New block plane

[richarddownunder]

Hi All

thought I'd share my latest plane. I've been meaning to finish this for years - the metal has been in a cupboard partly cut out before I lost interest. Anyway, I finally got a round tuit as they say. It's (obviously) a low angle block plane, just a bit smaller and a little lighter than my Clifton block plane. I wish I had gone to the trouble of making a Norris adjuster now but it’s too late. The blade isn't the right one as I need to get a longer bit of O1 but it does work very well and takes shaving equal to the Clifton. I must say though, having sweated for hours over this, I have a new appreciation for the workmanship and design of the Clifton. To me, both are a bit big to use one-handed and to be honest, the little block plane I made years ago is just the right size for (my) one handed trimming and works very well too.

Cheers
Richard

 

[rxh]

Very impressive work. Please could you tell us the overall dimensions of the plane and the angle of the iron? Also what wood have you used for the infill?

 

[ED65]

That looks like excellent work Richard. And it's gorgeous!

 

[pollys13]

Very nice.

 

[deema]

Beautiful work

 

[richarddownunder]

Thanks for your interest folk.

The dimensions are 150 x 48 (outside) with a 15 degree bed angle. The sole is 5 mm O1 and the sides are 4 mm brass - I think it's naval brass but not entirely sure as i got it years ago - whatever it is, it peined well enough. The wood is Bubinga, same as the Clifton. The lever cap is tighter than i wanted - just got carried away peining. It was OK, then suddenly rahter tight. Still, it works OK but just a bit irritating. It was all done with hacksaw and files (and a home made linisher), except the mouth which was machined on a friends milling machine. Not sure I'm in a hurry to make another!

Cheers
Richard

 

[Harbo]

Lovely work

Rod

 

[Ttrees]

That is class Richard 8)
I'm think of giving it a go in the future, not aiming for those standards though.
I've been watching Bill Carter's bronze plane making videos recently and it's another push
There are a few tools I need to make soon.
It's reassuring to know you done this with a hacksaw on 01,
I made a half working rebate plane and made the cutter from a cheap chisel and it was bloody hard to cut.

Why did you choose to use it instead of bright mild steel ?

I would love to see more of your process, it may give some more snippets of information
Thanks for posting
Tom

 

[Bm101]

Many thanks for sharing Richard. That's inspirational.
Like Ttrees I'd also like to see more about how you went about it if you have the photos and the time spare to share. (No pressure! :wink: )
Regards
Chris

 

[richarddownunder]

Hi All

thanks very much for the encouragement!

I'll try to answer some questions. Unfortunately I didn’t take a whole bunch of photos during the process although I have one or two from a previous one, so I'll include a few of those.

Regarding materials, O1 is nice flat ground stock and I think it peins OK, but mild steel would be fine too. Some of the stainless steels might be OK but generally I think it's hard to machine, cut and drill and work hardens.

I followed the description by http://www.handplane.com/30/making-plan ... lanes-101/ (scroll down a bit) . I got the basic design from Kingshott's book https://www.amazon.com/Making-Modifying ... 0946819327 which I borrowed from the local library. This is also a good tutorial with some great photos. http://www.petermcbride.com/metal_plane_making/. I followed this one for filing and locking the dovetails. I think this might be a neater process than the first reference - not sure if it is as strong though as you are hammering the brass into a steel notch rather than hammering the steel to lock the brass -if that makes sense. In the first plane (pictured below) I hammered the steel into the brass - the dovetails aren't as precise.

The first job was to cut the mouth which I did using a friend's milling machine. I can't remember much about that as it was 10 years ago. On the other plane, I filed the mouth and made the sole in 2 parts. That worked OK too.

I had the good fortune of visiting Philip Marcou (who makes exquisite planes) about the time I started on this and he generously gave me some bits of brass. That is why I'm not sure of the grade. But it peins without having to anneal it and you can bash it for ages without any signs of crumbling. It's important to get the right grade of brass. Someone else will know which grade or ask a metal supplier.

Then its a matter of cutting the shape with a hacksaw and files, using the interlocking approach described by petermcbride above. Needle files are really essential to get into the corners.

Peining is a bit trial and error. It'd pay to make a dovetail on a scrap before doing a plane. It’s not hard but getting them all without gaps takes a few goes. Mine aren’t perfect.

Make a solid former from hardwood. I used MDF for the latter one - I didn't like it as much but it worked OK.

The sides do spring back together a little after peining the dovetails so the advice to use a thin veneer packer in one of the references is a good idea.

Try to avoid denting the brass (if that is what you use). You can see rather a big ding in the side. Otherwise there is quite a bit of sanding to do and the walls get thinner! I avoided this on the new one by holding a bit of thin steel over the sides where I wasnt hammering or drilling an oversize hole in the steel an placing it over the rod I was peining.

I now have a small belt sander that made grinding the excess away a lot quicker. It can be done with files and emery paper (as I did on previous planes) but takes a bit of time and elbow grease!

I forgot to mention that the other key tool is a drill press. Mine is a fairly cheap one and it has to be set so its drilling perfectly square, especially when drilling through the block that becomes the lever cap. I also have an excellent small Record Engineering vice that hold the block of brass when drilling. And remember, keep a block of wood or something the right diameter in the plane when you pein the lever cap bearing rod (or what ever its called) otherwise it all locks up and you can't move the lever cap easily (which happened in this case even though I did have a lump of wood in the plane to try to stop this).

This is the finished first plane. As mentioned, its a really handy size and probably more useful than the bigger one - although not as pretty and certainly not as pretty as the Clifton

also made a shoulder plane some time ago - it was more demanding!!

Hope that helps. If I've omitted anything, please ask - but I'm no expert and most of it is covered much better in the references.

Cheers
Richard

 

[richarddownunder]

Actually, the first close up of the dovetail isnt a plane at all, its a practice on a bit of scrap (if anyone wants to know why there is a thumpin big hole in the sole)

 

[IWW]

Nice little plane, Richard. Having made a couple of dovetailed metal planes myself, several of your comments struck a chord! I just finished a small 'infill' chariot plane, which I posted on the Ubeaut forum. (Hmmm, tried to post a link but this forum won't let me. It's in "Hand Tools Unpowered" if you want to read about it).
You can't see pictures if you're not a registered member, so here's one to save you the bother:

The wedge is a piece of very nicely-figured Mulga (Acacia aneura). My planes have all been done with hand tools, I don't have a linisher. I made a panel plane a while ago, and I can vouch that there is indeed a LOTof filing on a plane that size! But get some decent quality files & keep them clean & you may be surprised at how quickly the unwanted metal disappears.

For the person who asked about the O-1 steel, I used that for the sole of the chariot plane and it peined very well. I decided to give it a try after reading that Konrad Sauer uses it for his planes, so if it's good enough for Konrad.....

Brass for sides is a bit of a problem where I live - I can only buy 380 alloy. That's a machinable grade and not super good for peining, but it's ok if you don't push it too hard (if you overdo it, it starts to flake & split). As you said, Peter McBride joined his sides by pushing the brass into larg-ish notches in the sole, but he was using 260 alloy, which is a lot more ductile. If you can get 260 ('cartridge' brass), that's the one to go for. However, as I said, the 380 is usable, the 'trick' is to do most of the peining on the steel. I cut the dovetails to fit as closely as I can, then file a bevel on the edges of the brass tails, i.e., the dovetails in the brass have both splay and a bevel, if that makes sense. Anyway, it means that only the steel requires significant peining, the brass just needs to be snugged down to make sure there are no gaps.

All good fun & worth a go if you are thinking of making an infill - a small plane is perhaps less daunting as a first project, but definitely do a practice joint before committing to the real thing - it will quickly give you the feel of the process and show you how much metal protrusion you need to close the gaps. Try pulling your newly-made joint apart when you've finished - you will be amazed at how it can hang on. For your first plane, perhaps a bevel-down configuration is a bit easier unless you have access to a milling machine, because the mouth opening in the sole is wider & you can more easily get a file in it to shape the bevel. I haven't tried doing a split sole as is done to get the ultra-fine mouth on mitre-planes - that's a future challenge (maybe!)

Cheers,
Ian

 

[swb58]

Congrats on seeing the project through Richard and ending up with something that anyone would be proud of.

 

[richarddownunder]

Thanks for the comments swb58 .

Ian, thats a nice little plane too! The screw holding the cross bar holding the wedge is another point - rather than peining it, a screw is possibly a better idea as it means the lever cap doesn't run the risk of seizing up.

The alloy I obtained was really good for peining - I guess its what Philip Marcau uses. I tried it out beforehand and bashed and bashed into a thin sheet to see how ductile it was. The other planes I made used a harder more crumbluy alloy, maybe the 380 you mention and so most of the peining was on the steel as you say. I think it was half hard so not really the ideal material.

I agree that the split sole presents a few extra challenges. The little shoulder plane was pretty tricky to get together - mostly because it is small and fiddly and the mouth is very tight. It works well but it was such a challenge to make I don't like using it and I have a Clifton 420 anyway so use that when ever I need a shoulder plane - which isn't all that often I must say!

My linisher is quite simple but works really well - made by an uncle. Its just a 1 hp motor with a wooden drive wheel and another free-wheeling rubber wheel. It takes a fairly small belt and has a vertical platten. I have used it to make a few knives - that is a different story but uses some of the same techniques.

Cheers
Richard

 

[IWW]

.........The screw holding the cross bar holding the wedge is another point - rather than peining it, a screw is possibly a better idea as it means the lever cap doesn't run the risk of seizing up......

"The screw holding the cross bar holding the wedge " seems to be generally referred to as a 'bridge'. Yes, I decided with my very first metal plane that it's the better way to go. The main shear force is at the edge where the pin enters the sides, so a screw is just as strong as a through pin. And the best part is you can easily dismantle it if necessary. For various reasons, that's proved to be an advantage for me. Peining a pin through the bridge is always going to be a fraught process. If I did decide to do it that way, I'd use a steel spacer rather than a piece of wood. Wood is too compressible, & as you discovered, it doesn't take much to go from nice fit to too tight when dealing with metal.

And yes, while a small plane means less filing and physical work, I know exactly what you mean about fiddly! I recently made a little 1/2" shoulder plane and found the small scale made it quite tricky:

But my eyesight isn't what it used to be, & shoulder planes are tricky beasts, they have to be quite precise to work well. Your shoulder plane looks like a sweet thing - I reckon I'd be reaching for it often, if it were mine. I suppose it depends what work you do - I don't use a shoulder plane every day, for sure, but they can certainly earn their keep when they are needed....
Cheers,
Ian

 

[Phil Pascoe]

http://www.ubeaut.com.au/

 

[Bm101]

Many thanks Richard for taking the time to post some excellent info and pics, much appreciated. Welcome Ian. That's stunning work too.

 

[n0legs]

That looks great =D>

 

[richarddownunder]

Many thanks Richard for taking the time to post some excellent info and pics, much appreciated. Welcome Ian. That's stunning work too.

Most welcome , yes, and welcome Ian!

 

[IWW]

Just a quick update on my little chariot plane. I wasn't happy with the wedge, it is a beautiful piece of Mulga, but the scrap I made it from was too thin & short to form a decent palm-grip along the lines of the Norris original that inspired it. A friend gave me a chunk of what he thought was Mulga, but I think it is actually another of our dry-country Acacias, 'Gidgee' (A. cambagei). Whichever it is, it's a rich, dark wood, it has a very subtle fiddleback & has polished up nicely. My little plane now sports a much better-looking & much more comfy wedge.

Much happier with it, now.....
Cheers,