Wooden Mitre Plane

[Nigel Burden]

Having made a wooden Strike Block Plane which, after a fair amount of fettling, worked reasonably well, I thought that I'd have a go at making a wooden Mitre Plane. Firstly, I had never handled one of these, and had no idea of the dimensions involved so I went to Bill Carters website to have a look at some of his work. This gave me an idea of the layout of one of these planes. I then watched his video on the mouth closer. That's when I began to think that I'd bitten off more than I could chew, as Bill said that making one of these is ten time harder than making a smoother. Any way, nothing venture, nothing gain.

I'd already prepared the cherry billet which was 8 1/8" long x 2 1/4" wide x 1 7/8" high. The iron I am using is a J Herring 1 1/2" new old stock that I'd previously bought from G & M Tools.

After marking out I decided that I would drill out the mouth. Error one, I drilled too far to the side which just caught the edge of the the mouth.

The next image where I am chiselling out the bed shows this error, fortunately, not terminal. The bed angle is 25 degrees. You can see that I'm cutting the edges of the bed with a pad saw. The wood was quite hard and took quite a time to chisel out.

It would have been better to have only drilled the width of the throat and not into the outer edges of the mouth, I could have then cut the outer edges where the mouth closer fits with the pad saw and chisel. The mouth closer abutment line has to be recut once the wedge abutments have been cut due to the mouth closer forming the wear, which takes the line behind the mouth opening. The wedge abutment line goes through the mouth, and cutting this first allows room for the saw to complete its stroke when cutting the mouth closer abutments, which would not be possible otherwise.

The next image shows the bed cut and the mouth partly formed. The error that I made drilling the mouth can be seen on the right hand side.

Nigel.

 

[Orraloon]

I'll be watching this as I like plane builds and to see if it has any advantage over a strike block plane. When I made a shooting plane I did have a look at them but reckoned it was a bit above my skill set. So far I am happy with a strike block. Not sure it does the job any better than my 5&1/2 but way easier to handle on the board.
Regards
John

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

The bed angle is 25 degrees.

I hope that is is a typo.

The bed angle is too low for a bevel down plane. The blade cannot cut if it has a 25 degree or higher bevel.

It is too high if it is a bevel up plane, if intended for shooting end grain. You will wind up with 50+ degrees of cutting angle.

I built this strike block plane with a 37 degree bed for bevel down use (Herring blade as well) ...

This works well on end grain - essentially the same cutting angle as a BU plane with a 25 degree bevel.

Build: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/BuildingaStrikeBlockPlane.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Nigel Burden]

I'll be watching this as I like plane builds and to see if it has any advantage over a strike block plane. When I made a shooting plane I did have a look at them but reckoned it was a bit above my skill set. So far I am happy with a strike block. Not sure it does the job any better than my 5&1/2 but way easier to handle on the board.
Regards
John

I would agree with you there over the 5 1/5. I also find that my 4 is good on end grain, taking full shavings.

Nigel.

 

[Nigel Burden]

I hope that is is a typo.

The bed angle is too low for a bevel down plane. The blade cannot cut if it has a 25 degree or higher bevel.

It is too high if it is a bevel up plane, if intended for shooting end grain. You will wind up with 50+ degrees of cutting angle.

I built this strike block plane with a 37 degree bed for bevel down use (Herring blade as well) ...

This works well on end grain - essentially the same cutting angle as a BU plane with a 25 degree bevel.

Build: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/BuildingaStrikeBlockPlane.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks for the link Derek.

The strike block plane has a bed angle of 37 degrees, and is bevel down, sharpened to about 23 degrees.

The mitre plane has a bed angle of 25 degrees. The iron was sharpened to about 20 degrees when I bought it. I've honed a bevel about 3 millimetres deep which is 30 degrees, not wishing to regrind the whole bevel, just to see how it performs. I have finished the plane now, and will have to play with the sharpening to see what performs best.

There are some more photos to be posted, some showing the shavings. There is definitely some fettling to do though.

Nigel.

 

[Nigel Burden]

Some more photos.

This photo shows the bed with the mouth closer recess cut out.

I had not finished the bed at this point and I had to square up the walls of the mouth closer recess.

The photos below shows the mouth closer being fitted. I made a faux pas at this point. In hindsight I should have used some scrap wood to get the correct fit as I had to fiddle making adjustments to get the correct angles at the base of the mouth closer. By the time I'd got it correct I'd made the closer too short and I had no cherry left apart from that for the wedge, so I used some walnut.

This very blurred photo shows the original closer after I'd finished. It would have been ok, but the top was only just above the top of the plane, so I used it as a template to get the correct angles.

I used half width wedge to get the wedge abutments even on both sides before I fitted the wedge.

The photo below shows the fitting of the wedge.

I pushed the wedge in hand tight, then marked the ends of the wedge at the point where the wedge and closer abutments meet so that I could taper the ends in to the sides of the plane body.

More photos to follow.

Nigel.

 

[Nigel Burden]

After fitting the wedge I sharpened the iron, an 1 1/2" J Herring and Sons single iron initially ground at about 20 degrees. I wanted a bevel of 30 degrees and I didn't fancy grinding it back as it would be difficult to avoid bluing the iron with my grinder, so I honed a 30 degree bevel about 3-4 mm deep and gave it a try. After some fiddling to get the depth of cut correct it was taking fine shavings but not full width or length. The photos below shows the initial shavings.

The photo below shows the mouth opening. You will notice that there is a split at on both sides of the mouth. Oh well too late now. I'll have to insert a brass plate at a later date to reinforce the mouth.

I now decided to shape the wedge making a scroll at the top and a sort of cupids bow at the mouth end.

The marking knife slipped whilst marking out the wedge angle as can be seen by the score mark on the edge. There is also a little break out on the scroll which will have to be addressed.

The next task was to open out the edges of the throat with a chisel and blunt chisel ground flat across the cutting edge.

Nigel.

 

[Nigel Burden]

The following photos show the plane in its almost completed state.

The chamfers were achieved by using a chamfer plane on the top and a chisel on the back and front.

The plane is now taking fairly good full length wafer thin shavings. I'll get around to taking some more photos over the weekend.

Overall, I'm pleased with the results as this was only my second attempt at making a plane by the traditional method and not making it in two halves and gluing them together which is easier because you have much better access for cutting the bed and abutments. My first plane was a small Krenov style smoother which is definitely the easiest as bed can be planed flat and there are no abutments to cut.

So what lessons have I learnt.

Firstly, with a low angle bed the mouth area is rather weak and it might be better to make a brass plate to form the mouth. This could be glued in with epoxy, or screwed in with brass screws and filed flat.

Secondly, with some tasks it is a good idea to use a sacrificial piece to get the angles correct, as in the making of the mouth closer on this plane, especially, if like me you're inexperienced.

Overall this has been an enjoyable build and I am now planning my next one. May be a bridled plough like the one Derek built. Only joking as I have neither the experience or ability to do work like that.

Nigel.

 

[Orraloon]

A pretty good effort seeing as you had never laid hands on one before. Pity about the cracks at the mouth but I guess its at the limits of what the wood can handle. From what I have read on them there is a bit more success with harder timbers. Tried it shooting end grain yet?
Regards
John

 

[Nigel Burden]

A pretty good effort seeing as you had never laid hands on one before. Pity about the cracks at the mouth but I guess its at the limits of what the wood can handle. From what I have read on them there is a bit more success with harder timbers. Tried it shooting end grain yet?
Regards
John

I'll give it a go at end grain but I don't hold out too much hope. The strike block plane that I made previously which is intended for use on end grain, performs ok along the grain, but will not take shavings on end grain. It might be maker error, probably, but the cutting edge doesn't seem to hold up. The iron doesn't seem to be as hard as the J Herring one in the mitre plane.

Nigel

 

[Nigel Burden]

I tried it on end grain today but it doesn't perform like my Stanley no 4 or Record 051/2.

I was going to take some more photos today but I was tied up with other things, and the memory is getting rather fickle.

Nigel.