Thread: Make your own planing stop

Derek, good looking job.

I thought the the stops were made out of brass or some other softer non ferrous material, to minimise damage to a plane or blade when it is hit.

Hi Pat

This is annealed (unhardened) O1. Nevertheless it is well out of the way - not for low boards.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek

Nice work. One day I may replace my McJIng rip off of the English pivoting planing stop, which works well for me, once I learned to blow out the chips and dist from under the pivoting plate before screwing it down.
I assume that the 'mechanism' is a wooden block in a square hole and there is an interference fit between them to hold the steel plate at the appropriate height.

Thanks Jeremy.

On reflection, it is probably a little premature to post this planning stop. The question is whether the two brass screws will be strong/secure enough to hold the steel plate indefinitely. The screws are each 1" deep into Jarrah (which was drilled for the screws). There has been no signs of weakness in the short time I have used it. I just thought the steel plate was so easy to make, and so effective (!), that I should pass it on.

The dog took me a few minutes to make (I needed a new one anyway). The fit is close and the dog is (wooden) spring-loaded, so it is pushed up and down, and remains in its position.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Pondered about weather I would make one (way ahead in the future) since looking at it.
Might be insulting to swap it out when a newbie has a go at planing, but you could say it is for rough stuff not
cut at 90 degrees or a bit eroded at one end.
I have plenty of examples in my reclaimed only supplies ...

A more practical example...
I find shed doors sometimes, with two diagonal braces in the construction,
These braces are cut at 45 in different locations to make an odd shaped point.
Could you butt a roughly cut 45 degree end against your stop, or would you still feel best to cut that offcut to 90 degrees


I wonder if it was aluminium would it still mess the plane up.
At least thats another use for an old lemon thats being kept for parts

Thanks
Tom

There are mechanical ways to secure a planing stop also. A bolt and wing nut work well if mounted by the bench leg. I would be nervous about the metal top however. I know if its only used on thickish bits of wood then there is good clearance but I can be a bit sloppy in the shed at times. Since I got some holdfasts just a couple of years back I have also become a fan of the doe's foot stick to use with a stop and find I could just about get by without an end vice.
Regards
John

Tom and John

The combination of the metal stop and Doe's Foot in stabilising a board is just so profound (!) that it is my first choice now when planing diagonally across a board (such as when using a jack plane to take off highs). Obviously, do not use this metal stop if you feel you may hit it with a plane.

The teeth are small and sharp enough not to do any damage to the end grain of boards being planed. I would not use it with planed edge grain. It would damage that.

Luckily, I made all my dogs the exact same size and interchangeable. This will enable me to use the metal dog anywhere along the side of the bench.

Part of this thread was intended to emphasise just how amazing the Doe's Foot is as a end vise substitute - for those of you without an end vise.

Could you butt a roughly cut 45 degree end against your stop, or would you still feel best to cut that offcut to 90 degrees

John, trying to secure anything at 45 degrees will be problematical. What you need for this is a wedged (V-shaped) stop.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Thanks Jeremy.

On reflection, it is probably a little premature to post this planning stop. The question is whether the two brass screws will be strong/secure enough to hold the steel plate indefinitely.

Use two Unbrako CS screws and a bit of blue Loctite and they will never come out during use.

I like it Derek.
I guess points could also be placed on all 4 sides.
Maybe with different TPI?

Originally Posted by Tom trees

I wonder if it was aluminium would it still mess the plane up.

Al is even less likely to mess up a plane than brass.
BUT
With most Al Alloys being a bit softer than brass they would lose any point sharpness and hence grip quicker than brass.

If the screws are CS below the level of the top there's no reason they could not be steel screws, even TEK screws, which are usually a bit stronger than regular screws.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Use two Unbrako CS screws and a bit of blue Loctite and they will never come out during use.

Now why did I not think of this?!

I have suitable screws and threaded inserts.

Regards from Perth

Derek

OK, I have made a modification to the way the stop is attached to the dog.



The brass screws have been replaced by stainless steel M6 bolts into threaded inserts ...



This is the spring-loaded bench dog. It will remain at any height it is set. Note that all my bench dogs are exactly the same, and this one can be used in place of any other ...



How the stop looks to the wood



And once again to emphasise the relevance of the Doe's Foot ...



Regards from Perth

Derek