Thread: My Infill Plane

Well done MA, she’s purty! Will you post some end-grain pics in due course?

I look forward to seeing the rest of the collection as you build them!

I think for a first-ever effort, that's a first-class result!

Disappointing the mouth got a bit large, perhaps, but tight mouths aren't so important for end-grain planing. Some of the old mitre planes I've seen have the merest slit for a mouth, so the makers obviously had reliable methods for getting that right, but it took me several goes at split soles to get a mouth opening I was truly happy with & I'm still not confident I can do it every time! It's not as easy as some might think; I spend time doing the most careful layout to get them spot-on, but the tolerances are so small that filing or cutting the merest bit under or over the lines, or getting the bed a degree or two higher can make a significant difference to the final mouth gap. I've tried a couple of different approaches, like leaving extra metal on the front of the mouth & filing it after assembly. But there just isn't room to get anything but the thinnest of thin needle files in the gap & you have to chop a fair bit off the sharp end of the blade bed to get it in. That's not a big worry because that last mm or so of very thin metal doesn't do anything for supporting the blade, but you end up with a big slot that looks a bit clumsy. Filing 4 or 5mm thick steel with a needle file & trying to keep the whole thing straight & true is a very tedious business - I file & test, file & test & seem to be getting nowhere, then suddenly, the mouth gap is larger than it was supposed to be! On my last couple of split-sole planes, I went to endless pains to get the mouth right before assembly, but things can move a bit during peening & detract from my oh-so-careful preparation

When you get around to doing your first BD, standard pitch plane you'll find it a doddle by comparison - you can leave the mouth a bit under-size and there is still plenty of room to get a decent-sized file in to finesse it after assembly.

I would expect the bridge to be a bit stiff after you peened the axle pin - maybe if you work it back & forth a few dozen times it will loosen a bit? I've seen a discussion somewhere, way back, on how to do the pin for lever-caps & prevent that pinching. Again, no-one seems sure of how Norris & Spiers did it, but iirc, the recommendation was to slip a thin steel shim between LC or bridge & the side, & extract it after the axle pin is peened, relieving the compression. I have yet to do a peened pin for a LC, but I'm curious enough to give one a whirl some day (perhaps). So far, I've always used screws as stub-axles because I like to be able to remove the LC easily during the fettling stages (it often needs a little trim across the toe to have it mate nicely with the cap-iron); the 'axle' screws seem to do the job adequately & I've been pleased I could remove the LC down the track a few times when I decided to do some later modifications (I did quite a bit of post-construction work on my first infill! ).

If you can get your bridge loosened up a bit, the rosewood wedge should serve you well enough, I reckon there is a compromise between desirable hardness/stiffness of the wedge & getting a bit of elastic deformation under pressure from the bridge to hold it firmly in place - there's a lot of force on a low-angle blade when making a heavy cut. If the swivelling bridge is working properly, you shouldn't get severe marking or crushing of the (relatively) soft rosewood. Not sure what I'd select for a straight wedge myself; for all my "wedged" planes I've used woods like Gidgee & other very hard Acacias, but they are held by thumbscrews. Gidgee might be a bit too hard to work well as a simple wedge, but I think Western rosewood (A. rhodoxylon) might be good. It has a similar texture & consistency to the ebony I've had, & ebony was favoured for wedges on fancier models way back. I've also got some orange kamala (Mallotus sp.) - this is a small riverine or dry rainforest shrub/small tree with a stark white wood, similar in texture & density to boxwood (Buxus sp.), the infill wood much favoured by Bill Carter. Unfortunately, Mallotus is only a small tree (& throws multiple stems), plus it likes to split unpredictably when drying, but once dry it seems stable and is very similar to real box in the way it works (turns beatifully). So far I've only used some of the small bits I got earlier for 'trim' and the fence knobs on my little "Sandusky" plough plane: 3 plough a.jpg

The pic was taken when freshly new & over the 2 years since, they are ageing & yellowing just like 'real' box.

I've got some larger pieces drying atm, & I'm not likely to use any in more than one or two small planes as I prefer darker coloured woods against brass, so I should have more than I'm likely to need if they continue to dry without serious splitting. If you wanted to use some 'box' sometime, you're welcome to try a piece or two.

Cheers,

Thanks, Ian and Ian. I would love to give the Aussie "box" a go. I do have a board of Osage Orange but it wouldn't be thick enough for a bun. I need to slab up some Banksia logs I have soon and get them drying. I also have a few other timbers I could use. These planes take a long time to make, I will need to rest up before the next one!

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Originally Posted by IanW

I've seen a discussion somewhere, way back, on how to do the pin for lever-caps & prevent that pinching. Again, no-one seems sure of how Norris & Spiers did it, but iirc, the recommendation was to slip a thin steel shim between LC or bridge & the side, & extract it after the axle pin is peened, relieving the compression.

That is the same way as you have to do when assembling a foldable pocket knife. There it's really annoying if it gets too stiff. Therefore, a shim during peening is recommended and then pull it out when done.

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Stellar job on the infill plane, MA. She's a beauty!

Cheers,
Andy

Thanks, Andy. Nice to hear from you. Has it been a while? Or have I been too focussed on getting this plane finished? Thanks too, Picko, for your comments a few posts back.

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You haven't missed anything, MA. I haven't been in the forum lately, unfortunately sidetracked with other things - family, work, home maintenance, backyard, etc etc.
No projects of note in the past year, apart from a few small ones to satisfy the itch. I'll try to share them in a thread sometime this week.

Cheers,
Andy

Hi MA

A delightful little plane and steller effort. I hope the plane serves you well for many years come..


Martin

Thanks Martin. I reckon it will

Had a little time this morning for some more fettling and some end grain planing. Filed the plane bed down on one side to help square up blade presentation in mouth (and, therefore, to the wood). Things much improved. See below for some "chatoyence".

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