The plane in these pics was one that I had wished to have ready for WIA in Berea, alas time ran out and so now it is complete. This is a variation of my 875 plane which is an A-13 styled plane. This plane is pitched at 55 degrees and features a subtle application gold mother of pearl inlays. I have once again used some of the 60 year old picasso rosewood (I love this stuff) and I think it works well with the gold mother of pearl.
Thanks for looking,
Ron Brese
If you’re too open minded your brains will fall out.
Replies
Hi Ron
That is simply beautiful!
Wonderful metal- and woodwork, and attention to detail. I like the inlay - brass?
I do wonder about the stop in the blade - is it really needed? I have never had a blade fall through its mouth.
With the Christmas break - I have 4 weeks away from my practice - although most of this time is to be taken up with laying floors, cabinet building and painting of a new office (over my workshop at home!), I intend to get to the small smoother kit. I have been wanting to build it for several months. As you know it has been delayed time and again this year. It's hard to complain about being in demand. I trust that you will be having some time free for fun.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Derek,The inlay is gold mother of pearl. I have had one customer confess to me that the knob saved him from losing the iron thru the plane. One is enough for me. I have found recently that I can also use it to back up the iron by just slightly loosening the lever cap screw.Thanks for the complimentary words. I was plenty interested in how this one would look with the inlay. New features are good motivation.Thanks,RonIf you're too open minded your brains will fall out.
Really nice, love the mother of pearl inlay in the rosewood.
Troy
Ron,
DANG!
That's some eye candy. Sweeeeeet man,just downright sweeeet.
Hey I betcha that Ray Pine fella would like to road test that bad boy.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob,That Ray Pine would be most welcome to test drive this plane, however he would have to be quick about it because this ones heading to a very distinguished gentleman in Switzerland on Monday. (grin) Thanks for the kind compliments.Ron BreseIf you're too open minded your brains will fall out.
Ron,
That plane is too nice for Mr Pine, who would only get injun oil on it and muck it up with shavings. However, such things should not be sent to Switzerland either, as they already have lots of nicely-engineered articles such as their trains and watches. I feel that plane might feel happiest and get most use were it to hobknob with a certain set of Marcous......
It is a beautiful object so I feel a certain hestitation in asking about more of the technical details such as blade configuration, adjustment-method, size, intended usages and so forth...........?
Lataxe, hooked on such stuff.
Edited 12/13/2008 5:50 am ET by Lataxe
Lataxe,You may ask anything you like about the plane and I will certainly oblige. This plane has an overall length 8.75 inches (222 mm) and is 2.437 inches wide (62 mm). It uses a 2" wide 1/4" thick iron made from 0-1 and heat treated to rc60-62. The irons are precision ground to .240 thick after heat treating. This plane was made to order with a bed pitch of 55 degrees, the standard pitch for this plane is 50 degrees. Adjustment is made with the use of a plane tinking hammer and after one gets quite accomplished at this method, which typically takes about 30 minutes, it is amazing how quickly and accurately one can set an iron using this method. If you are familiar with this method then you would know of what I speak.This of course is a smoothing plane, however I think planes of this type and certainly some of Phillips planes that you possess are really bordering on creating a whole new category for themselves. I think these would be called finishing planes. I often use two planes for final surfacing. I will take one of the better Stanley Bedrock pattern planes and start my smoothing with them and when the high spots are removed I follow with the 875 infill for the final passes taking only very light shavings. Hence the term finishing plane. It adds one more step of refinement to a collection of planing tools and it also spreads the work out over two tools which means less frequent stops for pulling the edge back up on the iron.As you can probably tell, "I live for this stuff!"Ron BreseIf you're too open minded your brains will fall out.
Weren't you working on an 875 for a Schweizer back about the time my Pimped Out Plane project got wrapped up? Same guy? The economy must be very good over there.If you build it he will come.
Ron,
That's quite a beauty! Great workmanship. I wish you for many more.
Take care,
Metod
Ron Brese,
OK I am afraid I am going to have to confiscate this plane. It is just too beautiful and cool and useful.
God ! I could gaze at that all night!
drool
roc (who is overly critical and hard to impress)
Ron,
That inlay makes a nice set off. How thick is the material and how is it secured there (glue?).Can you describe your method for insetting the inlay?
Also, what is the botanical name for the Picasso Rosewood. I ask this because in your pictures it looks very similar to the stuff I used for the little plane pictured-you must agree. This particular Rosewood was sent to me by a customer in England (er, not Lataxe) who said it was very rare and is designated "Dalbergia Louveli". It has a distinct rose petal smell and when sanded the sandpaper becomes crimson coloured-but the wood darkens to almost black quite rapidly. Very delightful to work with- almost as awesome as African Blackwood. I don't find any reference to Picasso Rosewood in any sources I have looked up and now wonder if it is the same stuff as Louveli.
Thanks for all the kind compliments. Phillip I must admit the name Picasso rosewood is a term that was attached to this particular batch of wood because of the way in which I came about possessing this rosewood log. This material was part of one of the largest shipments of exotic woods that has ever come into the United States. I have verified that this material entered the U.S. sometime in the 1940s. An artist who worked at creating sculptures from rosewood and ebony had gone to Europe and studied with Picasso. Upon his return he purchased several logs from the dealer in Atlanta, Ga. No one cared that he studied with Picasso and his attempt at making a living as a full time artist found him in hock to his landlord for back rent. The artist had touted to his landlord the value of these logs so the landlord planned on confiscating the logs when he evicted his artist tenant in order to sell them and recover back rents. The artist got wind of his intentions and left one night under cover of darkness taking most of the logs with him. He stored most of the logs in an abandon house and left the remaining logs in the landlords property. The abandon house caught fire 2 weeks later and it and the contents were completely destroyed. The gentleman that I got the log from acquired them from the landlord.I relayed this story to several woodworking friends and on woodworking forums and folks started calling this material Picasso rosewood and like a nickname it just sort of stuck. I used some ca adhesive to temporarily attached the inlays into the proper position and scribed the perimeter of the inlays with a marking knife. I excavated the inlay recesses by putting a rotary tool cutter in my milling machine. This way I could control the depth quite accurately. I removed the bulk of the material in this manner and then used a quite sharp 1/4" chisel to work to the scribe lines. I used a gel type ca adhesive to attached them permanently in the recesses. By the way the inlays are .055 to 060 thick.RonIf you're too open minded your brains will fall out.
Edited 12/14/2008 10:51 pm ET by Ronaway
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