To make a plane

[AndyT]

Just wondering what would be involved with finishing these off?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Casting-Infil ... 1c2a814291

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Casting-Infil ... 53ec380982

Not sure i have the skills or patience to cut/pien dovetails in metal. Those could be an option if only hand tools can used?

I've not read it all (it's rather a long thread with links to others) but there's a discussion here on people's experiences of following the 1889s instructions on how to cast your own plane that are being re-published in the TFWW "Work" magazine reprint project:

http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbth...98615&page=4&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=all

I think it must now be the world's most comprehensive treatise on making and fettling plane castings!

 

[AndyT]

Is there a "one stop shop" on the net for info on small scale infill making?

I know that various forums at various times have discusssed it in detail (woodcentral had a huge wave of interest a few years back).

Did anyone collate it?

BugBear

AFAIK the nearest attempt at that is Handplane Central but its forum is a little quiet compared to the Woodnet one I just linked to.

 

[bugbear]

Just wondering what would be involved with finishing these off?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Casting-Infil ... 1c2a814291

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Casting-Infil ... 53ec380982

Not sure i have the skills or patience to cut/pien dovetails in metal. Those could be an option if only hand tools can used?

I've not read it all (it's rather a long thread with links to others) but there's a discussion here on people's experiences of following the 1889s instructions on how to cast your own plane that are being re-published in the TFWW "Work" magazine reprint project:

(chuckle) "Someone" (evidently a helpful soul) put those "Work" articles up on handplane.com, back in 2008.

http://www.handplane.com/291/planemakin ... ing-plane/
http://www.handplane.com/279/planemakin ... ing-plane/
http://www.handplane.com/278/planemakin ... iot-plane/
http://www.handplane.com/285/planemakin ... ock-plane/
http://www.handplane.com/287/planemakin ... ate-plane/

BugBear

 

[AndyT]

I think I can guess his name! ;-)

Nice to see it taking off on a wave of enthusiasm third time round though.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Hello,

I am an admirer of infill planes, but I have been wondering ever since I first saw them: how on Earth do they cope with wood movement? I have changed workshops a few times over the last two decades, and even my traditional wooden planes caused troubles.
The infill in a bench plane is wide enough (50-60 mm) to move perceptibly with environmental changes: 1-2 mm of shrinkage or swelling (a few percent) is large enough to cause problems, isn’t it?

Have a nice day,

János

The answer may be in the choice of timber for the infill. The usual choice was rosewood, which according to 'World Woods in Colour' by William Lincoln is a very stable wood -Indian Roswood (sometimes called Sonokeling Rosewood) Dalbergia latifolia, is 'noted for it's dimensional stability'. So the choice of rosewood as infill may well have been not just for it's beauty!

 

[János]

Hello,

Thank you for the reply. The suggested solution seems plausible:

The radial shrinkage of Indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia) is only 2,7%.
The radial shrinkage of Brazilian/Rio rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) is only 2,9%

Unfortunately, these species are on the CITES lis of the endangered species, and international trade in them is forbidden, to my knowledge.

But I have seen infills with boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) fills, and the radial shrinkage of this species is 4,6%.
And a few with macassar (Diospyros celebica) fills, and the radial shrinkage of this species is even higher at 5,4%.

Not to mention other exotic woods used as infill.

And the tangential shrinkage is 1,5-2 times higher than radial values, so one must set the infills into place with the growth rings perpendicular to sole, to take advantage of the lower radial shrinkage. But I have seen quite a few examples with other growth ring orientations....

Have a nice day,

János

 

[Richard T]

Hello Janos

Apart from the answer to this being "I don't know" ... I can say from experience with English Walnut that I have all my stock sitting in the house and when I cut pieces for infills I cut them over size and leave them oversize for a few weeks before cutting them to fit.