Hi John.
I have been toying with how to infill a Stanley jointer with rosewood fore and aft shaped like a Krenov plane. My thought was that it would add both weight and aesthetic appeal, but like most other “good ideas” I now ask myself why no one else has thought of it. My concern is that, especially if carefully fit and epoxied in place, movement in the rosewood would distort or even crack the cast sole. Any thoughts?
delaunj53
Replies
If someone ever tried this, I'm not aware of it. Most things that aren't done in woodworking aren't done for a good practical reason and I suspect that is the case here.
I suspect that the main reason is that it would be very difficult to bond the wood to the irregular inside surfaces of the cast iron plane body, although modern adhesives might have solved that problem. But you'd still have to get a good dry fit and possibly a mechanical connection to attach the wood solidly enough. Expansion might be a problem but the easiest way to figure that out would be to build one. Last, but not least, it might not be an improvement despite the effort.
Bet it would be pretty so it would be worth a try with an inexpensive but good quality plane body and some common hardwood.
John White
Hi John. Thanks for your thoughts. I am going to give it a try although I have a slightly different plan. Rather than glueing the wood in I am goint to use the ball and tote attachment points and try to glue in two more nuts that can be used for bolting the infill. Any idea on the best glue?
I doubt if any glue would have enough strength to hold up under the stress if the plane were used a lot. The best way to attach the threaded fittings would be to use a silver solder. Rather than use a nut, thread a larger piece of brass or steel so that it would have more surface area for the solder. For a glue attachment use an epoxy. JB Weld is commonly available and formulated for metalwork. Use the normal setting version, it will make a stronger joint than the 5 minute kind. Again an oversized threaded fitting will increase your chances for success.John W.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled