Thread: Questions about Block Planes?

If this is your first attempt, have you considered going this way:

HNT Gordon and Co Classic Plane Makers Australia

At the very least, I'd suggest buying a ready made quality blade and then making the body of the plane yourself. Suitable blades can be obtained from HNT Gordon, Hock Tools, and several others. Sourcing a small piece of suitable steel and fabricating the blade, just for a one off, will chew up a lot of time and effort.

Hock tools make plane kits ready for you to assemble including the blade. I did one and very happy with it, it showed me how to make my own if ever I decide to.

SB

Thankyou Mr Brush & Super Bunny, both excellent links.

I would very much like to start from scratch & build it myself. I'll probably build a couple or 3 or possibly more, depending on how much I enjoy it.

I guess, for me it's as much about the journey as the the destination. I imagine I will bugger up a few before I am happy but that would be pretty nomal for me with most projects.

Buying the steel is not a huge problem, nor is the machining.

I like the Krenov style plane, and I am hoping to find a set of plans for one. It sholud be a very interesting little project I think.

Steve

Steve, I think Jarrah will be fine. For a block plane you could just rummage in the bin at a demolition yard, you'll find heaps of old bits of joist or rafter more than big enough. You won't be able to tell the species with any certainty but I have found some beautiful stuff that way.

I'm interested to see how you go making the blade. It's not something I have ever thought of but with these thing the journey is the destination so I can see it being a very interesting project.

Cheers

Thanks Irving,

Good tip on the salvage yard. As it happens, I have quite a big stack of very old Jarrah, some of it is over 100years old.

This is one of the reasons I would like to use Jarrah. Another reason is I just love the grain & colour of a nice smooth piece of oiled jarrah. Infact, the only thing I dont like is Jarrah splintters, & I always get splinters whenever I work with Jarrah.

For some reason, they seem to irritate me alot more thn other timbers.


Steve

Ticky - if you really get hooked, there is a good book by David Finck on making all sorts of wooden planes. There is a brief intro in this video:

David Finck: Woodworker | Video Library

I have a copy of the book, and it is well worth the price of admission.

Steve,

Buying the steel is not a huge problem, nor is the machining.

There you open a can of worms...

A lot of people treat carpentry tools with a lot more attention (or respect) than I do.
A plane is a simple tool, it breaks down to a few simple ideas. You'll make one easily.

Normal O1 is fine for the blade, and if you can machine metal, then consider either buying/scavenging some O1 bar or using a scavenged piece of leaf spring. Old time quenching is just fine for O1. (e.g. heat to cherry red and quench in an oil drum)

I think that planes benefit from thicker blades, which means that 4WD leaf spring material is ideally suited. However, factory made blades are only a few mm thick, and they are stiff enough for the purpose.

Any timber that has growth rings at right angles to the plane body is better than ok for the body... hard to describe in words, but think (or research) 1/4 cut timber.
The tighter the growth rings and the older timber the better, IMO.
Jarrah is fine, you don't want timber that will throw long splinters (as it will splinter around the mouth really bad) but surely being an Adelaide lad you can find some 'tight growth ring' 1/4 cut desert timbers? So, any tight, 1/4 cut, stable timber that won't throw a long splinter is ok.

Making a good plane is a lot simpler than cutting a diff gear.... so if machining metal is not a problem for you then making a blade from scratch will be a piece of cake. (and if you can machine up a plane body... then I wish you were my neighbour!)

Here is a link to a laminated body plane... e.g. 5 cuts on a table saw to make the body. easy peasy. Reverse engineering a plan shouldn't be too hard.
Look forward to the result....

Another source of good timber is some of the sad old wooden jointers with broken or no handle that you might see online or at a shop somewhere. (Although some antique shops will believe exactly that is worth slapping say $120 price tag on it. )
Cheers,
Paul

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Ticky - if you really get hooked, there is a good book by David Finck on making all sorts of wooden planes. There is a brief intro in this video:
David Finck: Woodworker | Video Library
I have a copy of the book, and it is well worth the price of admission.

Good link!
Paul

Have I got a block plane for you!! Of course it pays to just look at my website

Jarrah block plane, 5" long, 1 1/4" wide Mujingfang blade (get them from Lee Valley), bevel down at 40 degrees - that makes this a low angle block plane. It slices end grain with the best LA block planes. (Note that the HNT Gordon block plane is 55 degrees - really a small smoother ... but a sweet little plane. There is a review on my website).

The plane at the front ...



I made a couple for the recent LN Tool Event in Perth. Later I upgraded them with brass mouths ...



There is a pictorial of building a Krenov style plane on my website here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...vSmoother.html

This is a really nice plane. I use one a lot of the time.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Ticky - if you really get hooked, there is a good book by David Finck on making all sorts of wooden planes. There is a brief intro in this video:

David Finck: Woodworker | Video Library

I have a copy of the book, and it is well worth the price of admission.

Thankyou Mr Brush.
I have obtained a copy of that book, but I didn't get the DVD/CD with it. Did you get it with yours, or do you know if it is available to view or download from the forum video library?

I only picked it up, secondhand, this afternoon & have only flicked through it quickly but it looks like it will be well worth having.

Steve

Originally Posted by Clinton1

Making a good plane is a lot simpler than cutting a diff gear.... so if machining metal is not a problem for you then making a blade from scratch will be a piece of cake. (and if you can machine up a plane body... then I wish you were my neighbour!)

Hey Clinton,
Thanks for the advice & The encouragement. I have thought about this for a long time and I'm looking forward to getting into it. The Bad news is, I won't be able to start for a few weeks. The good news is We are escaping the winter & cruising to the tropics. You have to take the good with the bad I always say.

I think I should be clear about the machining not being a problem for me. I have a good mate with a machine shop, & and so... It won't be a problem for me. His machines are really cool, I even know how to turn a couple of them on.



DERIC,

Your planes are a beautiful work of art. I really like the brass insert.

Hopefully, oneday I will be able to make something like that for myself. They would also make wonderful presents to the right people. I have a Brother & a Sister that would really appreciate a nice plane like that. I really hope I can do the idea justice.



Steve

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

If this is your first attempt, have you considered going this way:

HNT Gordon and Co Classic Plane Makers Australia

At the very least, I'd suggest buying a ready made quality blade and then making the body of the plane yourself. Suitable blades can be obtained from HNT Gordon, Hock Tools, and several others. Sourcing a small piece of suitable steel and fabricating the blade, just for a one off, will chew up a lot of time and effort.

This is how I went , I brought a block plane kit from HNT and went with Gidge as apposed to jarrah , I remembered reading somewhere that terry settled on Gidgee as his favourite wood for planes . { something along the lines of strength, hardness and the oiliness of the wood }

Hope this helps

Ticky - I just have the book; I bought an autographed copy direct from David Finck. Haven't found a need for the DVD - he does have some very clever tricks that I haven't seen anywhere else, and it is all very well explained in the book.

madcraft - I bet that's one sweet looking plane - I've only heard good reports about Terry's plane kits. Nothing against Mr Hock, but I'd rather support local toolmakers like HNT Gordon if at all possible !