were no holes at all on it. So i cut the handle out and burnt the rest.
Its one of those "round tooit" projects. But as its been waiting a year now, i can be completely certain it worm free.

Even if you can't turn it into a plane, you have the difficult part to figure out without a plane in hand. So it's worth keeping, in case you ever decide to make the entire plane.

 

[D_W]

Oskar - how far off will you be in thickness? It may be better to use the billet for another plane and save the iron for later.

Or, if the difference is relatively minor, you can take a little bit off of the iron width (not too much or a try plane iron becomes a jack iron, etc).

Hi David,

Now, before cleaning up the blank (which is straight and almost perfectly quartered) it is 5/8 wider than the blade. I hope to true the sides without loosing much, but I guess I´ll loose a mm or so.

I also thought about filing the iron a little narrower. At least taper it in width, so that I don´t have to take off more at the top of the abutments in order to get lateral adjustment. Not sure how much taper in width my iron has.

I´d love to use this blank for something else, but it is the widest I have (save for a 80 mm blank, which however has twisted grain and I don´t want to build a twisted try plane). But, maybe I´m lucky and manage to find some dry beech or birch while I´m finishing up some other projects.

Most of the older irons tapered in width are somewhere around 1/16th narrower at the top of the mortise. It's worth considering because you can have a tight fit at the top.

Aside from needing to lay out the mortise, I wouldn't do much to the sides until you're done with the plane, and even then, as little as possible to get it visually straight and clear.

The only thing you need is enough squareness to lay out the plane accurately (which I'm sure you already know). Even then, you can get away with a little bit of out of squareness.

 

[Oskar Sedell]

indeed this is my plan. Clean up the sides and don´t worry too much about squareness. Taking it to the extreme, I´ll only need the mouth line, and rough marks for say a 45 degree bed. Then chopping close to these lines. Bedding the iron will take care of the specifics without need for super accurate layout on the top of the blank.

Thanks for adding your thoughts!