Plough plane recommendations

[tibi]

a demonstration (on a common cherry board) of the grooving plane shown above. You'll probably be using something nicer than this cherry and straight for drawers, so only better than this.

There's no nicking irons or anything on this plane and it gets to depth at a fixed depth (you can add a foot if you want better, but keep in mind, this is a 1 hour tool made of a cherry offcut and the wedge is cut from soft wet plywood (yellow pine here, which is never dried very well).

The iron is ground and filed and then hardened using leftover O1 trimmed off of other irons (or plane sides - I don't know exactly where it was from )

Hello David,

very nice functioning plane. I will definitely make one or two fixed plough planes like this. The veritas cutters are like 20 Eur a piece, so I will buy a 6 mm one (1/4 "). My old iron from plough plane is very thick at the top (like 20 - 25mm) so I would have to chop an unnecessary big hole for the iron and wedge.

 

[D_W]

I can't say much about the cutter, I guess. I make all of my irons and chisels at this point, and I know there's a steep learning curve. IT's nice to have one longer like I have in my plane, but you can make the belly of the plane lower to accommodate a veritas iron (I can't think of anything with a flat long iron like this that is full width all the way up, but not extra width like plow plane irons are).

 

[Craig22]

I have at least three of these, Record and Stanley - I'd have to look in the boxes to tell you which. And they do get used from time to time - quieter for sure than the screaming of the router.

But they are really only useful for straight grained wood. If the grain changes direction you get tear out at one part of the work. And absolutely no good at all for wood with interlocking grain like sapele.

 

[Jacob]

I have at least three of these, Record and Stanley - I'd have to look in the boxes to tell you which. And they do get used from time to time - quieter for sure than the screaming of the router.

But they are really only useful for straight grained wood. If the grain changes direction you get tear out at one part of the work. And absolutely no good at all for wood with interlocking grain like sapele.

The Stanley 13 050 does across grain OK with the two nickers sharp.
Without nickers deeply scored mortice gauge lines can sometimes be enough to get a plough plane started across the grain.

 

[Craig22]

Well yes - but if you are doing long grain, and the grain is going up and down, nickers are not going to help. The blade either cuts sweetly on part of the board, and tears out on other parts.

 

[GerryT]

A nice example of a Record 050a being used both with and across the grain.
Just for the pleasure of viewing it not for arguing a point about cross grain cutting

 

[tibi]

A nice example of a Record 050a being used both with and across the grain.
Just for the pleasure of viewing it not for arguing a point about cross grain cutting

He is an antagonist to Rob Cosman, who throws away a shaving by hand after each pass. I cannot imagine the woodworkers of yesteryear, who had no electricity and needed to be productive doing that.

 

[D_W]

He is an antagonist to Rob Cosman, who throws away a shaving by hand after each pass. I cannot imagine the woodworkers of yesteryear, who had no electricity and needed to be productive doing that.

Sometimes you have to. The worst thing you can do is have a long shaving go under the plane and spoil the cut on a continuous pass. It takes a couple of shavings to get back to a continuous cut. On wider trying work, you try to work in a direction away from the side the shavings are falling on.

Cosman is also often stretching them out planing a board narrower than his plane to draw in the newbies. If one got under his plane and left a short spot on the board, he'd be stuck planing a pass or two to get back to a continuous shaving.

 

[tibi]

Sometimes you have to. The worst thing you can do is have a long shaving go under the plane and spoil the cut on a continuous pass. It takes a couple of shavings to get back to a continuous cut. On wider trying work, you try to work in a direction away from the side the shavings are falling on.

Cosman is also often stretching them out planing a board narrower than his plane to draw in the newbies. If one got under his plane and left a short spot on the board, he'd be stuck planing a pass or two to get back to a continuous shaving.

Hello David,

Yes, I do exactly the same thing, but only when smoothing and edge jointing. I just wanted to contrast the hasty shavings all around in the plough plane video (6:06 and onwards) and elaborate single shaving throw away procedure of Rob Cosman.

 

[Jacob]

Hello David,

Yes, I do exactly the same thing, but only when smoothing and edge jointing. I just wanted to contrast the hasty shavings all around in the plough plane video (6:06 and onwards) and elaborate single shaving throw away procedure of Rob Cosman.

Cosman does demos with some very easy wood, hence the long shavings. A bit of a cheat really.

 

[tibi]

When I am planing oak, I cannot get uniform full width long shavings without holes in them no matter how thin they are. When planing spruce or pine, it is not a problem, unless there are some knots in the way. So that is right.

 

[Ttrees]

That's just the cap iron in action Jacob, it's not just a case of using friendly timbers alone.
I learned to do this with the help of Mr Weaver,
after learning how to get a flat surface in the first place from Mr Charlesworth of course.
See the shavings jump out of the plane, and come out straight and burnished.
A sign that there is infulence of the cap iron, you can plane anything in any direction with it set accordingly.

 

[Jacob]

That's just the cap iron in action Jacob, it's not just a case of using friendly timbers alone.
I learned to do this with the help of Mr Weaver,
after learning how to get a flat surface in the first place from Mr Charlesworth of course.
See the shavings jump out of the plane, and come out straight and burnished.
A sign that there is infulence of the cap iron, you can plane anything in any direction with it set accordingly.

View attachment 118342
View attachment 118341

No it also depends on the wood. The Japanese do planing competitions and produce phenomenal shavings which would be impossible with other timbers, however well set up the plane.

 

[Ttrees]

If you want to grab the shavings maybe?

Regular long shavings are achievable with any timber though, regardless of grain direction,
and only the very hardest timbers that the shavings need be so thin.

Tom

 

[Jacob]

If you want to grab the shavings maybe?

Regular long shavings are achievable with any timber though, regardless of grain direction,
and only the very hardest timbers that the shavings need be so thin.

Tom

In theory perhaps, if you spend enough time setting up the plane for the timber.

 

[Ttrees]

No other way of skinning the cat for me timbers Jacob, simply no other way makes sense
to me, for dimensioning flat work than using a Bailey/double iron plane.

I ain't that productive, but if I was, and working many variants of timbers, changing between species, I might have two more planes, in addition to the 5 1/2 and the 4 I use.

Tom

 

[Jacob]

No other way of skinning the cat for me timbers Jacob, simply no other way makes sense
to me, for dimensioning flat work than using a Bailey/double iron plane.

I ain't that productive, but if I was, and working many variants of timbers, changing between species, I might have two more planes, in addition to the 5 1/2 and the 4 I use.

Tom

5 1/2 and a 220 block would be my desert island choice.
I see you are planing long timbers. Are you "dimensioning" long timbers for stock?
This isn't how it's done. Nobody "dimensions" anything with a plane until it has been sawn to length and width according to your cutting list taken from your design drawing.
A lot of people make this mistake, having bought PAR ("planed all round") in timber yards, but in a small workshop you don't prepare PAR. You don't plane anything until it has been reduced/sawn to component size for whatever you are making.
It's much easier and you get better yield with much less waste.

 

[Ttrees]

Just flattening some timbers if you want to call that dimensioning or not.
I call it that, as often some stock can be quite out of flat.
Those timbers were cut to length first, and timbers are reclaimed.

Planed on one face, let settle, checked after some time and taken down to the shallowest timber, so all are equal.
I don't work to absolute set measurements like above, I select what would be suitable, and try to take as little off as I can get away with.

Tom

 

[D_W]

In theory perhaps, if you spend enough time setting up the plane for the timber.

10 seconds per sharpening cycle, which then occurs less often. There isn't much "setting up for a timber" unless one doesn't yet know what they're doing setting a cap iron. If the shaving comes apart after jack planing, you're wasting energy and planing a lot slower, and planing a less than flat surface as the amount you're planing off varies with tearout.

 

[D_W]

5 1/2 and a 220 block would be my desert island choice.
I see you are planing long timbers. Are you "dimensioning" long timbers for stock?
This isn't how it's done. Nobody "dimensions" anything with a plane until it has been sawn to length and width according to your cutting list taken from your design drawing.
A lot of people make this mistake, having bought PAR ("planed all round") in timber yards, but in a small workshop you don't prepare PAR. You don't plane anything until it has been reduced/sawn to component size for whatever you are making.
It's much easier and you get better yield with much less waste.

Wrong again sometimes Jacob. It's not always faster to plane sticking in small pieces, thin panels and moulding is struck in one long piece.