Infill coffin smoother wedge repair / replace WIP

[Mr_P]

Suffering from a serious case of the infill bug. This 7.5" beauty has just arrived

Was thinking it might be repairable but since its Mahogany and I have loads of parquet flooring that is just thick enough I might as well make another.

 

[Racers]

Make a new one keep the old one, is what I would do.

Pete

 

[Richard T]

That looks like it was made by someone who knew what they were doing.

Then used by someone who didn't. :shock:

I have enjoyed making the couple of wedges I have made. They 'sort of' self fit. That is to say you tap them in and make a mark, tap them out, remove/smooth the mark and tap in again to make another mark and so on until you achieve a good fit.

A good tip, therefor, might be to not finish the scroll before fitting - it gets tapped around a lot during the process.

 

[AndyT]

A nice looking plane there. I agree with Pete and Richard's advice - make a new wedge for use and keep the old one as part of the history. Does it have a maker's name on? I think I can make out some letters from the word "WARRANTED" in your second picture.

 

[condeesteso]

There's a rumour around you got a bit of a bargain here :wink:
The infills look good and as said the wedge was once a really nice one, a likely indicator of a fine tool (the scroll and general attention to the details). Could become a really excellent smoother, any dreaded pitting on back of cutter?

 

[Mr_P]

Douglas,

Slightly more expensive than your stunning Buck hybrid smoother, fancy a swap ?

The ward cap is in good nick but the I.Sorby iron has had a hard long life (Mr P logo looks v.early) less than an inch from the base of keyhole to edge. Another iron for the David Stanley shopping list. Don't have a grinder and it will take a lot of work on my oilstones to get it right, so might as well wait another week.

Andy,
Sadly no makers marks just two owners fighting for the front bun spot, they both lost since I can't read it.

Richard T and Pete,

Took the plunge and started making a new wedge. Hand scraped the bitumen of one piece but the stamping machine was working well that day and the stamp on the back was very deep. F.Hills & Sons Ltd Ghana a bit like Gabriel they went from planes to timber (except F.Hills was Aeroplanes).

2nd piece was very faint phewww. Forgotten how hard that is, these days I normally take a layer off the top on the bandsaw but I couldn't afford to lose the thickness.

 

[jimi43]

Lovely plane mate!!!

Sorry I bit against you without knowing! Still...you got a bargain anyway.

Keep the wedge...it has a lovely patina and someone might want the original if/when you do sell it.

Looks to be an early Slater of London body. It is very similar in shape to the later lever cap infill I have sold through Tyzak...

YOURS

MINE

Cheers

Jim

 

[Mr_P]

Thanks Jimi, now I can find its flashier cousins.

That's not a wedge, THIS is a wedge

 

[condeesteso]

You wonder how someone managed to do so much damage to the wedge given its juxtaposition to the iron, they must have a certain technique (and probably a 'special' screwdriver for mangling the lock screw??).
Nice lump of mahogany - and the connection from 'plane to plane is neat.
Re swaps I'm not ready to lose the Buck yet, but I have some other possibles maybe.
There are some very nice details on the original wedge (chip clearance cutaway) - all signs of original quality. Let's see it all finished soon.

 

[Mr_P]

Made a good start and got to test drives Mr Grimes (Thanks Roger and Pedder I'm very impressed).

I've been following Richard's advice about making it a bit bigger before fitting but I'm getting tear out on the right hand side so I'll have to make it to size before cutting it to width.

Unless someone can tell me where I'm going wrong.

 

[Richard T]

Have a look at the old wedge's scroll and how curved the edges/corners are - I only noticed this after struggling to shape it with no relief cuts and merrily tearing out all over the place even with files. For the first one I had no wedge to copy and no internet... #-o It was Yew though and I'm sure Mahogany is less prone to it.

With the actual wedge area I found that it's best to file along the length as much as the sticky up scroll permits (diagonally) when finishing to size.

Paring from either side to the middle is also a belt and braces option on the scroll.

Also sawing from either side of course.

 

[Mr_P]

Thanks for the tips Richard.

Think the chap who made my mitre wedge had the same problem so he just copied a chariot wedge.

 

[jimi43]

I shouldn't worry too much about your wedges appearing to be more than just good friends....just wait a while and use the offspring for a block plane!!!!!

:mrgreen:

Jim

 

[tobytools]

Here is a restoration job I did on a piece of fire wood
Way I figured it if I messed up I don't loose out.
The shaping of the wedge was great fun, I used the blunt chisel technique, thanks bill.
This was my first attempt of this nature. Tho I plan to do the same to a few other woodies I have, scrool wedges look so much better


https://www.dropbox.com/s/2i28q8wo8kh25 ... .49.28.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/diflcawdc352q ... .44.29.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f0caa6oynl2wc ... .44.25.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fm5o7z32ak55i ... .48.25.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ojixenb4t93wh ... .30.43.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/y0lwl87jk0bte ... .30.58.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2hhlenwbmjjii ... .34.08.png
It's no means a great tool, but for a piece of junk I'm happy with the out come and will keep this plane.
Was originally going to chuck it after I messed about.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9g22wmzzu843b ... .44.34.jpg
Some tools I used, didn't use all of them, I also used A pair of H&R, was good fun, learnt a lot during this process.

Thanks

TT

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'm getting "invalid link" for all these.

 

[tobytools]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2i28q8wo8kh25 ... .49.28.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/diflcawdc352q ... .44.29.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f0caa6oynl2wc ... .44.25.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fm5o7z32ak55i ... .48.25.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ojixenb4t93wh ... .30.43.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/y0lwl87jk0bte ... .30.58.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2hhlenwbmjjii ... .34.08.png

Hope these work

TT

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes. Thanks.

 

[Mr_P]

Thanks Toby,

Haven't forgotten this thread I've been preparing. Purchased Bill Carter's CD and finally admitted defeat and bought a bench grinder just need some new chisels from the pound shop. Yes I have loads already but just couldn't do that to Sheffields finest.

 

[tobytools]

Excellent, tho if you are considering making wooden components a lot then I would use shed fields finest, no point in having owing a horse but riding an donkey.

Worst comes to worse you can regrind, if that still dosent sound appealing you can use just so steel stock flat ground, that will do the trick. I only have one firmer chisel flat ground and it's worth it.

Thanks
TT