Wooden plane making, marking out

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JohnPW

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Hello all,

This is how I've been marking out for making wooden planes. I've worked this out from the WJ Armour article on plane making and the Charles Hayward book on making tools.

http://www.handplane.com/32/practical-plane-making-1/

I have used the terms used by Armour.

I've done it slightly different, Armour marked the bed line on the sole first but I've marked the mouth line first, actually the blade cutting edge line, I'm working on the basis of zero mouth. Also, Armour gives actual measurements, whereas the following will work for any plane size.

layout1.JPG


The pictures are self explanatory.
First decide where you want the blade edge on the sole to be (mouth line). This will vary depending on the plane you are making, a good idea is to copy an old plane.

Next draw the mouth line across the sole, then on the sides of the plane draw the "pitch", then the "top of the bed line" across the top.

Next draw the "bed line" all the way round. This is the line to chop out to.

Next draw the line for the butments, ie the line for the front of the wedge. I haven't measured old planes for the wedge angle and it's something I should do but I've read it's 10 degrees and it seems to work.

Next draw the line for the front of the throat/escapement. The angle is not critical, I use my eye. Note the front at the mouth slopes backward, the "wear". It allows for flattening of the sole without increasing the mouth as much as if there's no "wear".

layout2.JPG


Next draw the lines for the width of the blade along the top. It's slightly wider than the blade to allow for sideways adjust of the blade. Last is to draw the lines for the top of the cheeks which run from the outside corner of the butments to the front corners of the throat.

Obviously there's more than one way to do this and this is just one way and might not even be correct!
 

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Armour used "butment" but "abutment" seems to be the current term people use.

According to OED:
Butment
butment cheeks n.
1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. 940 " Butment Cheeks, the two solid sides of a mortise. The thickness of each cheek is usually equal to the thickness of the mortise."

Abutment
3. Something on which another thing abuts or leans, or from which it obtains resistance or support. Also fig. Now rare.
1727 S. Hales Veg. Staticks vii. 335 At every knot,..partitions serve as plinths, or abutments for the dilating pith to exert its force on.
a1734 R. North Examen (1740) ii. v. §81. 365 The whole Scheme and Abutment of the rebellious Project was founded upon them.
1793 T. Holcroft tr. J. C. Lavater Ess. Physiognomy (abridged ed.) ix. 54, I have generally considered the Nose as the foundation or abutment of the brain.
1831 Mechanics' Mag. 5 Mar. 75/2 His diagram and explanation..are indisputable, provided he be left at liberty to place the abutment of his power where he please.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. §25. 187 Long clear icicles, tapering from their abutments.
1873 St. G. Mivart Lessons Elem. Anat. ii. 64 Its [sc. the sternum's] human condition of serving as a ventral abutment to ribs though general is not constant.
1913 Alumni Bull. Univ. Virginia July 399 As the abutments of his domestic statesmanship were his faith in democracy and his trust in the people, so his foreign statesmanship rested always on two supports—political isolation and international peace.

I'll sneak in a couple of pics of my latest plane!
no 9.JPG

no 9 parts.JPG
 

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It's convex along and across the sole and does take tiny narrow shavings.
 
Simply gorgeous John...wonderful stuff and particularly fine from an educational perspective.

Of course...anyone wishing to follow your notes can scale up (probably not down) on the plans to make any size.

What wood is that...? I ran through your notes a few times but couldn't see a reference to the stock used...

Cheers

Jimi
 
That's a neat little plane. Is it made from an offcut of maple tonewood?
 
Is it made from an offcut of maple tonewood?

Well spotted!

The piece was already a wedge shape and the grain direction is all "wrong" for a plane, but as it's only a tiny bit of scrap, I didn't even bother to use a ruler or try square to draw the lines.
 

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