Hi all,
Warning, this is a long post.
Attached are a few photos of the BU smoother I made over the holiday. Body is 12/4 or so osage orange, or hedgeapple, salvaged from a piece of firewood, and lying around the shop waiting for just this project. I was going to tell y’all it was Ceylon satinwood 🙂 It is a hard and dense wood. I’d planned to inlet some large chunks of brass into the body for add’l weight, but decided to hold off on that after hefting the completed stock. The sole is gabon ebony, about 3/16″ thick, the striking knob on the rear is ebony as well. Wedge is from a slip of some of that engineered ‘lyptus that was dropped off for me to play with. I wanted a color contrast with the osage, in an equally hard wood. The blade is a clapped-out ECE brand that I robbed from a clapped out common pitch smoother. I intend to replace it with a good (heavier) 2″ blade, either a salvaged old iron or maybe a Hock, but once inspired, I wanted to get on with making the plane, and not wait while I located a proper blade.
My original intent was to have a tote on the rear, but the length taken up by the low (30 degree) pitch of the blade would have made for a sole length of over 12″, which I decided was too long to be effective for a smoothing plane. So I simply rounded over the corners of the stock, added a couple thumb-rests, and left it at that.
The pitch dictated the thickness (height) of the stock where the blade is bedded, heavier stock would have buried the blade, and made adjustment (by tapping on the end of the iron) problematic. Ahead of the throat, I left the stock the maximum height I could, given the material I had to work with, for the add’l weight and mass. This yielded a sort of “razee” style body, and fortuitously, inspired me to shape the front hand-hold into a shape recalling the bun on a traditional British infill, with depressions for the thumb to drop into.
As awkward-looking as the beast is, (I could not taper the rear into the traditional “coffin” shape due to the extended bed for the iron, and chose not to taper the front, again for more mass), the shaping of the stock makes it fairly comfortable to come to hand. I’ve not used it for an extended period, of course, just enough to get it in tune, but, while it doesn’t feel like my York pitch smoother, pictured side by side with its new mate, it doesn’t feel all that clumsy to push.
Even with the worn out iron, which will take but not hold an edge, I was able to take a few wispy shavings off the remainder of that piece of lyptus, and a scrap of curly maple I had close by. The surface left was promising- on a par with the Yorkie, which ain’t bad, and I am cautiously optimistic that a better iron with perhaps a little steeper grind even (this one was about 30 degrees, yielding about 60 degree attack angle) will give better results.
Bedding the iron, cutting the mouth and fitting the wedge was the fussiest part of the job. I had split the main body in two, and so was able to cut the throat, bed, and wedge recess shoulder on the tablesaw, using a simple plywood jig that captured the work, similar to what you’d use for tapered legs. Once the wood between the three angled cuts was wasted away, a simple bit of hand work at the bench, I glued the two pieces back together, laminated the sole, and chopped/pared the mouth, which came out a little wider than I was hoping for. It looked tighter than that on the drawing;-) I may end up inlaying some brass plates around that opening if I decide I need to tighten it up. In addition, the rowed grain of the particular piece of ebony I used for the sole combined with the low angle bed’s delicate edge makes that mouth a little crumbly. It’ll be interesting to see how well it holds up long term.
Ray
Edited 1/5/2009 11:01 am ET by joinerswork
Replies
Where are the plastic handles like Phillip uses?
Jim
Jim,
I tried a set of them, but I work so fast, the friction melted the darn things. All that's left, is the stub of the one on the tail end.;-)
Ray
Nice woodworking.
Is the jury still out on whether the gates of heaven opened up?
TTM,
I haven't heard any angels singing yet, pending a shiney fresh iron with some temper left in it.
Ray
Ray,
Admirable! Now you must get a fine blade so we may hear reports of what angel-voice actually sounds like. Also, that brass bit at the gobhole sounds a good idea - perhaps even a bit that allows you to adjust the mouth opening?
Of course, such a lovely albeit chunky thang will now need a new bench top to work uopn. That bench you have there seems to have been overused. Far too much woodworking and not nearly enough tool-making, obviousy. :-)
Lataxe
Thanks mate, for the kind words.
A new or at least better, blade is on my to-do list.
Adjustable mouth-- that crossed my mind. It will require a thick plate in front of the mouth, with a threaded boss, and a screw extending thru the front of the body. See, I've been seriously considering that. Then there are those Norris adjusters I saw advertised somewhere on the net. But, he11, then I might as well go ahead and send it to philip and have him clad the whole bloomin' thing in steel and brass, wot wot? I druther keep it as simple as I can; let's see if I can.
Bench polishing is not high on my list of priorities, you are too right.
Ray
Ray - I've a piece of Osage that I'd planned on making a miniature compassed plane for smoothing wooden bowl bottoms, but the piece I was able to get hold of was parafinn coated. I removed the parafin coating from the sides (left it on the end). Unfortunately, my beautiful blank now has surface checks all over it. Got any advice on air-drying this stuff? Mys shop humidity is controlled at about 35% RH.
David
David,
I'm afraid I didn't take any special care in drying this piece. My osage arrived at the shop as a pickup load of firewood, after a friend discovered he couldn't burn it in his fireplace. The stuff is like the 4th of July when burnt in the open air--shoots embers the size of grapes all over the place, which explode midair in a shower of sparks. So I burnt it in the stove, except for this one piece which I 4-squared to about a 3x3, and laid aside. It was "seasoned" -about a yr old- when I got it, and has lain in the corner of the shop for the past 5 yrs or so. There were a couple end checks which I nearly got rid of when I squared it up, and there is a surface check in one of the sides, near the top of the razee. I filled these with glue and clamped them. We'll see if they move. I don't have a clue as to how stable this stuff is, am counting on its straight grain and close, flat growth rings to make it stay put. The fact that the billet was still straight as a string and square after 5 yrs I took as a hopeful sign.
Ray
" The stuff is like the 4th of July when burnt in the open air--shoots embers the size of grapes all over the place, which explode midair in a shower of sparks."
Interesting - didn't know that, and it sounds exciting. ;-) Osage isn't native to NC, so I only see it as turner's stock. The piece I tried to dry out was about 2.5" square by about 10" long. It's possible I've just been too aggressive about drying it out and that's the reason it checked (at least on the surface - I haven't cut into to see what the interior's like).
"We'll see if they move. I don't have a clue as to how stable this stuff is, am counting on its straight grain and close, flat growth rings to make it stay put."
I get the impression it's fairly stable - I've never heard one of the turners mention that their bowls and other doo-dads warped, cracked or fell apart after they turned them.
By the way, since you've gone to the trouble of bedding the iron to the plane body (which is usually the most work in making a wooden plane, at least by traditional methods), why not salvage the iron? You mention that it will take an edge but not keep it, so it sounds like the part you're dealing with isn't hard enough. Because it sounds like a blade of relatively recent manufacture, it's probably all tool steel, so you could just heat the whole blade to red-hot in your woodstove, drop it into a bucket of oil (peanut works well, but so does Crisco), then put it into a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. I've done this before, and while not exactly high-tech or consistent, it does work.
dk,
That ECE iron is worn back nearly to the slot for the capiron. I am getting out of the temper, and while I might try to reharden/temper what's left, I don't think it's worth it. Plus, it is a Euro blade, less than 1/8" thick, and really isn't 2", about 1 7/8", so it's a sloppy fit. I'll get around to putting a "real" heavy blade in it soon.
Ray
Ray,
I don't see any dovetails attaching the planted sole, but still, we must not ask too much (;).How long did you spend in the labour ward?
Seriously, bearing in mind your rightful desire to keep things simple, I think you should omit the adjustable mouth but fit the brass inlay on either side of the mouth. At higher cutting angles with bevel up I am not too sure that a fine mouth does much to improve the surface so it would be better to make sure it is big enough to allow a decent cut.
You could add the personal touch by doing some carving-see the attachment.
Philip Marcou
philip,
Was the maker of those planes a righty or lefty? Noticed that the tote was on the right side of some of the planes - an orientation I've not seen before. Mebbe I need to get out more......
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob,
you ask "Was the maker of those planes a righty or lefty".
I don't know, but I do know that those planes were standard Dutch planes. If those guys can mince along wearing wooden shoes they are capable of anything.Philip Marcou
hi Philip,
I tried dovetailing that sole on, just to please you, but finally gave up, as my first attempts at peening the ebony didn't go too well;-))
I worked on this thing off and on over the holidays, so don't have a strict timeline to quote for you. I spent an hour or two playing with various drawings, as I had an image of something with a tote, placed like the one on an old fashioned plow, or tongue and groove plane--right at the tail end of the stock. But given the length that the low angled blade needed, adding a tote behind was going to make the plane around a foot long, which might have been ok, but I figured that was too dainty to be a jackplane, too short to be a try plane and too long for a smoother, which is what I wanted.
I spent an evening reading over John Whelen's book, Making Taditional Wooden Planes; one of his projects gave me the idea to split the stock in two (longwise) rather than cutting the throat out of the solid block (tedious, that's how I did the Yorkie, but its bed is only half as long as this one) or slapping together two slabs onto a toe/throat and bed/tail pair of blocks a la Krenov (I could foresee alignment issues, with the tight tolerances I was hoping to achieve ).
I selected and sized the stock, split the body lengthwise, laid out the various angles, made a simple plywood jig and cut the throat, bed, and wedge openings, then glued the pair back together one afternoon. Next day, I cleaned that up, and glued on the sole. A couple days after that, I spent part of an afternoon opening the throat and fitting the wedge, and getting the thing to plane a shaving. Next day, I did the shaping and sanding, and threw on a coat of shellac.
All told, I guess 8-10 hrs. The next one ought to go faster. If there is a next one; which is to say, if this one is a failure, but shows enough promise for another iteration.
Your observation concerning the size of the mouth is encouraging. At present the mouth is <1/16", but >1/32". On the drawing it was 0", that is, the front of the throat and the line of the bed intersected right at the bottom of the sole. I knew that wouldn't work ;-) but was hoping that I could sneak up on an opening just large enough to admit a thin shaving. The mouth is too narrow to admit my smallest warding file, I cleaned it up with an X-acto blade. But what happened was, in extending the line of the bed thru the ebony, I allowed the bedline to rise, just a hair, as I advanced toward the mouth. Then in fitting up, I had to pare the lower edge of the bed a little more so the blade would seat without springing the ebony downward when the wedge was set. Drat!
So, I am not planning to add an adjustable mouth, unless performance indicates otherwise. If the edges of the mouth crumble in use, I'll likely add some brass fore and aft, and will use that opportunity to adjust the opening as seems proper. We'll see.
Although I've carved my share of adornment on furniture, I've never felt the need to apply such to the tools I've made. Is that a photo of your next consignment to our mutual friend Lataxe? We all know how he loves that frou-frou.
Ray
Ray,
Nice effort. How does it work?? Osage orange always brings back childhood memories, and none that I should be fessing up to on the internet. We used to chuck those "hedgeapples" (as you called their rather large round pod seeds) at trucks passing by the local main road. Pretty stupid, now that I'm older, but isn't that what 8 and 9 year old idiots living out in the country do to get in trouble?
Nice looking plane, and I hope it stays stable for you. The osage orange that I have worked with never stopped moving and checking, but it does make for quite a display in the outdoor firepit. The horse corral on my property has posts made from that wood and locust, too. One of the locust posts actually started growing into a tree, again.
Jeff
Jeff,
How does it work??
Initial trials are promising. If I get a decent blade to put in it, I am hopeful it will be a keeper.First thought was to use the same 2 1/4" blade that's in my York pitch smoother (cheapskate that I am!). That went by the way when I realised I wasn't going to be able to taper the body, and bagged the idea of a tote, and a 2 3/4" wide body just seemed too ...robust, for my hand to get around. So then the old blade that was in my little common pitch smoother was what I had available, til I can order something better.
Always plant your locust posts upside down from the way the trees were growing. Takes 'em longer to sprout roots that way. :-)
Ray
Ray
I have had good luck with the Hock blades, but I'm sure you already knew that. They make a set especially for woodies.
I inherited the locust posts. I pulled most of them out of the ground, as I don't have horses. I keep tools in the barn, lol...Those posts burned for about a day and a half.
Jeff
Jeff,
I have a Hock blade in that York smoother pictured beside my new LABU project. It replaced an old Ohio Tool blade that I got at a tool meet, when it wore out. I like the Hock blade fine, but feel that the old blade kept its edge better. That may just be the Virginian in me. (How many Virginians does it take to change a lightbulb? 6...One to change the bulb, and 5 to stand around and talk about how GOOD the old bulb used to be.) The Hock blade does seem to be getting better the more I hone it, so maybe the very edge was softened a bit by its initial grind? At any rate, I bet by the time it is used up, I'll be talking about how goood IT used to be! haha
Locust is about my favorite firewood. Esp for cooking, as it seems to go to coals quickly, then lays there and glows for a long time. Its downside is how badly it dulls a chainsaw. I've seen sparks flying out of the cut when dropping one of those trees.
Ray
>5 to stand around and talk about how GOOD the old bulb used to be<: )
roc,
Hot-cha-cha-cha-cha! I got a million of 'em.
Ray, channeling Jimmy DuRante
Ray,
Somehow, I was expecting a much longer post. I must be reading to many of you-know-who's posts.
Neat looking plane. How is osage orange to work with? It's the brown plane, right? Just kidding. Hopefully the prior seasoning and kind-of coffin shape will limit how much it moves around. Worst case scenario, you'll end up with a custom-made plane for a concave or convex curve.
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
(soon to be www.flairwoodworks.com)
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Chris,
How is osage to work with? I'd compare it to hickory or purpleheart. Hard, heavy,stringy, crossgrained. It machines well, but I'd like to have had the plane I made, to work on the plane I made! Prone to tearout, particularly on the edgegrain, which is heavily rowed, but irregularly so. I'm told that bowyers, who love the stuff for longbows, work it with first rasps and then scrapers.
Tho it is a gaudy bright yellow when freshly worked, it ages to a very pretty golden- ruddy brown.
Ray
Nice Plane !
Something that keeps echoing around in my head is this. I think I read about some type of epoxy that is designed to soak in and stabilize wood. Maybe that would fortify the crumbly mouth. Probably not worth the investment in a bunch of the stuff just for a few drops on the mouth but maybe you know someone who already has some.
http://www.systemthree.com/p_rot_fix_2.asp
I have never handled or worked osage. It looks like it could be a substitute for box wood. I have always wanted to make a shave like Sam Maloof's box wood shave.
Like the small wooden shave in this article see first pic
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/FWNPDF/011052050.pdf
Do you recommend osage for this use ?
roc
Edited 1/6/2009 1:10 am by roc
hi roc,
Thanks for the kind words, and the suggestion re: epoxy for the mouth. The crumbling is pretty minor, and that ebony is so dense that I doubt it would soak up much. Problem is the rowed grain that this piece of ebony has, so there are areas where it is alternately running out steeply fore and aft of the mouth. However, as I won't be using this plane to clean up roughsawn lumber ;-), I'm hoping it will endure for a while at least. If it goes to the bad, I'll inlet a patch of brass around the mouth and be done with it.
Colorwise, osage orange is more like satinwood than box, but it ages to a light reddish brown. The grain is open, like ash or locust, and it is fairly snarly and difficult to work. If this piece hadn't had the grain (growth ring) orientation that I was looking for, I doubt that it would have been my 1st choice. I made my spokeshave from a piece of apple I had lying around, it is I think a good substitute for boxwood, hard, dense, and closegrained. Dogwood would I believe be another good choice, as it is supposed to be very wear resistant. But if osage is what you have, and you don't mind the challenge of working it, why not give it a shot?
Ray
Ray,
Well lawdy, lawdy ye went and done it.
That plane just looks like it was fun to make. I'm curious about the ebony sole. Is that stuff nasty to work with? I've heard the dust can be bad for ye.
Aside from the above, how thick is the sole and is there a reason why it aint ticker? The ebony I have is hard as iron and heavy - would add mass to the plane, eh? You mentioned that the mouth is crumbly - is it the ebony?
Sorry for all the questions - curious mind.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Hey Bob,
I haven't noticed any problems yet, working with ebony (hack, hack! Gag, ptooie!)
The sole is a little less than 1/4" thick. I could've made it thicker, it was sawn from a piece of 4/4 stock. But, the way I made the body of the plane let me cut the bed and throat openings on the tablesaw, from the inside out, and then laminate the sole on. If the sole had been 3/4" thick, it would've added weight, sure, but, I'd have had to chop (by hand) thru 1 1/2" of ebony (at 30 degree bed angle) to extend the bed surface thru it. I couldn't stomach the thought of that! I was thinking of the ebony as a metal substitute- that is to say, the thin ebony sole on my York pitch smoother has been in daily use since 1990, and I've never had to re-surface it. It has a few scratches, but virtually no more signs of wear than my 50 yr old Stanley #5. I'm hoping the osage will be heavy enough. As I said, I had a couple chunks of brass I was prepared to inlet into the body for extra weight, but decided against it when I hefted that block of hedgeapple. The crumbly is the very edges of the ebony mouth. Its grain is "rowed", stripes or rows of alternating strongly inclined grain, which want to break out at the edges of the opening. That said, I don't mind too much working ebony. It actually works easier by hand than machine. Its hardness seems to respond better to the gentle ministrations of hand workmanship than the highspeed attack of machine tools, pass it across the jointer, and it wants to hop up and down, "BRRRRP!" But a sharp plane will shave a layer off with little fuss. It'll ride right up on a circular saw blade, but a handsaw will eat (slowly) right along. Did I mention it is hard, hard, HARD?
Ray
Ray,
This is James Krenov speaking. I have taken over the body and mind of Mel, and am using his keyboard to send you this message. When I do this to others, they fight and get angry, but it was very easy to assimilate Mel. He must be a very easygoing and peaceful guy. I do not care for his laptop computer, but it is what is available so here goes.
I have watched your progression in woodwork over the decades, and you have done well. I am proud of you. Your one failing is that, until now, you have not realized that to do the finest woodwork, you must become "one" with your tools and with the wood you are working on. Woodworking is a personal thing. It is wasteful to spend $30 or $40 on a new metal plane which is an ugly beast, when you can make your own planes which fit your hand, your personality, your work and your spirit. You have finally moved in the right direction. I hope to see you make more planes.
The key to success in this venture is to experiment. One does not get it right the first time. Try different woods, different shapes... Focus on making the plane feel like an extention of your hand, your arm and your mind. When you don't know where the plane stops and where your hand starts, you have reached what I call "the planer's high". (Whiskey helps here).
The only criticism I have of your first BU woodie is that you have focussed too much on outward beauty. Focus on a plane which fits your hand and your mind. The outer skin of the plane can look like it was made by a drunk beaver. That is irrelevant. Indeed, it is part of the quaintness of a wood plane that is really your own.
You are young yet, and you have decades of work ahead of you. I wish you luck. Don't stop now. I see a big future for you in woodwork. You should read everything that I have written.
In a few moments I will return the control of Mel's mind back to Mel, although that seems to be a dangerous thing to do.
Good luck, have fun, and always follow my teachings.
Your friend,
James Krenov
PS - Hey Ray, I was just thinking of writing to you. I'll do it later. I feel dizzy right now. :-)
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Dear James, Mel, whoever is in there right now,
I'm confused. You are telling me to unleash my inner beaver, and philip is telling me to add frippery and gew-gaws. What's a fellow to do?
I know! Follow the middle path! Thanks for your ying to the Marcou yang. My next project will be a teardrop-shaped plane that follows itself around in a circle. Howell that be?
Ray
"and philip is telling me to add frippery and gew-gaws. What's a fellow to do? "
Shoot, I'm telling you to do nowt, except infuse somehow into your memes (recognise that word?)the notion that since you have gone to some trouble to make this plane you may care to personalise it -otherwise it willbe just like a lot of woodies out there except that it will be with bevel up-which may be a shocking thought.....
But you still might just like to carve a name and date embellished with some leaves etc ...Philip Marcou
philip,
If you look closely at the photos of the fronts of both the smoothers, you may be able to just make out some scribbling, where I did sign and date them. Like a lot of woodies out there, they have the maker's name on the toe. Dating them was sort of icing the cake as it were. Adding leaves would really be pushing the envelope, and would add nothing to the tools functionality.
It is interesting that the practice of embellishing planes with leaves, tracery and even figural carving (I've seen pictures of one with a nude woman sprawled across the top of the stock, so the shavings emerge from her... but I digress) seems to have been strictly a continental European practice, until Stanley started casting frou-frou into their metal specialty planes in the early 1900's.
To make it easier to decipher,
The York is marked:
D R PINE
FECIT
ANNO 1990
The BU:
D R PINE
FECIT
2009
I was inspired to add the date on the Yorkie after reading Hummel's "With Hammer in Hand", where he describes a plane made by Nath'l Dominy that he signed and dated Dec 25, 17XX (whatever the year was). Figured if he could do it, it wasn't too big a break with tradition for me. Hey turning that bevel the wrong way is a pretty big break with tradition tho isn't it? All that my memes (wetware if you prefer L) could deal with at one time. The next owner can add vines if he wants.
philip, all kidding aside, I want to thank you for all the input and information on bevel up workings you provided me in the months leading up to my haggling out this little project.
Ray
Ray,
Perhaps your small meme-debt owed to young Philip might be paid off via the inclusion of a small portrait of the lad carved into the nose of that plane. He will be sporting a smirk of satisfaction and making a knowing wink up at you, as you push the lovely new plane about the nasty wood to great effect.
Lataxe, groking Ray playing with his new tool-toy.
Lataxe,
No good. I'd be reluctant to mash my thumb into his carven nose or pull on his sculpted ears. Too impertinant a treatment of someone I respect, by far. A likeness of yerself, however...
Ray
Mel,
"Focus on making the plane feel like an extention of your hand, your arm and your mind. When you don't know where the plane stops and where your hand starts"Well, that calls for designing a plane not just 'making' one. Good design (as opposed to just a visually pleasing one) and good workmanship will produce a good product. One complements the other - but they really call for different 'skills'.Also, different styles of planes represent different ergonomic value to different users. My LNs represent to me good 'plane'-value but a lacking 'hand'-value. I noticed. Were I less 'thick' I'd notice it much sooner.I would like to see/find some competent analysis of the ergonomics of handplanes (you know, the 'hand' part). Struggling in giving the substance to my own designs, I could use some existing knowledge to augment what I have learned/found so far.
Best wishes,
Metod
Metod,
Mel's next plane will have this grip:
View Image
chawed out by beavers, of course, and grafted onto his L-N.
Ray
Ray,
If Mel notices any difference (should it get that far...) - he could run an extensive battery of tests and fully document the findings for our benefit. Actually, I have a cow with my LNs, and should graft your version - instead of designing my own. That should beaver it up. <g>
Best wishes,
Metod
Hey Ray,
Nice pea shooter! I could use that on all my squirrels.
Jeff
Jeff,
Those things are pretty aren't they? The Hammerli's, not the squirrels.
;-)
Ray
Metod,
I have looked for info on the ergonomics of hand planes. I have found none.
I haven't bought ski boots for a long time. I believe I remember a time when you could get custom boots which were formed to your foot by the use of foam. I wonder what it would take to custom make a plane for a person's arm/hand. Probably more than it is worth. Fun topic, though.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mal,
The movie will be called "Melvin Veritas hands".
Pete Townsend will do the soundtrack. "He's a smoothplane wizard, there's got to be a pitch...that paunchy, balding 'talian's got such a solid wrist."
Ray
Ray,
Your BU Smoother has generated some real interest. There was a lot of philosophic debate last year. You quietly built one to test out the idea for yourself. I can't wait til you have the new iron in it, and get some experience with it, and then publish your findings. Is there much riding on your answer?
Possibly the continued existence of one medium sized company and some boutique makers. If you find in the "negative", the GNP of Canada could slip by up to 4%. You might want to call the Governor of Illinois. He might have some advice on how to make some real money out of this experience. But you'd better hurry.To get serious for just a second, Metod brings up a good point. One can take a plane and significantly alter its performance by the placement and shape of the totes or hand-holds. In other words, in order to really get a valid scientific finding on BD vs BU, you would have to get a grant from the government to build 100 planes of each type, with varying positions and shapes of the hand-holds. These would have to be tested by a random sample of 28 woodworkers over a period of a year and a half. I have seen "chair simulators" in which the angles and heights of various parts can be changed and then locked in when you get the design you feel is optimum. I wonder if it would be possible to design a BU plane with a hand-hold which can be varied in height.Aw hell. I like the plane you made. It reminds me of my first girlfriend -- short, stout, strong, and unlikely to blow over in a strong wind. The heck with scientific veracity. Let's just have some fun. MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
Aw I dunno about publishing any findings. I'm hoping it'll be usable, sure, but I took all those others' and their findings at their word and built (pending my winning of the lotto jackpot, when I'll buy one of philip's) one for myself. To use. If it isn't satisfactory as a smoother, it'll make a good push toy for Freddy when you bring him for a visit!
Derek's the one to publish them reviews, but there is a problem there. As flattering as he's been, I'm in no hurry to send mine to him for a review--he don't return 'em!
Ray
Mel,
I had custom fitted ski boots once (Daleboot?). Intelligent design! The foam insert could be sanded down ( 4 or 5 trips to the sander in less than 15 minutes - while waiting) for the 'perfect' fit.
Derek (in one of the recent posts) mentioned that it is easier to push a BU plane than a BD one (at the same cutting angle). He has a keen eye. The difference has nothing to do with BU vs. BD design (basic physics, really) but with the relationship between the shape and the location of the rear (force applying) handle relative to the cutting edge. But then your 'typical' plane maker doesn't go too much into the geometry of the forces for the sake of efficiency and design refinement. We are not building racing cars, do we?
Best wishes,
Metod
Ray
That is a fine looking smoother! I am most impressed.
A couple of observations:
Firstly, do not be concerned about the mouth being larger than you wanted - with a 60 degree angle of attack the mouth size is essentially irrelevant.
Secondly, if you want to taper the rear of the plane into a coffin shape, but believed that the square end of the blade prevents this, then just reshape the end of the blade as well. (I'd use a Dremel to cut away as much as needed, then smooth on a belt sander).
Finally, in spite of a high cutting angle you will be surprised just how easily it will plane.
Just wonderful work. Looking firward to the shavings and report on its performance.
Regards from Perth
Derek
hi derek,
Thanks for the kind words. I'm holding you and philip to your promise that a big mouth (on a high cutting angled plane ;-) ) is not a bad thing.
As far as tapering the iron to accomodate a coffin shape: As Caesar said, "Alia iacta est." The bed is cut. Now, a tapered blade would just be wallowing around in it, and to taper the body, the taper would enter the bed channel. Actually, once I committed to the current shape for the stock, I kinda like it. It has a bulky charm of its own, to me. Like Thomas, the Little Engine That Could, down in the trainyard. hah
The initial shavings , some of them, can be seen in the periphery of the photos I posted.
Ray
p.s. Everybody has been very flattering re: my efforts on the bevel up plane, no-one has said boo about it's redhaired step-brother-- the York pitch coffin smoother sitting alongside. Are y'all that prejudiced against bevel-downers? :-) Or is it the fancy clothes the new kid on the block is wearing? haha
Edited 1/6/2009 11:28 am ET by joinerswork
Beautiful work. What was the hardest part? I assume truing the excavation of the blade bed - wedge - mouth stuff is the trickiest? I know you said "fussy" in your OP, but I was curious if that meant difficult or just tedious.
How deep does the button go? Is it a dowel?
Edited 1/7/2009 2:17 pm ET by Samson
Sam,
Thanks for the compliment.
I made a simple plywood jig, ( plywood had three angled "notches" of plane body size cut in it, at bed angle, wedge angle, and throat front angle) run against the table saw rip fence, to cut the bed. Rather like a tapered leg jig, only much, much steeper. So it was a matter of plugging first one half, then the other, of the plane body into it, then pushing thru the blade. Had to be careful re-joining the two halves, so that the bed halves were perfectly aligned.
The fussy part was chopping thru the ebony sole- extending the established bed. I had planned for a minimal opening where the throat broke thru. Thought I'd finesse the final paring cut by wedging the freshly sharpened blade in place, and then slowly drive it down the bed til it came out the bottom, to which I'd clamped a support block to prevent breakout. Well, the blade managed to still ride up just a teensy bit as it slid along cutting that hard a$$ed ebony. On my first trial cut, I realised the sole had a small "bump", right behind the blade, where the wedge was pressing the blade, and the sole, down, at the very edge or corner where the blade protruded. So then I had to pare the end of the bed back a bit further, opening up the mouth more than I'd wanted. I was paranoid about paring off too much, as I wanted to be sure the blade had support right down to where it emerged, and yet it couldn't be a bit too proud there either. That's what was fussy.
The button is 5/8" diameter, and is about that deep into the stock. Whittled it round out of a piece of that ebony. Well, just a bit oblong, it is a tapered fit, and I didn't want it to press sideways, as it lies right in the glueline where the two halves of the body meet.
Ray
Ray,
This is not a criticism, but a genuine request for information. Was the addition of an ebony sole necessary. The body of the plane is osage orange (I think). I have heard that is pretty stable and tough stuff. I have seen one plane made from it that didn't have a separate sole added to it. Is this something that would only be noticed after an immense amount of use, or is it de rigeur to use a sole of extremely hard wood? MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
Those German planes of wood often have (DT'd) ebony or lignum vitae soles. I believe the idea is that these are self-lubricating timbers and therefore good for a tool that must slide over the wood.
I have a Mujingfang ebony try plane that does indeed stay slippery all by itself, whereas the metal planes require a rub of the parafin wax block from time to time, if they are not to get sticky-bottom.
Mind, I woulda thought Ray could just wipe the plane-erse on hisself, as he is one slippery bloke!
Lataxe
David,
Thanks for the info on why to use a slippery based sole on a wood plane. I use paraffin wax on my planes, both metal and wood. Don't folks wax the bottoms of their wood planes? I gotta admit that I have not been progressing in skill with wood planes as much as I'd hoped. Too much to do, and I really enjoy the ease of adjusting my LNs as I make a cut. BUT that won't stop me from learning to use wood planes well.You should stop over and scan the thread on sharpening card scrapers. It got pretty funny. THis thread has been excellent. I have taken a break from refurbishing old furniture for my daughter. But my wife reminded me about that yesterday. I feel guilty for taking a week to do the Gothic Tracery carving. I would have finished sooner but it took on a life of its own. I used it as an excuse to learn how to use a scroll saw. When I saw how precise it is and how easy it is to use, I decided to make two more of the carvings. I used it to do the pierced cuttings on the carvings. Then something else happened. I used two designs. I did the complex one first, and then the less complicated but more beautiful. THen I decided to make two more of the simpler ones. I haven't made three of the same carving since 1972 when I did nine Navy wings. Well, I got this design from Fred Wilbur, and I used the gouges he suggested to make the first one, and it took a while. On the second one, I used some other gouges. IT went much faster because I had learned how to do a couple of things that are unique to tracery. The third one went even faster, and I used still different gouges. I wasn't trying for speed, but this massed practice of four carvings in a week let me experience something new -- being able to carve while having all of the requisite skills for a piece allowed me to focus on the overall piece -- to stand back farther from the piece, so to speak, and to see what I was doing in relation to the whole piece. That was really enjoyable.So the new year is going well. Hope yours is too.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Lataxe,
Thank you. I wish I'd thought of that self-lubricating reason myself. But I'll remember it in future. My little ECE common pitch block plane has a lignum vitae sole. While no dovetailed on, it is corrugated- tongue-and-grooved on, diagonally; the joints enter on the end of the body, and exit the side, so it looks like it is t and g'd both ways. While the lignum has a slick, almost greasy feel, it still wears, to the point that I have had to true the sole a time or two. That has not been an issue with the ebony on the sole of the York pitch smoother, which gets harder use than the block plane. I do feel it necessary to lubricate the ebony from time to time, when taking a heavy shaving on a "sticky" wood like yellow poplar (liriodenron tulipfera).
I used to rub it over my pimply forehead, it served two purposes, my oily exudations lub'ed the sole, and the plane levelled the skin irregularities arising from my hormonal excesses. However, as I have aged, the forehead has gotten so much higher, that it takes too much time to cover the whole surface equally, and plane tracks only here and there are unseemly. Besides, my most pleasing physiological feature,my protruding neanderthal brow, was being seriously eroded, so I got a candle stub, which I use nowadays. It works pretty good on the plane sole, too.
Ray
Mel,
In all likelihood, it wasn't necessary, or prolly even a good idea, given the small amount of use the thing will get, even if it works a charm, (and given Derek and philip's assertion that a tight mouth is not necessary for tearout-free cutting). How often will I need to plane curly maple, crotch walnut or maple burl? But I had in mind to use a somewhat softer wood for the body initially, like the mahogany I made the York smoother from, and carried on down that path once started on it.
The technique I used to cut the bed and wedge angles--tablesaw-- meant that the throat must necessarily have been the width of the saw kerf- about 1/8"- where the cuts converge/emerge at the mouth. Adding a sole (of some kind) is necessary if you want a tighter mouth than that, so you can, by hand, extend the planes (geometrical, not woodcutting) of the throat front and bed further downward/ closer together.
Besides, I had the ebony, it made a nice contrast to the osage, colorwise, and I wanted to gussy things up a bit. Think of it as ersatz brass and steel. :-)
Ray
Ray,
I have been working on a revolutionary new design for a hand plane for getting a smooth surface on gnarly woods. It eliminates the need for a mouth on the plane, and it can be used on a bullnose plane as well. Actually when I get to the manufacturing stage, I may introduce an attachment for chisels, so that you can just attach it to the chisel and bolt it down to a wedge of wood with a nice tote and plane away.It works like this. (I havent got all the details worked out yet.) It is for Bevel Down planes. The Archangel Gabriel appeared to me in a dream the other night, and told me to forget about BU smoothers. You know, Gabriel looks a lot like Norm. Well, here is what the attachment is like. It attaches to the top of the iron cap near the cutting edge of the blade and it sticks out and down, so that its blunted edge is parallel with the blade's cutting edge. The blunted edge presses against the wood. I am working with the folks at Lie Nielsen to fix the blade adjusting mechanism to also adjust my Cap Attachment at the same time. So the blunted edge presses lightly against the wood just ahead of the cutting edge of the blade. You can adjust that distance of course. This gives you the advantages of a small mouth on a plane without the need for the front of the mouth at all. As you can see, you don't even need a "front" for the plane at all, except for ballast/balance. All you really need is a wedge of wood to attach the iron and iron cap with my new attachment for very smooth cutting. I believe this will mean the end of the hand plane industry, for the most part. There is still a lot for them to do. As you know from the other thread, we need air systems for making the sharpening of card scrapers safer. Mel (always looking to make things better for the woodworker)PS you may wonder why I spend so much time trying to come up with revolutionary woodworking instruments. Well the answer is, I want to leave a legacy. So far, my biggest achievement is the invention of the draw bore pinned dowel joint, and I want to do something "bigger". PPS I have been wondering what to call my new invention. Well when working on the design, there was some harp music playing on the radio. Really sweet. So I am thinking of calling it the "Sweet Harp" plane.Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
Get some name recognition first. Then you can make reproduction toothpicks and awe the heck from ... the awe-able.
Best wishes,
Metod
Mel,
Here's my input on your newest invention. Attach the "pressure bar" (obviously you can't call the bar in front of the nouveau plane's iron that, the planer people already did,) to a fixture that attaches to the shop ceiling. Include with the plane a set of wheels that the owner attaches to the legs of his workbench. Then, instead of pushing the plane over the wood, with all its attendant angst, sturm, und drang, the bench gets pushed past the plane! For those who have an aversion to hand work, you can include in the "deluxe" powered model, a rope that folks can tie to the end of the bench, and the bumper of their HumVee.
Don't thank me, just send monthly checks when the orders start rolling in.
Ray
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