Thread: German Style Smoothing Plane.

I purchased one of those at the old tool sale and they are great. Mine is Dutch and has a lignum vitae sole. The mouth is unfortunately very big about 6mm front of blade and the blade came with a good camber so I have set it as a scrub plane, very comfortable in the hand.

I think this design is very underrated. If I did not have enough planes I would get more of them.

Nicely done Stewie.

I have either one or two of those planes knocking around somewhere. The better one, from memory, suffers the same ailment as Thumbsucker's plane: Namely too big a mouth! I also have a jointer ( similar style to the Jarrah jointer you made recently, but not nearly as nice) and that has the same problem. Perhaps it is contagious and they are stored too close together. One day I must look into a rebuild.

Regards
Paul

Not too bad for my 1st attempt at shaping a German front horn. English Walnut. Left handed plane. Next on the list is to place an order for a quality brand German parallel double iron.

The tote is just sitting in position for the photo. The front of the planes main stock will be stepped down to receive the tote, no different to the other German plane I recently refurbished.

The tote will be glued into position.

Titebond No-Run, No-Drip provides a strong initial tack and fast speed of set, yet allows realignment of working pieces. It also develops a bond stronger than the wood itself, offers excellent sandability and is unaffected by finishes.

Ah ha!

The plot thickens.

Regards
Paul

The end grain to long grain Titebond Glue test proved reasonably strong, but doubts remained whether the joint would fail over the long term with seasonal movement.



The decision was made to mortise in a Jarrah dovetail keyway with outside facing long gain. That will achieve a later long grain to long grain glue joint when the front horn is permanently glued in position with Hide Glue. I went ahead and ordered a 1 5/8" double iron from LN. There was just way too much hassle trying to purchase a double iron of that width from ECE in Germany. I will hold off any further progress until the new double iron arrives in the post.

Dovetail key after being glued into position.


Test fit with the front horn.

Curious as to why you didn't elect to use an NOS vintage double iron, or a slightly used double iron. I see Greaves and Ward (which would've been dandy) on ebay for reasonable prices. The ECE double irons are very heavily sprung and tapered, and the LN are on the other end of the spectrum.

Originally Posted by D.W.

Curious as to why you didn't elect to use an NOS vintage double iron, or a slightly used double iron. I see Greaves and Ward (which would've been dandy) on ebay for reasonable prices. The ECE double irons are very heavily sprung and tapered, and the LN are on the other end of the spectrum.

DW; I have plenty of NOS or used double irons available in the workshop. All the cap irons have a raised dome nut on them, which is a feature I am trying to avoid on this particular German plane build.



The following shows my recent jointer plane build which also features a 1 5/8" double iron. To achieve a low height on the wedge tines, the back of the wedge had to be heavily mortised out to accommodate the raised dome nut on the cap iron. Note also that the cutting iron istapered in thickness and the cap iron is heavily sprung.





Moving on to the recently refurbished German Smoothing Plane; note the cap iron does have a raised dome nut (a common feature on ETC and Ulmia double irons), the shortness of the wedges tine length, the light groove required to the back of the wedge to accommodate the slightly raised threads from the cap iron bolt, the iron is parallel in thickness (another common feature on ETC and Ulmia wooden bench planes), and that the cap iron is not heavily sprung. Appreciate your interest in this German Smoothing Plane build. Stewie;

Makes sense on the cap iron and the nut. The same problem occurs on infills when a replacement iron is stuck under a lever cap and there isn't enough relief. Several of the infills that I have now have that dome nut mostly ground off so that it doesn't interfere with the lever cap (so that's an option). If they're threaded the whole way through the cap iron, it's not really a problem since they're made of steel.

I haven't looked at my two older continental smooth planes in at least a year, but it may be that their irons are more like yours - I recall thinking that everything about the planes was similar to English except the location of the mouth and the handles (even the wear is tall on the older ones, despite not being so on the new ones).

What sticks out in my mind is how heavily sprung the primus plane was that I had, and it illuminated why the mujingfang cap iron that I have is sprung to the same absurd amount (i would guess the muji folks copied their cap iron design from one of the newer continental planes). I wish they'd have copied a vintage design instead, but it probably has something to do with wanting to manufacture the cap without much hand skill (sprung heavily, and the front of the cap iron just looks like it was made flat on a rotary machine - kind of garish).

Still waiting for the new double irons to arrive. I completed the rear bun and shaped the back end of the plane stock. I also added the front end bevels and the makers stamp. 1.5 tonnes of hydraulic pressure was needed to achieve a good imprint on Australian Jarrah end grain. I still need to remove the excess paint fill with a card scraper. I will do the wooden wedge and abutment block tomorrow. The sole length of this smoothing plane is 10 inches.

I am about to do a restoration job on a German smoothing plane similar to this one, However due to the heavy wear on the sole I am going to have re dress it by about 6mm yes it really is that bad. the rest of the plane in good though. I am considering using a piece of brass plate to give it some weight and extra wear resistance on the sole. Is it worth doing? or am I better off laminating on a piece of Australian Hard wood like spotted gum?

Nice looking plane is that a Jarrah body? I am thinking of using either grey gum or spotted gum for a wide coffin smother?

Kate; its Rift Sawn Jarrah. What is the difference between Quarter Sawn, Rift Sawn and Plain Sawn Lumber? | Hardwood Distributors

Originally Posted by Kate84TS

I am about to do a restoration job on a German smoothing plane similar to this one, However due to the heavy wear on the sole I am going to have re dress it by about 6mm yes it really is that bad. the rest of the plane in good though. I am considering using a piece of brass plate to give it some weight and extra wear resistance on the sole. Is it worth doing? or am I better off laminating on a piece of Australian Hard wood like spotted gum?

Kate; I would dress back the 1/4" of sole wear then add a 1/2" hardwood laminate. Orientate the grain direction on the exposed surface of the laminates sole so its running toe to heel.

Stewie;

Originally Posted by planemaker

Kate; I would dress back the 1/4" of sole wear then add a 1/2" hardwood laminate. Orientate the grain direction on the exposed surface of the laminates sole so its running toe to heel.

Stewie;

Hi Stewie,

That's what I was thinking would be the easiest option, thanks for the tip regarding grain direction. I was wondering what adhesive you would recommend as I was looking at a Polyurethane based glue like the Klibert brand as I have use that before and it holds really well in all conditions.