More Infills not Landfills...Somebody stop me PLEASE! ;o)

[jimi43]

Well...there's one thing about the rain...stopping me from going to the bootfair but starting the day at 6am....it means I get to hit the workshop and finish off the infills....

So....to recap...what is now known as the "Ebay Three"...entered the Jimi household way back in December 2010...

Some three months later and considerably better weather (well it ain't snowing at least...), they are nearing completion...

The last addition to the trio is the little bullnose...which is in need of a bit more polish but tested fine!

I'm really getting the hang of this iron making business and even confident enough to fire up the kiln "in situ" inside the workshop now...without fear of setting light to the place! My timing is getting better now as I was at least 5 minutes ahead of the chicken for timesharing the oven! 8)

The little baby fair spat the shavings out....

...not to mention the hairs on my arm!

So....this one's off to soak in some raw linseed oil overnight...(it is darkening rather nicely on the other two don'tcha think!?)....after whittling the toe to allow the shavings to exit stage left instead of bunching up concertina-like in the cavity.

Overall...I think for £68 outlay I have some rather nice little workhorses there...but it is something I shall NOT be embarking on again!

Jim

 

[Kalimna]

Lovely work, Jim. There's nothing quite like the feel of using a tool you have made yourself. Aesthetically pleasing (read: gorgeous!), and useful for fine work too.
If only we had such bootfairs up here in Alloa - then I would have a garage full of chassis's doing very little!

What would you say was the most difficult/critical aspect?

And when will you embark on a dovetailed infill????

Adam

 

[jimi43]

Hi Adam

Thank you for your kind words.....

One thing this little exercise has taught me is just how very skilled these old artisans must have been. I have the luxury of some nice Swedish files, power sanding equipment and electric kiln....but they only had hand tools and yet they were able to take these bare castings and make their own tools...they had no choice if they were anything other than very affluent.

Steel is not my most favourite medium. It is both messy and hard. I think if you have access to mills and other decent metalworking equipment then it is ok but as Aled says, it is a big effort...

I don't mind bronze or gunmetal....and brass because if is relatively soft and the mess is less "dirty" if you catch my drift...but steel is a nightmare.

It is also a very unpredicable animal....I learned a lot doing these three.

The most critical thing about casting work is getting the mouth right. Right at the start I knew this was going to be the case but on the last one I learned that if you just get to the breakout point...you then need to take some off the sole...rather than going further. This keeps the mouth as narrow as possible whilst allowing the iron to emerge. If you carry on through with a file...this doesn't happen.

Looking at some of the old vintage/antique examples...most have huge mouths...even the professionally made ones...which on a bullnose and rebate particularly is not what you want.

I thought the infill would be a nightmare but that was relatively easy...and it is with this knowledge that I have decided to stick to woodwork mostly from now on.

I will build a dovetailed plane but I think I will go for a very long battleship jointer....the amount of work is the same but the result is of more value and I want to see how one of these monsters performs relative to a No.7. I think I like the contrast between brass and steel and will go that route...I am following Aled's WIP with huge interest!

Cheers

Jimi

P.S. anyone know where the **** I am going to put my KT Tools stamp on the dinky one? #-o

 

[Aled Dafis]

...
I will build a dovetailed plane but I think I will go for a very long battleship jointer....the amount of work is the same but the result is of more value and I want to see how one of these monsters performs relative to a No.7. I think I like the contrast between brass and steel and will go that route...I am following Aled's WIP with huge interest!

Cheers

Jimi

P.S. anyone know where the **** I am going to put my KT Tools stamp on the dinky one? #-o

Yes I'd like to build a "battleship jointer" someday, but I believe that it will entail a **** of a lot more work than say a smoother, especially in the lapping stages!. Brass and steel is also my preference, the contrast just looks good!

I'm afraid that the panel plane WIP is a few months away yet due to work commitments, although my drawings are almost ready for cutting the brass and steel.

Cheers
Aled

 

[mtt.tr]

Can you put the stamp under the wedge?

 

[matthewwh]

when I woke two Sundays ago to find some some charitable 'sole had pinched the bumper + winch orf the front of my Land Rover

Just appreciated the subtlety of that apostrophe at precisely the moment I was swallowing a mouthfull of tea. Thank goodness for kitchen towells and robust keyboards.

 

[yetloh]

I will build a dovetailed plane but I think I will go for a very long battleship jointer....the amount of work is the same but the result is of more value and I want to see how one of these monsters performs relative to a No.7. I think I like the contrast between brass and steel and will go that route...I am following Aled's WIP with huge interest!

Cheers

Jimi

P.S. anyone know where the **** I am going to put my KT Tools stamp on the dinky one? #-o

Not sure about the wisdom of brass and steel fo a plane of that size. They seem to be very few and far between and all of Karl Holtey's big ones seem to be all steel. I suspect there may be a good reason for that, perhaps to do with stability?

Jim

 

[Richard T]

Hooray! Punctuation comedy finally appreciated. Sorry Matthew, hope everything is ok.

Jimi you've been working a lot with cast iron and tool steel - mild steel is a different animal altogether - pretty much pure iron and very obliging when threatened with saw, file or hammer. I just made a cap iron yesterday and tried something new: I clamped it square on the anvil with just the right amount protruding over the edge, where there is a convenient small curve, and hammered it round cold with no trouble at all. This surprised me (it was 4mm x 2")
Just goes to show how maliable it is.

 

[Philly]

Jim
Just a quick word on floats - once you harden them you can't sharpen them! I have quite a few custom floats for various tasks and they are all from annealed tool steel - this means you can sharpen them (with a file just like sharpening a hand saw) many times. The burr that the file leaves on each tooth really makes quick work of any timber.
Obviously if you want to try them on steel you'll need to harden it, but they work great as is on brass.
Hope this helps,
Philly

 

[jimi43]

Hi Jim

Wayne Anderson makes gunmetal and steel jointers...this example is on THE INFILL SHOWCASE website:



I think this blend is simply beautiful...do you not agree. I find the use of steel on steel rather cold...and also I believe the wonder of metal dovetailing is something that needs to be shown and obvious..though the art of making them so accurately that they disappear is also wonderous! Probably why some examples are actually marked as such...almost as if the buyer would nver believe it possible!

Don't worry Matthew...I missed that beautiful apostrophe too the first time...the English language is so very wonderful, is it not!?

Hi Richard....thanks for the comforting words on mild steel...you can see how much of an expert on the "black stuff" I am (not!)!! I still think I will probably try brass or can you get gunmetal sheets these days? Gunmetal is slightly harder is it not? Although I shy away from steel..I think I am finally taming it...it will never be my favourite medium but I won't let it get the better of me! Where are the latest pictures of your pein....(insert obvious example of English pun here!) :wink: I am missing the episodes on your infill!

Phil...thanks mate...these floats are wonderous things. The little float I made and hardened was just to get into that tight corner of the bullnose where I wanted quick removal and control and it really worked! I was astounded. If it works like this on wood and brass unhardened I will be making a few more of these without doubt! I may even make some exotic handles for them.

I have a few more offcuts which I think I want to make triangles of...one for flat and one for flat/side cutting. I do beileve I may have entered a new realm of tool design. This is what I love about toolmaking! Darn it...I seem to be moving more and more into the world of steel hacking again...it's really unavoidable isn't it! :? 8)

mtt.tr.....thanks for the idea mate...it won't show but it will be there so I think that is the only option short of getting a tiny stamp made (when I can afford it!). I will practice on the "temporary wedge" while the other one cures in the linseed oil....it is a tad small though so I don't want to put adverse pressure on it and risk splitting it. Testing this afternoon and wil post the results later!

Cheers guys and gals.

Jim

 

[yetloh]

Hi Jim,

Yes, can't help but agree that the Wayne Anderson plane is stunning. A little more feminine than some, but none the worse for that.

I know what you mean about seeing the dovetails, I have just finished making a small chest with 10 inch long secret mitred dovetails on the front corners and have had several comments on "what is the point" lines. In fact there are three - it has stringing running all the way round so mitres are essential, I didn't want any possibility of the mitres opening at some point in the future and I had never done one before. I enjoyed doing them but I think I now have them out of my system.

Jim

 

[Richard T]

Very, very basically brass is an alloy of copper and zink and bronze is an alloy of copper and tin.
There are hundreds of variants and extra ingredients of both for different purposes.
I did start to look into it but decided to go with steel for the first one so I would make less expensive mistakes and got carried away from there.
I do want to use brass for the next one (which I've already started :-" )