Greetings, All:
I recently completed a radiused-sole wooden plane for a project, and spent far too much time shaping the mouth. There must be a more efficient way to do it than my approach, which was:
- Shape the bottom, with a side-to-side radius to match the iron, and the required radius for the coopered door I was working on;
- Remove, with a router and a straight bit, a small portion of the sole in front of the mouth opening, which had the reverse curve required to fit the radius of the iron (caused, I believe, by the front ramp being at the reverse angle to the bedding angle for the iron);
- Replace this piece with a matching piece of material from the sole;
- Shape the forward portion of the mouth opening by hand with rasps and files.
If anyone can point me to a reference that describes a more efficient process for this task, I sure would appreciate it. I have searched the FWW archives and I’ve located a number of articles on flat-soled wooden planes but none on the subject of a radius-sole plane.
Thanks in advance!!
Jeff
Replies
I believe that the secret is to stop the front ramp of the opening in the body short of the sole by perhaps 1/4" and to just make a narrow slot, as thick as the blade plus some room for the shavings, to come through the sole with both interior faces running parallel with the bed angle.
John White
Edited 2/9/2008 2:03 pm ET by JohnWW
Thanks, John.
That makes sense. I guess you could cut the very tip of that front ramp an an angle that would make it parallel with the bedding ramp, and then very carefully clamp things together with the iron in place. Leave that small opening for the shavings to escape, then drill some dowel holes to hold the whole thing together during glue-up.
That'll be the technique for the next one!
Jeff
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