Show me your Planes

[stephen thomas]

Nice work, Rodelu!
I like the designs but wonder if the metal open-side arrangement is sensitive to distortion from wedge pressure?

 

[stephen thomas]

I see that there is an adjustable throat, but is there also an adjustable piece behind the blade?

No, that is the bottom of the tiltable frog.
(Photo below was taken earlier in the build, when the sole was only surface ground, before scraping it flat)



In order to support the iron/blade the whole way down, the frog also has to extend as far as possible.

Is it for support?

Yes, it supports the iron (the blade).

How have you found it to work?

It took a while to work into being "conversant" with using it. Often the inclination does not need to be much more than 50 deg. Though at times more is better.

Have you established at what point the chipbreaker stops being helpful?

In an adjustable throat plane, the chip breaker is always merely an alternative option.
Neither facility can be optimized if both are to work together.
So practically, it is an either-or option.

If the throat is close enough to control the chip, the chipbreaker/cap iron cannot be because it would protrude almost through the throat & completely block it. When the throat is primary chip control, the cap iron has to be back from the cutting edge a material amount - in this case perhaps 1/16", certainly at least 1/32" or it would prevent the throat from closing.

When the chipbreaker is primary, the throat needs to be more open so there is space for the chipbreaker to approach within desired chip thickness of the cutting edge. Say perhaps .005" or less if it can be managed. (Piece of typing paper being aprox .0035" thick as an eyeball reference)

So, wood being weird, sometimes a close chip breaker and a somewhat open throat works, sometimes the opposite.

Hand scrapers and scraper planes work without throats or with very wide throats and no chipbreakers.

That depends how the concept chipbreaker is perceived.
A burred scraper as is typical, does force the forming chip back on itself quite abruptly.
So does a sharp chisel (no burr) used as a scraper, at a (back) angle in the same direction as the tool is being moved while scraping.

Have you tried different bevel angles as well? So many options to explore.

Being bevel-down,. there is no advantage to a cutting bevel other than one with adequate cutting clearance at the most acute angle of inclination.

You are correct that there are so many options to explore - a good reason why i was inclined to try to construct a "plane type" platform in which any of the parameters can be varied and compared. & it is always good to hear questions that i might not have thought of.

smt

 

[RODELU]

Nice work, Rodelu!
I like the designs but wonder if the metal open-side arrangement is sensitive to distortion from wedge pressure?

It is .50" thick metal so I believe it doesn't appreciably bend.

 

[rons]

Scraping plane with some cocobolo wood.

 

[stephen thomas]

That would be great for table tops.
smt

 

[rons]

Made with a wood lathe (for the front ball), hack saw, drill press, and some files. To level out a trestle table (7' x 3.5').
Back in the dark days with no metal working or welding machines.

Ashamed to describe it on a Professional Mach. Forum:
1. Get a length of any aluminum channel and flatten the bottom.
2. Shape the sides.
3. Fit two pieces of aluminum in the throat area.
4. Get a Kunz or better scraping assembly and fit into throat.
5. Shape some wood for the front and back sections and make the rear handle.
6. Get aluminum channel and two square pieces anodized.

 

[stephen thomas]

Made with a wood lathe (for the front ball), hack saw, drill press, and some files. To level out a trestle table (7' x 3.5').
Back in the dark days with no metal working or welding machines.

Ashamed to describe it on a Professional Mach. Forum:
1. Get a length of any aluminum channel and flatten the bottom.
2. Shape the sides.
3. Fit two pieces of aluminum in the throat area.
4. Get a Kunz or better scraping assembly and fit into throat.
5. Shape some wood for the front and back sections and make the rear handle.
6. Get aluminum channel and two square pieces anodized.

All the more impressive!
Thought i recognized channel; but assumed steel & wondered about/if machining inside legs parallel. Al channel obviates that necessity. Annodizing - looks great & hardens the sole - nice!

smt

 

[richard newman]

Made with a wood lathe (for the front ball), hack saw, drill press, and some files. To level out a trestle table (7' x 3.5').
Back in the dark days with no metal working or welding machines.

Ashamed to describe it on a Professional Mach. Forum:
1. Get a length of any aluminum channel and flatten the bottom.
2. Shape the sides.
3. Fit two pieces of aluminum in the throat area.
4. Get a Kunz or better scraping assembly and fit into throat.
5. Shape some wood for the front and back sections and make the rear handle.
6. Get aluminum channel and two square pieces anodized.

No shame at all, very clever and resourceful. And even better it got the job done! Do you still use it?

 

[ezduzit]

I would use steel--not aluminum.

 

[rons]

No shame at all, very clever and resourceful. And even better it got the job done! Do you still use it?

It's been used for the last 30 years as a gigantic paper weight.

 

[rons]

I would use steel--not aluminum.

After smoothing down this you would wish it was aluminum.

Issue 23 | Woodsmith Library

www.woodsmithlibrary.com

This was the first table I made with wider center plank and feet. Longer and wider too.
Everything is still solid and the center piece floats between the end caps.

 

[rons]

This adjustable pitch plane was finished in 2018 and has been quite useful since.
It is a prototype, so not as refined as a loopy. But in some regards more interesting technically.
It has both an adjustable throat, and an adjustable angle frog. Which tilts from about 47 deg through 80+ deg (I might have posted actual values elsewhere in the past.)

Made of 17-4 stainless, frog is mild steel with a soldered spine (color residue)
Toepiece is hardened. Iron is cpm M4 welded to mild steel shank. Loopy adjuster. Scrap knob & square thread screw for lever cap from loopy parts box.

View attachment 391291View attachment 391292View attachment 391294View attachment 391295View attachment 391296

This reminds me of a book I have:

Goodreads

Discover and share books you love on Goodreads.

www.goodreads.com

There is a article somewhere that shows the process of how to make a plane like this with dovetailed sole to sides.
Then brazed together. Maybe it was in Fine Woodworking.

 

[Joe Rogers]

This reminds me of a book I have:

Goodreads

Discover and share books you love on Goodreads.

www.goodreads.com

There is a article somewhere that shows the process of how to make a plane like this with dovetailed sole to sides.
Then brazed together. Maybe it was in Fine Woodworking.

That Kingshott book is full of eye candy and is collectable by itself!

 

[stephen thomas]

I acquired the Kingshott book perhaps a decade after building the first loopies. He is a wonderful & careful craftsman. Dovetails are excellent joints for woodworking & rather poor for metalwork joints as were used for infills due to the peining forces, as well as thermal differential expansion between different metals when such are used.

As often reported, besides joke aspects & natural contraryness; my choice of the knapp joint (loop & pin) was a conscious rejection of metallic dovetails for reasons stated. OTOH knapp joints are very poor woodworking joints but exceptional for this type of metal assembly.

Still pondering whether a loopy coffin-sided tilt frog is a viable expenditure of effort. Somewhere at the far end of a longer project list.

Plane related aside: i trolled one of the major flea markets here in Tbilisi yesterday. Few tools & only 2 woodworking planes over several acres. 1 over-size smoother & 1 under-sized scrub plane. No doubt soviet occupation era but basic to the point of crudeness with uninteresting/undistinguished marks. Decided not worth effort to schlep onward via trains & air-planes.
smt

 

[rons]

Two coffin planes and a scraper plane.
I hate the word coffin.

 

[stephen thomas]

Only one of the above is ”coffin sided”.
The other 2 are “round sided”.
or at least that’s been my preference among commonly used descriptives.

Any progress reports?

smt

 

[rons]

Right about the pics.

1 - Norris style coffin sided smoothing plane.
2 - Norris #51 style round sided smoothing plane.
3 - #112 scraper plane.

Home

Google says permanently closed.

 

[stephen thomas]

Right about the pics.

1 - Norris style coffin sided smoothing plane.
2 - Norris #51 style round sided smoothing plane.
3 - #112 scraper plane.

Home

Google says permanently closed.

the first adjustable throat/toe piece “infill” was based on that #51 casting. The proprietor told me it would not be possible. After i did & wrote it up in HSM magazine, he sold copies of the article for years afterwards. I also finished one of the 112 scraper plane clones. It gets occasional use but a big scraper plane like yours has a lot of appeal for me.

Did SJBTC owner retire?

Did you finish any of the castings?

smt

 

[rons]

Did SJBTC owner retire?

I do not know.

Did you finish any of the castings?

No. The biggest thing was how to hollow and square out the inside sections of the Norris bodies with hand tools.
Now it's no problem. The next thing is deciding what wood to fill the bodies.

 

[Pete Deal]

Here is one I made about 25 years ago. It's for cutting the male dovetail part of a sliding dovetail. I found that cutting the female part with a router worked fine but cutting the mating male part with a router or any kind of machine it was way too easy to go from too tight to too loose. This plane really worked out great since it allowed me to creep up on a good fit predictably. I couldn't find a plane to buy for the purpose so I made this one.