Search:

I'd try to find out what local custom says, or observe old fence lines to see what seems to work in your area. Preferred woods (and their availability) vary so much with districts that advice from...

Graeme, I think metal planes were actually fairly well-received in the US, they were on a roll to 'modernise' & much more receptive to new tools than their counterparts in Europe. The Brits...

Martin, how do you blokes find things so easily?! I've searched for the darn things numerous times in the past & only ever found them at eye-watering prices. It's possibly not made to moon-rocket...

Looks a bit "retro", but anything that makes life easier has to be a good thing.. :U

The adjustment on my 5 1/2 was really tight when I first got it & the small thumbwheel didn't improve matters. ...

When ripping a board on saw horses, I ease the return stroke by lifting the handle just a fraction. It's not so much a conscious lift as pulling back in a line slightly angled to the bottom of the...

Me? Controversial? Never!! :U

Wellll, this is a digression to your own thread, but I feel obliged to clarify what I mean by 'ergonomics':
Indeed, the LAS has a tote, & has a knob for depth...

It's not the aesthetics I don't like, it's the ergonomics of the thing. My LAS & I just never hit it off, which is a pity, 'cos I was expecting much from it based on the hype it engendered when...

I won't jump on you this time, Martin, you're just giving us a heads-up of what's coming to the Market-place..... :;

:)

Paul, as you point out yourself, those catalogue pics are drawings and can be subject to a little 'artistic licence' at times, so the proportions may not be exact. But it is interesting to me that...

It's not a straight-on shot so I may be seeing an optical delusion, but it looks like the Hairy-oak handle is closer to the frog than the handle of the 409 - is that the case, or am I seeing things? ...

Martin, I'd never claim 'expert' status for anything, I'm perfectly happy being Mr. Everidge! I simply learnt how to grind & hone a knife so it would cut tissue the way that old meat-inspector...

Martin, have you ever examined disposable razor blades under reasonable magnification? They are a loong way from what I (& doubtless you), would accept on a plane blade or chisel. But they actually...

"Let burrs be your friends", eh? :)

When grinding, burrs form by plastic deformation of the material due to the impact of the abrasive particles as they smash into the metal. Any process that...

:U Yep, saves a minor interrogation & having to reassure the significant other that it won't do the slightest harm to the oven. I make sure I clean all the scale & any residual oil off so it...

Thanks Michael - now all I have to do is find a tree that has just blown over in a storm & not in a national park.... :U

I have not tried to work grey box other than split it for firewood (there's...

The curious thing to me about (genuine) box wood is that it's dense & hard (Janka 2940 lbs ft), though far from the league of bull oak & gidgee with Janka hardness approaching 4,000 lbs ft), yet it's...

David, from my very limited experience (a grand total of 1!), the 59-ish you quoted for the later Norris irons sounds pretty right to me. The iron in my plane was usable, but it could definitely have...

That's more or less what I was implying - if they are happy to call it 'box' then who are we to argue?



There are not many other woods that have the colour & texture of Buxus. There are a few...

Surely that blade wasn't like that when it left the factory, which begs the question of what happened to it in the meantime to cause it to be so brittle? The blade in my (late model) A5 was on the...

Wot's in a name, eh Matt? :U

At least you can feel fairly certain you didn't míss out on a bunch of nice chisel handles, though a lot of hedge woods can make decent handles. I grubbed out a...

Matt, it doesn't look like any box I've seen (not that I've seen a huge number!); the leaves are too pointy, the bark doesn't look right & the growth rings on that cut branch are very wide, they...

Hi Martin, great minds think alike (again!). Been thinking about doing just that for the longest time, but not with steel, I have some aluminium bar that I think might be better than steel in this...

How tight a lever-cap needs to be is a good subject for discussion. It's a bit of a moveable feast, imo, given the number of variables in a plane, especially old & well-used examples, plus the type...

Seems odd to me that they'd make the jaws close on 3 points only, but it may well be they were done that way. Matt (Simplicity) described the same situation with his Disston saw vise a few years...

Rob, it looks a bit 'unconventional', but I can see it might have advantages for on the go adjusting; you should be able to easily get a finger on one of the spokes and give it a tweak as you plane. ...

I've always thought the jaws should flatten out and make contact along the full length. The most recent metal saw vise I used was a Grammercy & it had concave jaws that flattened out when locked so...

Yes, well, I've already said my piece, but thought I might add my old adage that it's also about what you get used to. I've got a couple of saws I reach for because they feel just right for...

Martin, I guess I do have opinions, but I'll leave it to the audience to decide how useful they may be... :)

First, blade thickness (& here my experimenting has nearly all been done with backsaws,...

I'll sharpen 'er up & stand by, Michael. :;

If nothing else we should get a few boards nicely edged......
:U
Cheers

Amused to see the number of machines involved, I was expecting to see some aged, arthritic master doing it all with hand tools, but I guess there's still skill is in the final fitting (not to mention...

If there's a decent slot remaining it's usually very easy to undo the nuts. However, it certainly can be a struggle at times, Ive struck a couple that were seized due to something getting into the...

Amen to that! The Eclipse blades offered in hardware stores are woeful but you can improve them significantly by sharpening them if you have the patience & a suitable vise to hold them. They are as...

That was my point, Matt - on a long cut the work just has to lie down.... :U

And yep, these blokes did go all day & what's more they seemed to enjoy themselves immensely doing it. I might've been...

While that may well be true in many cases Matt, I think the way this bloke is shown using the saw is a genuine technique, I've seen several pics over the years of saws being used so. It may look a...

It certainly looks user- made, as John suggests, by someone who needed a short saw. Having coarse teeth at the toe does suggest it was meant to work its way into a cut from a flat surface, though...

Yairs, the extra mass of my metal plane does give it a bit of momentum in harder woods, but there's a trade off to be sure - the mass increases with every stroke after the first 100! My biggest...

When I looked at the pic you posted I thought your H.O. looked a bit pale, M.A., but when I compared it to a pic of some Paul & I collected a few years ago, it doesn't look much different. And what...

Sadly, Neil, it doesn't take much "bite" from any blade to make me grunt these days.... :C

I rarely use the full width of the 1 1/2" blade on my scrub plane (Veritas). I've maintained the radius...

:2tsup: 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...

You are amassing quite a collection of these planes CK!

That's a nifty little rebate, double-iron & an adjustable mouth as well. Is the nicker missing, or have you just removed it while you...

And done with Toona no less. That's a wood that I find highly vexing to dovetail, it's so soft & wants to crumble rather than cut even with the sharpest of chisels! I dips me lid to you, squire......

Hi MA., "swivelling" bridges were commonly used on some planes but as I said above, they were not used on mitres for reasons that escape me. It makes sense both from a functional aspect & also makes...

I like Howell's solution - neat, a full socket for the horn and should be as comfortable as the others....

Cheers,

I use 3mm for a 6mm thick bridge, 4mm would be ok, but you'll need to be very accurate drilling the holes for that diameter with only a mm 'spare' on each side. If you're doing a fixed bridge with...

:U You're even more impatient than I am, MA. I'm always anxious to see a plane make some shavings too, but I usually wait 'til I've got the wedge or lever-cap in place (temporarily, at least), and...

This strikes me as a very odd thing to do - to deliberately reduce the mechanical strength of a joint. It's probably still a bit more robust than the dovetailed joint, but why not have the nose...

Yup, happens to me infuriatingly often!.. It's the wretched epoxy glue, it makes an excellent lubricant when wet, and lets the wood slip into places where it didn't want to go when dry. Even though...

Good fix, CK - I hope all those glue-joints hold! :U

That dovetailed joint for the horn does seem to be a major source of problems with these planes; I've seen several with crude "fixes" and one...

Cheer up Matt, I find that front horn awkward too & I'm a decidedly right-handed person! I guess it's a matter of what you are used to, the folks who use "Bismarks" (I'm sure the Europeans don't...

Why do you think it's not "Philippine mahogany", Rusty? That's such a catch-all for so many species from all across S.E Asia both legitimately & not so legitimately traded under that moniker, along...