Thread: My first homemade plane

Tony,
It looks like it takes a nice shaving and I like the shape.
What wood is it?
Regards

Originally Posted by orraloon

Tony,
It looks like it takes a nice shaving and I like the shape.
What wood is it?
Regards

It's from an ironbark log that has been lying around our house for 20 years or so. It's quite hard and straight grained so that it is reasonably easy to plane without the grain picking up. It looks quite good with a few more coats of oil.

Well done on your first wooden plane.

Nicely done, Tony! Looks great!

Hi Tony - that went together nicely.

I guess shape is very much a matter of individual choice, and it does not necessarily improve or detract much from comfort in use. If it feels ok as-is, just leave it there, perhaps. You can't do much shaping of the sides because of the laminated construction, so a 'coffin' shape is out. If you think the block shape is too boring, perhaps you could cut down the back a bit to make a 'coupe'?

Of the two small (38mm wide blade) planes I've made in the last couple of years, both are user-friendly, and both can be used one-handed easily. I think the little Ironwood coffin smoother is the nicer of the two to use - it just fits in my hand in a most comfortable way. The brass-sided plane might score better on appearance, & looks like it might be better to hold onto, but somewhat to my surprise, it isn't....

Cheers,

Hi Tony. Thats a fantastic result for your 1st hand plane build. I love the way you have managed to keep the mouth nice and tight in front of the blade. Keep up the good work. Those prepared to try their hand are too few and hard to find.

Stewie.

Hi Ian. I can see another slippery slope you might fall straight into. Backsaws now hand plane builds. You continually surprise me with your prowess.

Stewie.

Stewie - thanks for the compliment, but I don't think I will be challenging HNT any time soon!

I've actually made quite a few planes over the years, and they have not all been successful. My first try was a real dog that I never did get to work very well, but the mistakes I made taught me a few things about plane construction. So I'm impressed when I see someone turn out what looks like a fine little user on their first try....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Of the two small (38mm wide blade) planes I've made in the last couple of years, both are user-friendly, and both can be used one-handed easily.

IanW - are those blades massively thick, or are the planes teeny tiny and the blade made from a nail-file?



Paul McGee

Originally Posted by pmcgee

IanW - are those blades massively thick, or are the planes teeny tiny and the blade made from a nail-file?



Paul McGee

Certainly not nail-files, Paul, just excessively thick blades.

I cut them from a chunk of 1.5 x 0.25 inch, ground HSS, which was an impulse buy from McJing's at a TWWW show some years back. I would have preferred3/16" but he didn't have anything less than 1/4" thick in that width, on the day. I cut it with a plasma cutter, & as you might imagine, it took some time to grind the bevels. At least the backs were very flat, & only needed a bit of a polish, thank goodness.

The steel is certainly hard, probably too hard, and it's the sort of HSS that has a fairly coarse grain structure. I hone a good edge on them, but they don't leave as glossy a surface as some of my other blades. Part of the reason for that, too, is the high bed angle, particularly on the brass-sided job.

The woodie is a nice little plane, but it has a nasty quirk. When I tap the end to loosen the wedge, the blade sometimes falls out. Bad enough over the bench, but I would definitely not like that chunk of steel hitting my foot edge-first!

I better leave a note in my toolbox, warning whoever inherits it to be very careful.....
Cheers,