Quartered and "Rift Sawn" Wood for Planes

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Though I agree that worn out old planes are a good source of bits, and can even be converted into shorter planes cutting around the bad stuff, they are quite often as damp as heck, having been stored in leaky sheds. This obviously negates any 'seasoning' the wood might have had, so should be treated judiciously, if a stable, functioning plane is to be had out of these old wrecks.

Mike.

 

[JohnPW]

I don't know th esituation in England, but overhere it is hard to find a wooden plane which isn't completely worn out. All little details which make or break the perfect plane are usually gone. I also subscribe to the school that nothing worthwhile has been invented in the last 200 years (regarding planes) and such old ones are really rare, so one has to make once own planes. :lol:

Now I just have to do what I preach of course. I have QS beech. I have plane irons. What's keeping me back?

In the UK at least, old wooden planes are plentiful and cheap, even the ones that are not in the best of condition can be made to work, eg an insert in the sole to close up the mouth etc. So I personally wouldn't bother to make wooden planes that I can easily get for a low price, like the bench planes, plough, rebate etc. I would only make the type that is either not available or is too expensive.

I would like to make a wooden bevel down shoulder plane, metal shoulder planes are ridiculously expensive, and also a low angle wooden mitre plane.

I've made 5 planes so far: 4 very small thumb planes and a small one that I use as a trying plane on small pieces of wood, like when making the thumb planes.

 

[woodbrains]

I don't know th esituation in England, but overhere it is hard to find a wooden plane which isn't completely worn out. All little details which make or break the perfect plane are usually gone. I also subscribe to the school that nothing worthwhile has been invented in the last 200 years (regarding planes) and such old ones are really rare, so one has to make once own planes. :lol:

Now I just have to do what I preach of course. I have QS beech. I have plane irons. What's keeping me back?

In the UK at least, old wooden planes are plentiful and cheap, even the ones that are not in the best of condition can be made to work, eg an insert in the sole to close up the mouth etc. So I personally wouldn't bother to make wooden planes that I can easily get for a low price, like the bench planes, plough, rebate etc. I would only make the type that is either not available or is too expensive.

I would like to make a wooden bevel down shoulder plane, metal shoulder planes are ridiculously expensive, and also a low angle wooden mitre plane.

I've made 5 planes so far: 4 very small thumb planes and a small one that I use as a trying plane on small pieces of wood, like when making the thumb planes.

Wow, you could probably make a hundred of these out of an old beech try plane!

Nice. =D>

Mike.

 

[J_SAMa]

Andy,
Could almost buy a plane with that money.

Over here at least, buying a really hopeless old plane (split cheeks, dog-chewed end, no iron) can be a good way to get a piece of nice solid old beech, properly selected for the purpose. Sorry that's not much comfort to you, away from all boot fairs etc, but might be of use to anyone following your thought process on making planes.

Actually, I've considered that. However I will be making a Jack/Shooting Plane at around 16" long... The most I could get out of a jointer is probably just a long smoother/scrub.

 

[J_SAMa]

Come to think of it, I suppose there are (at least) two different approaches to wooden plane making:

1) You need a plane for a particular duty, and decide to make one rather than buy one.

2) You are making an accurate reproduction of a plane for historical research purposes.

If approach 1, then the advice given above holds - use the best available material that you either have to hand or can obtain fairly easily. If approach 2, then the whole exercise fails if you don't use historically accurate material, and you may have to go to great expense, time and trouble to obtain it - far more trouble than the actual work of making the plane. There isn't much sense in going to all that trouble and expense if you just need a plane for a job, as in approach 1.

3) I am making it so I can brag about having made my own tools and using my own tools to make more tools in the future. Lather rinse repeat (hammer).

I just thought it would be great fun. I could easily by an old wooden jack plane and restore it but why not make one

 

[J_SAMa]

I also subscribe to the school that nothing worthwhile has been invented in the last 200 years (regarding planes) and such old ones are really rare, so one has to make once own planes. :lol:

:shock: Leo B's turnin' in his grave

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Come to think of it, I suppose there are (at least) two different approaches to wooden plane making:

1) You need a plane for a particular duty, and decide to make one rather than buy one.

2) You are making an accurate reproduction of a plane for historical research purposes.

If approach 1, then the advice given above holds - use the best available material that you either have to hand or can obtain fairly easily. If approach 2, then the whole exercise fails if you don't use historically accurate material, and you may have to go to great expense, time and trouble to obtain it - far more trouble than the actual work of making the plane. There isn't much sense in going to all that trouble and expense if you just need a plane for a job, as in approach 1.

3) I am making it so I can brag about having made my own tools and using my own tools to make more tools in the future. Lather rinse repeat (hammer).

I just thought it would be great fun. I could easily by an old wooden jack plane and restore it but why not make one

Perfectly good reason! However, it falls under category 1 really.

By the way, if you can obtain a copy of Robert Wearing's 'The Resourceful Woodworker', he gives drawings and instructions for several wooden planes, with depth adjusters - almost like wooden Norris planes. A sort of half-way house between building a dovetailed steel infill and a Krenov type. He uses a built-up method to avoid having to mortice out. He used timbers like mahogany and walnut for his planes, with thin ebony soles (guitar finger-board blanks) glued on for extra wear resistance.

 

[Corneel]

Do you want to make a traditional plane Sam? Mortised?

 

[J_SAMa]

Do you want to make a traditional plane Sam? Mortised?

Still torn between mortised and Philly style. More likely mortised, might as well go all out if I'm doing it.

 

[bugbear]

Do you want to make a traditional plane Sam? Mortised?

Still torn between mortised and Philly style. More likely mortised, might as well go all out if I'm doing it.

SInce you'll be making more than one (*) why not start out laminated,
and do one-piece later?

BugBear

(*) trust me

 

[MIGNAL]

Laminated lends itself to everyday woodworking tools, making it easier to get things like the blade bed perfectly flat. There's a good reason why they developed plane floats and whilst it's perfectly possible to get by without them it does make things harder. If you glue up a lamination in the correct sequence (given it's made from one large block of wood) you have to look pretty closely to tell it's a laminated plane anyway.
I can't say that I've ever noticed any difference in function and in over 10 years I've never had a laminated Plane delaminate.

 

[Corneel]

If you go for mortised you can get some quarter sawn beech from me. They are 75 x 75 mm, so the size is a bit tight. We'd have to sort through what I have to find a decent piece. You are in The Hague aren't you? Send me a PM.

If you go for laminated, then I am not going to waste my precious wood ;-)

 

[J_SAMa]

If you go for mortised you can get some quarter sawn beech from me. They are 75 x 75 mm, so the size is a bit tight. We'd have to sort through what I have to find a decent piece. You are in The Hague aren't you? Send me a PM.

If you go for laminated, then I am not going to waste my precious wood ;-)

Thanks for your generous offer, but I think resources like that shouldn't be wasted in the hands of a newcomer to planemaking

Currently my plan is to build two prototypes, a full-size one in pine and Philly style to help me study the throat's geometry, and another scaled-down model out of some small beech offcuts I have, mortised, which shall help me get familiar with beech and the mortising procedures. These will be made over the course of a couple of months while I let the quartered beech/maple for the real thing season in my workshop.

 

[Corneel]

Well, when you feel more confident, just send a PM. I have enough for several planes and it hasn't been expensive when I bought it years ago.

 

[J_SAMa]

So the scaled-down prototype, mortised, in beech. Just finished the bulk of the chopping, and pared the bed as flat as I could (with a chisel sharpened at 80 deg). The beech wasn't as difficult as I expected to chop a mortise in considering how hard it was. It's probably this hardness/density that made it so well-behaved and predictable.
I made the mouth quite wide, simply so that I had more room to maneuver my chisels... Now I feel a burning need to buy the thin paring chisels I've always kind of ignored.

Dimensions: 1" iron, 1 11/16 wide blade by 4" long by 1 1/4 thick.

Loved the way the bed glistened after paring. It was literally mirror-like.


Sides still quite rough.


Here's the mouth. The backward-slanting part only goes up about 5 mm.
Also shown are small breakouts breakouts on the sole. Luckily I gauged and knifed all the lines so any chipping was contained and will be removed once I widen the mouth to the iron's width. I also chopped the back of the mouth (where the bed and the sole met) straight down to break the sharp arris formed between the bed and sole. That area will be cleared by the iron's bevel so should not affect the iron's support.


Sam

 

[J_SAMa]

Finished the prototype. I've decided to make it coffin shaped:

Taking clean shavings and leaving a fine surface. Spruce being planed here but the 55 deg angle works better on harder woods. No 4. 1/2 in the back for scale


That wide mouth...


The wedge fit surprisingly well for a first attempt at making this type of plane. Spent about 20 minutes tuning it


Had a lot of difficulties with the chamfers. This is the best I could do. You can see the long-grain, curving chamfer are less than perfectly crisp.


And the back was rounded like this. I've never actually owned or used a real coffin smoother so just did what I thought would make it comfortable to hold.

 

[Corneel]

Not bad for the first one. Bit rough maybe. The coffing shape looks more like a half circle at the end. There are some drawings on this site that might be helpfull or give inspiration:

http://kapeldesigns.blogspot.nl/2014/05/plans-for-wooden-planes-are-available.html

 

[JohnPW]

Good effort for a first one! The photo of the sole looks good.

I used a plane for the chamfers along the plane, and a chisel or knife for the vertical ones.

In my experience, small planes are harder to make than bigger ones.

 

[J_SAMa]

I used a plane for the chamfers along the plane, and a chisel or knife for the vertical ones.

I tried to use a float for the long ones as I think I have heard somewhere that they were the traditional tool of choice. Having tried it I must disagree... Spokeshave or plane would have been better as you pointed out.

In my experience, small planes are harder to make than bigger ones.

Which is why I made the mouth extra wide in an attempt to make it easier. Turns out it didn't help much, not with the abutments due to the plane iron's thickness, or should I say "thinness"... No paring the abutments with with a chisel there :x. What would be the traditional way of tuning the abutments? Or did a planemaker only tune the wedge to fit the abutments?
Sam

 

[MIGNAL]

Floats are used more for the bed, mouth and the abutments - the areas that are difficult to access. The chamfers on the outer edges of the Plane are better done with chisels, Planes, knives ect.