Thread: Panel-plane build

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

......I seriously considered buying those pieces when they were offered for sale
I'm glad you got them as the resulting plane is a lot better than I would have acheived.....

Thanks Nick, though I'm sure you are underselling yourself. I'm glad I had the experience of buiding a dovetailed plane body before, & it was nice to have the facilities to tidy up the few bits & pieces mentioned, but I'm sure anyone with a modicum of care and the time to go carefully would've gotten a plane they were pretty pleased with. I assure you all, metal dovetails are in some ways much easier than their wooden counterparts, so don't be put off by that part of the build....

I'm sorry if I elbowed anyone out - I did wait a while to see if there were other takers.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

If you can extrapolate the suffering associated with lapping the last little divot on the back of a plane blade onto a surface the size of the one you're working with now, then I can imagine that last little divot will be a bugger!......

You're not just a-woofin there, Luke! The ziconium paper made one heck of a difference, it keeps on cutting for a very long time, where the Al oxide gets very dull after a short while, but it still takes an awful lot of strokes, and the extra 'grab' of the coarse, sharp paper really adds to the effort. Close as I was last night, I decided to quit - as rsser is fond of saying, that last 10% of flattening can take 90% of the time & effort, so I'm not looking forward to it with relish!

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

......If I know you well enough, you've had a place picked out for this plane in your tool cabinet since long before the cabinet was made, but still don't forget to post a photo of it in its new home......

I'll have to let you down, this time. Although I've nursed the desire to have one of these cool gadgets for 32 years, I wasn't sure it would ever happen. It was the last item on the list of planes that I still want to tackle, & at the rate I'm going, I'm not sure I have enough time to complete them all.....

But I have been standing in front of the tool cupboard for long moments, trying to figure out how I'm going to re-arrange the Rubik cube....

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

.......Any idea which Dalbergia it is? Do you think the kit is old enough for it to be Brazilian?.....

I think it is Dalbergia nigra, but I'm no wood id expert. As the Wood Database says, it has a strong & distinctive smell when worked (I wouldn't describe it as 'rose-like' myself, but yes, it's vaguely in that ball-park). The stuff that came with the kit smells exactly like I remember from the Brazilian Rosewood I bought many years ago, before over-exploitation & CITES restrictions made the stuff virtually unobtainable...

Cheers,

I sourced the timber thru a guitar maker friend who I'm sure obtained it from Richard out at Trend back in the day.
Ill be seeing him when I get home so will ask, he'll know exactly what it is.
Ian, I didn't get to the Calgary ex as I am off to Saskatoon to get underfoot at Mike Hosaluk's for a week.
The way the weather is going I thought I'd better winterise the motorhome before heading off.
H.

Originally Posted by IanW

I think it is Dalbergia nigra...

Well that'd make it something really special. Either way it's awesome.

I don't want to derail the thread, but I'm curious as to the dimensions (L & W) and weight of the plane. How does it stack up against your Bailey 5 1/2?

What is the pitch? And what is its niche for you, i.e. which applications do you see yourself using it on?

Sorry if you've answered those questions.

Cheers,
Luke

Originally Posted by clear out

I sourced the timber thru a guitar maker friend who I'm sure obtained it from Richard out at Trend back in the day.
Ill be seeing him when I get home so will ask, he'll know exactly what it is.
Ian, I didn't get to the Calgary ex as I am off to Saskatoon to get underfoot at Mike Hosaluk's for a week.
The way the weather is going I thought I'd better winterise the motorhome before heading off.
H.

Cheers Henry - would be good to know for sure. Since you have outed yourself to some extent, I can now reveal you were the kit vendor & thank you publicly. It's given me a lot of fun (& a few anxious moments) over the last few weeks.

Enjoy Saskabush - I spent three years there (working at the Western College of Vet. Medicine). And yeah, you better winterise the motor-home 'real good', if you plan to be there during the next few months. Gets just a wee bit chilly, at times.....

Cheers,

What a difference the right tool makes! With the zirconium paper I was able to finish lapping the sole in an hour or so today. I took it to 180 grit, which, as I said above, is what I consider plenty for a working plane.
It's not a perfect job, there are a few blemishes I wish weren't there, but you have to search for them, & I'm not pointing them out to anyone. Overall, I think it would score an 8.5 out of 10.

After boasting that I was getting better at setting the blade, it gave me a right royal time this afternoon when I set it up for the 'perfect shaving', but with a bit lot of fiddling, I eventually got nice, full-width shavings: F3.jpg

I'm pretty happy with it. My test piece has grain running in opposite directions at the start & end of the board, but the new plane was quite comfortable taking shavings from 2 to about 6 thou without any tear-out: F2.jpg

The shavings rolled out of the throat, too, so all good in my world tonight...

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

........I don't want to derail the thread, but I'm curious as to the dimensions (L & W) and weight of the plane. How does it stack up against your Bailey 5 1/2?
...... What is the pitch?

Luke, I haven't been very forthcoming with the vital statistics, I've mentioned a few, but mostly on the other thread where I asked for info about panel planes. So here we go:
Length: ~370mm (14.5 ")
~75mm (3")
Blade 64mm (2.5")
Weight: a touch over 4Kg (8.9 lbs) It's a hefty brute! My Bailey 5.5. which we aged at somewhere around 1918, iirc, weighs 2.5Kg (or 5.5 lbs which is appropriate), just a bit over half the weight of the new boy.

The pitch has ended up at near enough to 48* (I checked it carefully tonight).
I only used it for a fe minutes before takng the final pics & packing it in for the night, but it feels very nice - once you get it moving, it just sails down the board, as the shaving ribbons out of the throat. And I hadn't even waxed the sole. So I'm looking forward to giving it a decent workout, & in particular, seeing how the blade holds up in real use. I'm already hatching a plan to ask Ron Hock to make me a custom blade - that ought to make it very special....

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

........ And what is its niche for you, i.e. which applications do you see yourself using it on? .....

Ah, now you have me squirming a little, Luke! OK, I'll admit it, I simply fell in love with the things 32 years ago, & like all love affairs it's irrational and doesn't bear analysis. This is definitely a case of a hammer looking for a nail, atm. And like any love affair, it may blossom into a true & lasting relationship, or we might part company (but without acrimony, I hope...).

Whatever, I do think it's a pretty nice user, so I'm hopeful it'll be the former. And I think I've figured out how to squeeze it into the tool cupboard!

Cheers,

Ian.
I've been quietly following along on your journey here.
As I suspect many are.
And O my you have out done your self.
I've desperately wanted to make a metal plane since viewing Peters excellent web side over 10 years ago.
But well other things just keep getting in the way.
But that yet again is truly a great result and again a great write up.
And when I read your last thread wow he his a heavy beast.
I'm not gifted with the keyboard [emoji849]
But one question how or more precisely what did you use to do the peening with.
Was it punch of some sort
Or a small engineers Hamer struck with another if that makes sense.

Cheers Matt
And you really could write a great book

Ian

This is definitely a case of the journey being at least as important as the destination. However, I feel sure you will find a use for it.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Simplicity

..... But one question how or more precisely what did you use to do the peening with.
Was it punch of some sort
Or a small engineers Hammer struck with another if that makes sense......

Matt, I am utterly ignorant when it comes to the finer points of metal work - no let's be honest, probably even the basic points, so there was nothing refined about my methodology. I'd watched an uncle (a fitter) peining rivets as a kid & assumed that's how you do it, so I just whaled away with the ball of a ball-pein hammer - about an 8 ouncer. Never even thought about using some sort of intermediate tool like a punch, but now you mention it, it might've been useful to move more metal towards some of the corners where it was very skimpy & I had trouble getting it to fill.

You do need to be reasonably accurate with the hammer, but oth, you are using relatively light blows, so when you do occasionally miss & hit the 'good' metal, it doesn't leave much of a ding. The few I made sanded out easily when I was lapping it.

You'd probably do it differently (& in a 1/4 the time) being much more at home with metal than I'll ever be.....

Cheers,

I actually had the exact same question about the peening. Interesting that you were able to move the metal so precisely with just a hammer. Show's what I know about metalworking...

I'm sure we won't chastise you too much for not having a specific niche to fill. I know I'm as guilty as anyone. I have my eye on a Stanley 5 1/4 plane, even though I have zero expectation that it will ever get used.

A beauty that works as well as it looks. I'm sure it'll get lots of use just out of the sheer joy of using something you made. Hopefully I'll make it around to see it in person one day.

Cheers,
Luke

Originally Posted by IanW

...

I'm sorry if I elbowed anyone out - I did wait a while to see if there were other takers.....

Cheers,

Don't be concerned, you didn't edge me out. I'd decided that I would never do it justice and I've got quite enough "not quite started" tool builds without adding another to the list.

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

....I actually had the exact same question about the peening. Interesting that you were able to move the metal so precisely with just a hammer. Show's what I know about metalworking...

Well, I'm not sure 'precisely' is the correct term, Luke. What you do is move the metal in lots of teeny bumps. It's easier than you might think, though I find I become a bit less accurate as my hammering arm gets tired in a long session. The peined bits look a lot like the surface of the moon in miniature, when you've finished.

If you are thinking of giving this sort of process a go, just grab some 1/8th thick mild steel and join two bits together with a single dovetail. File them flush and voila, you'll probably see the joint disappear entirely if your peining was up to scratch. That's what I did before I made my coffin smoother. It gave me some confidence, and when I was finished, I tried to break it apart and was really surprised by how well it held - just as good as a weld, but far neater!

And yep, I hope you'll drop by the shed again, some day......
Cheers,

With out wanting to run your thread of course Ian.
Because I could never do that [emoji52]Paul AKA Bushmiler has more experience at that then me.
I borrowed my father in laws bench this evening after work.
And make no apologies for it's disgusting condition, and I don't have the diplomacy to tell and 87 year old to clean his bench up either.
When I make, or if I make a metal body dovetail plane.
I would possibly use this technique to peen the dovetails together.
Unless of course I'm educated or told I'm completely wrong or shown the ills of this method.
I can't even remember we're I sore it either.
Obviously I'm using a picture to tell a thousand words.
But I think you get the idea.

And one more question Ian, would you use a plane kit again.
Or would you go completely from scratch.

Cheers Matt.
And thanks for the little complement tho I think you were being overly kind[emoji12].

Originally Posted by Simplicity

......I would possibly use this technique to peen the dovetails together.
Unless of course I'm educated or told I'm completely wrong or shown the ills of this method.
I can't even remember we're I sore it either.
Obviously I'm using a picture to tell a thousand words.

.....And one more question Ian, would you use a plane kit again.
Or would you go completely from scratch....

Matt, I can certainly see the point in what you suggest. It would eliminate or at least greatly reduce the number of mis-hits. I will give it a try sometime. I do think it might be a bit cumbersome, though, because you tend to move the job with one hand, to get the right angles, while striking constantly with the hammer. Having to use two hands to do the hammering might be rather awkward.

In some ways, starting from scratch has advantages, but the kit had advantages too. Apart from getting the lovely, otherwise unobtainable Rosewood, it had a very nicely-cast lever cap. You can make a lever cap from a solid lump of brass, but it is not a job for the faint-hearted to tackle. I've made a relatively small one, and it took a while to do! I suppose it's six of one & half a dozen of the other.....

Cheers,