Scottish Infill Smoothing plane, help / advice needed

[AndyT]

If Jim says Titebond will work on an old crack's surface, follow his advice not mine. And if you can open up the crack enough to get the glue in then there is no need for holes.

As for the extra gaps on the mouth I'd just ignore them. Chips from the edge of the casting are quite common but not a problem.

 

[Mr_P]

Many Thanks Andy & Jimi,

Maybe the fact that my vices aren't attached might be an advantage as I'll be able to clamp it in the upright position.

Finger's crossed this time next week I'll be scanning shavings.

 

[Richard T]

Mr. P - your iron seems a little thin at 4mm, the normal state of affairs would be 3- 16ths. I can't see a bed angle, but if at 50 or even forty seven and a half degrees, I think it might pull towards a tighter mouth.

What Jim says about the mouth not mattering in such situations is perfectly true but if you are worried I'm sure someone will turn up a proper 3 - 1/6 iron.

 

[Corneel]

Maybe I am too late, but here's a small extra tip. When you put the vaccum cleaner nozzle on one side of the crack and inject the glue at the other side, you can pull the glue furhter into it. Blowing the glue into the crack with compressed air is also worth a try, if you have a compressor.

I love that plane, has good bones and looks very nice. Don't worry about the gaping mouth. My infill has about 5mm of air in front of the iron, but with the chipbreaker set very close to the edge it performs perfectly allright. If you want a thicker iron, one of the English old toold dealer sells them. Now of course I can't remember which one....

 

[Corneel]

Of course, just look on Alf's website with all the tool dealer adresses and there it is, tool bazaar:
http://www.toolbazaar.co.uk/Spares.asp#1a

Not cheap, but good stuff. You really need a grinder though, because the bevel wasn't grinded all the way to the edge when i bought one.

 

[AndyT]

Indeed Tool Bazaar list irons on their website but if you did want to change the iron (though the current one is probably perfectly good) you could also phone Bristol Design (who have a treasure trove of new old stock irons) or G and M or Ashley Iles.)

 

[Mr_P]

Richard

Looks about 50 degrees, trusty school protractor a bit small for the job.

To this layman the blade looks a bit like me, a bit thick if anything.

Corneel,

Liking the hoover tip, many thanks. Blimey that woke me up £60 for a blade, plus a grinder on top eeek. My budget for this project is currently zero I'll be pushing the boat out with titebond.

Will have to wait for Santa, fingers crossed Mr Punch will do the job nicely. I see the very talented rxh is starting out with an old blade so lets hope their is life in the old dog yet.

Andy,

If my secret project pays off a trip to Bristol Design is def on the cards in the new year. Many thanks for recent pics.

 

[Corneel]

You don't need to buy a new blade. Get the old one in shape and use it. Only if you really want to tighten up the mouth it'll be a good idea to upgrade. But make sure the 3/16" one is thick enough before you hand over the cash. And a cheaper way to close up the mouth is the piece of veneer behind the blade. Then you can also see if everything still fits under the levercap. In my plane that's a squeeze.

 

[penwithchris]

Another Scottish style smoothing plane with very decorative pierced lever cap
If it's any consolation I can only just about put three of my delicate digits inside the handle
Doesn't really aid comfortable planing
Human body shape has changed dramatically over the past 130 to 150 years and it is possible craftsmen's hands were much smaller in the late nineteenth century than they are today
Talking about Scotland, if anyone reading this post bought any of my stolen tool collection that was purchased and sold on by Andrew Stephens of Perth in December 2007 in a 'special catalogue', I would love to hear from them
Chris