DIY planes

[Pete W]

Seems like a common feeling, but I too have been distressed at the lack of traffic in the handtools forum, and have been dreaming up ideas for new threads. This is my favourite...

Following certain posts on various US forums, I'm taken with a sudden and intense desire to make a wooden plane. I have (I think) some suitable blocks of straight-grained white oak, but the iron is giving me pause (the idea is that I might do this without spending money). I do have a spare block plane that could donate the blade and chipbreaker.

I had a definite idea that woodies wanted a single thick blade but a rummage around various neander websites turned up plenty with standard iron assemblies.

Does this sound reasonable? Any practical advice?

 

[Anonymous]

"Wooden Planes and How to Build Them" put out by Algrove Publishing might help.

Other than that, I'd say spend a little on an old woodie with a decent blade in it but that is otherwise rubbish.

Hope that helps,

Regan

 

[Frank D.]

Pete,
I confess to not having made my own plane yet, although I will soon. I want to try a bevel-up plane, it's the latest age in planes and I must confess I really like my bevel-up planes. That way you don'y have to mess with a chipbreaker either. I gues you just need a wood that doesn't splinter or shatter at the back of the mouth with the bed around 20 degrees. A bevel-up plane really is handy for difficult woods, and I find the extra support helps give good results. Why not on a woodie?
Frank

 

[Philly]

Pete,
It is something I've been considering for a while. Do you have "Art of Fine Cabinetmaking" by Jim Krenov?? He has a chapter on making and tuning one. Here is a useful link from the College of the Redwoods
http://www.crfinefurniture.com/1pages/s ... plane.html
Let us know how you get on,
Philly

 

[Alf]

Pete,

Planes, I've made a few...


Click on image to go to album - I hope

Oak is not a good idea - the grain's too open and you'll get chipping out round the mouth. Guess how I know that. :roll: Can't find the pic of that one though. I used a standard Stanley iron and cap iron and it was, er, okay. Thicker is better, certainly. The best result I've had was from an old chisel (see link), even though it was a bevel edged on so the sides get no support at all. Try anything and everything. Plane-making can become addictive very quickly.

Frank, I'm afraid bevel-up is unlikely to be successful in the long term with a woodie unfortunately. The back of the mouth simply won't have enough strength at a low angle. That's how infills came about really.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Aragorn]

Alf - They're so sweet! Lovely job 8)

 

[Neil]

Is there no end to your talents, Alf? :shock:

Love the use of the allen key for the router iron - very clever

Cheers,
Neil

 

[Alf]

Love the use of the allen key for the router iron - very clever

That one was courtesy of a plan in Popular Woodworking and very useful it's turned out too. Worth remembering larger allen keys for Stanley's and the like if you can't get a proper cutter too.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Anonymous]

Lovely planes Alf, particularly the large plane which is absolutely gorgeous and has a decent shaving from a LN placed on it for photographic purposes :wink:

 

[Pete W]

Thanks all - immediately useful info!

Alf, I'll have a rummage in my collection of unidentified offcuts (a bagload from SL Hardwoods was my very first woodworking purchase, even before I had any tools to work it with ). I'm sure there's some stuff in there that's hard and close-grained.

Philly, thanks for the prompt - I do have that book, but had forgotten the discussion on plane-making. Interestingly, he speaks rather highly of block plane irons so I think I'll go with that until the tool budget allows for more experimentation.

I also have the link you provided, and a few more. In case anyone else gets bitten by this particular bug, here they are:
http://www.diynet.com/diy/woodworking/a ... 42,00.html
http://www.planemaker.com/articles/
http://home.insightbb.com/~sepost/woodwork.html
http://www.norsewoodsmith.com/smoother/smoother1.htm

Not specifically on making woodies, but lots of useful info here:
http://workshop.tjmahaffey.com/workshop/planes3.php

 

[bugbear]

I have (I think) some suitable blocks of straight-grained white oak

Oak and Steel are not a good combination IMHO.

BugBear

 

[Chris Knight]

Oak and Steel are not a good combination IMHO.

Japanese planes manage somehow..

 

[Alf]

Oak and Steel are not a good combination IMHO.

Japanese planes manage somehow..

Probably the Japanese refrain from planing underwater...

More seriously, isn't the tannin content much less of an issue with Japanese oak? Thought I'd heard that somewhere.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Pete W]

Oak and Steel are not a good combination IMHO.

It's ok - Alf already talked me out of the oak; I've got a nicely-sized block of something red, dense, hard and heavy (bubinga maybe? sapele?). Hoping for some shop time tomorrow

 

[J.A.S]

Pete,

funnily enough, I've also been looking into making planes, and have a couple of other links that you might find interesting:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_im ... 74046.html

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_im ... 73456.html

Hope these help.

Jeremy

 

[Alf]

Hmm, just realised I failed to take the opportunity to plug my own site. :roll: A few plane-making bits here, albeit from the solid which is a bit trickier.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Keith Smith]

If anyone is thinking of buying a kit to make an infill plane then please PM me before you send off any money. :!: :!:

Keith

 

[Pete W]

Jeremy, thanks - that Pop Mechanics article might be the clearest of the lot in terms of procedure.

And Alf, I'm mortified to have overlooked your site. The solid jack looks a bit beyond me at the moment, but that rebate plane seems do-able