It's 'Help an eejit Day' again. 110 'infill' advice please!

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I adjust plane irons - woodies and infills - with a small hammer.

I first set plane irons with the use of a flat surface. Terry Gordon (of HNT Gordon) generally supplies a block of planed wood to rest the plane upon. My preference, which I have used for many years, is a block of wood to which is glued a sheet of glass ...

The advantage of glass over wood is that the glass remains flat and has no give. It will not damage a steel edge.

What we want here is to place the plane on the glass and lower the iron through the mouth to rest on the glass. Then secure (not tighten) the wedge or lever cap.

This may be as much as you need to do. The blade should be square to the sole if you have pushed it through the mouth until it registered with the glass.. It should also have minimal projection – perhaps enough for the finest of shavings. It is much easier to tap the blade/rap the toe or the back of the blade for increased projection than raise the blade if there is too much projection. With a woodie, the reason is simply because raising the blade also loosens the wedge. And this increases the probability of losing blade squareness.

I use my fingers to feel the projection of the iron through the mouth - whether it is even, too much or too little. A hammer is used to adjust the lateral setting, by tapping on the side of the blade. If there is too much projection, one has the choice of starting again, or using the hammer on the rear of the body. I never strike the infill of an infill plane. I strike the steel rear of the sole.

The hammer I currently use is brass on one side and hard nylon on the other. The nylon does not damage a wooden wedge, and the brass does not damage steel. You need brass to adjust an infill.

Have a look at the video of Raney's hammer - mine is similar with the exception that I use nylon where he uses raw hide. Otherwise he also uses a setting board - you may not catch this unless you are looking for it as he does it quickly. He also uses his fingers to feel the projection.

I do not like what I saw in David Barron's video - it was all vague and lacked precision. Witness that he had to reset the plane. The shavings were coarse, and he was planing off-centre.

All this reinforces the need for the blade to be in a position to be struck. Some infills use a snecked blade to strike to pull it back, but all leave enough room to strike the blade laterally without the infill getting in the way. Hitting the rear of the blade is the best way of moving the blade forward - just a light tap with a reduced setting on the lever cap screw.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Mr_P]

Edit: Comment deleted, A bit harsh and ott, apologies.

Apologies to Chris, i could go on but won't hijack the thread.

Great work, keep it up.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Response to Mr P deleted.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Bm101]

As a beginner it's great to get different opinions on my idiocy. It's all a learning curve and for me its great to hear different approaches to the same problem. I thank you both for sharing your knowledge and experience with me. I am much obliged to both of you.
So. Onwards and upwards as always. (hammer)
So today's efforts. The brass screws turned up which interrupted my intention of paraphrasing the old joke about the little girl and the builders and the punchline 'we will if the f@ing bricks ever turn up'. 3.5 mm screws finally arrived so I just spent a while sorting out the body. More polishing and rubbing down. If there's a word for the top of the sides of the body I have no idea what it is but they are now equi summat.
Cut a bit of cardboard out as a template for the holes.
(Karl Holtey et al, I see you at the back taking notes. Caaaarddddboarddd teeemplaaaatesss... Stop nicking my techniques. Jeeeesus. :roll: )
Went ok. I'm not sure how I get away with it sometimes to tell the truth.
Drilled the holes and they are all miraculously in the right place.
For the counterbore do you just judge it to the the same depth? :| I'm thinking counting one two in my head being very careful.

Need to retouch up the paint so that's drying time for next week but we're on track. Final stages!

 

[Billy Flitch]

A method for setting the plane Iron, first find a flat and clear space on the bench (no mean feat in itself).
Cut a piece of paper in half place one half under the sole of the casting infront of the mouth and the other half under the sole of the casting after the mouth.
Check that the plane iron is sitting square at thecutting edge press down on the casting and fasten the cap iron or wedge in place. If you find that the plane iron is to rank and full try using a tissue under the sole. Billy.

 

[Bm101]

Cheers Billy.

 

[Bm101]

So. Time for an update.
Where were we? Ah yeh.
So a few progress pics. It's been a long week as always but it's been a good week. The rains of September passed us by and we're now into November and the cold is making up for time. Some unexpected time off work led to a break in routine and allowed an hour or two in the shed. Happy Days, so let's crack on.

Fixed the screws in place. Chucked it on the clarkey to get rid of most of the waste. Lots of masking tape ensued after I dinged the body the first time hand filing the heads down and the whole population of the 100 acre wood died of shock at my language. Except Eeyore who was expecting failure the whole time. Piglet exploded right around 3.42 pm

I'd forgotten I need to smooth the lever screw off. Tried it by hand but as always I couldn't get it smooth enough so i mad the most basic of 'jigs'.
A hole in an offcut. Is that a jig?Really? Either way it worked well enough to get away with it. (Again. )

(+1 for Action shot! Next stop YouTube Channel ) Accurate enough to sand off the screw head too a little less than barbaric.

Next up, I filed off the screw heads, thank you Vallorbe. Nervy moments. Thank you masking tape.
Then an earth shattering blow. One of the heads must have been a touch off centre. In real life you can hardly notice it unless you made it in which case Moses could have led his people through a smaller gap. And you are fated to see it forever more. Balls.

Still. We'll take the rest of the photos from the other side and hope no one notices... :|

Does it work? No idea. I'm not mad enough to try gluing it up, putting it together and actually using it in one day. I'll give it a pop tomorrow. :wink:

Oh, and just for memories sake, the original. (hammer)

 

[n0legs]

Excellent Chris, looks great =D>

One thing----
Then an earth shattering blow. One of the heads must have been a touch off centre. In real life you can hardly notice it unless you made it in which case Moses could have led his people through a smaller gap. And you are fated to see it forever more. Balls.

Chill bro', just chill.
There's many a multi million pound manufacturer, with QC depts. who send out far far worse and expect people to pay for their mistakes.
You're a guy in his shed :wink:
And I think you've done brilliant

 

[Karl]

Very good - looks great.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Bm101]

Tried it out today and lo and behold it works really well. (Woop + consecutive sigh of relief!)
It's fairly weighty in the hand. 1.1 lb. I had to adjust my grip a little to get the feel of the handle but it was pretty comfy in use.
Some unknown bit of wood, beech maybe? (Given to me a kind member of UKW) No real challenge and it finished nicely.

Obligatory shavings shot.

Then some ash. A little more of a challenge on the grain but it's hardly some tropical hardwood now. Still, no problems.

Finally a bit of mahogany, the same bit as the handles. I struggled with this starting the plane and moved on to a scraper to finish it.

No end grain attempted because my vice is in casualty and having an illicit affair with the workmate. (Don't ask. )

All told, I'm pretty pleased. It's been an interesting project for me and I've learnt a lot about various stuff from using taps and dies to burnishing scrapers for the first time. And I'm on the way to nailing my filing technique. On the way... lol. It's been fun. I've had a brush with hardening and tempering steel in a cider driven night time bbq furnace frenzy that would have had the HSE whimpering quietly in their sleep. And it was brilliant. Great craic. I have enough steel left over to make a couple more blades so I'll do that and grind a couple of steeper angles on them. Job's a good un. Thanks all who offered their help and advice to an eejit like me once again. It's always welcomed and a great advantage. So Cheers.

Anyway that's enough of that. My plane making days are done.
Or they would be...
But I was working in Bristol for 3 days last week. I googled Bristol Designs, thinking that it's bound to be miles away, I'll never get a chance to pop in there just isn't a hope.
Whaddaya know. It was about 200 yards up the road. :|

Oopsie Daisy.

(hammer)

 

[AndyT]

What a brilliant result, you should be feeling very pleased with that. A good looking, useful tool from a very unpromising start.

And now you are whizzing down the plane making slope - your ropes and safety gear will be powerless to stop you!

 

[Bm101]

Thanks Guys, it means a lot to a noob like me especially when I've seen some of the stuff you lot have turned out. The smoother and the bullnose are going on the shelf for a while. A good while possibly. I have more necessary things to do in the near future. In all honesty if they were still in production I'd have waited. Possibly. But since it seems they are becoming harder and harder to get hold of it seemed a good plan. So little time so much to do. :wink:

 

[rxh]

Very well done - I have enjoyed following this thread. I look forward to seeing the next planes as they develop.

 

[DTR]

Beautiful! (And effective too)