Seriously thin wood shavings

[derekcohen]

These are some seriously thin shavings taken at a recent Japanese competition.

Shavings as thin as 0.01mm (0.0004") were achieved (measured with a caliper).

http://fr.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lud...2e.jpg&.src=ph

On this one, we see the actual measurement with a caliper, and notice the transparency of the shaving:

http://fr.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lud...ea.jpg&.src=ph

This other picture shows that not only the shaving can be thin and wide, but also long! The lumber was 3' (180cm) in length.

http://fr.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lud...28.jpg&.src=ph

Regards from Perth

Derek

[ryanarcher]

Derek,
I believe the winning shaving at the Kezurou-Kai is usually about 3-4 microns thick which is of course .003mm-.004mm. (or 3000-4000 nanometers, or 30000-40000 angstroms, or 0.0001181-0.0001575 inches )

so .01mm is actually pretty thick.
-Ryan

seriously though, awesome pictures.

[bitingmidge]

OK you blokes!!!

So when does a shaving become so thin, that your highly tuned whoop-de-doop plane doesn't actually do anything, and you go back to the old #4 with the 3/16" wide mouth??

Cheers,


P

[Termite]

As I've posted before, I've achieved shavings of under .01 mm, as measured by ARose, this was done with a Lee Valley LA Smoother.

[silentC]

I once took a shaving so fine that it disappeared in a puff of dust as it came off the blade.

[Rusty]

Yeah? Well, I once took a shaving so fine that it split atoms and caused a thermonuclear explosion. Hurt like buggery, it did.

[LineLefty]

A more interesting competition would be the thickest continuous shaving you can make with plane. 1/8 inch? 1/4 inch?

[Driver]

In this photo, the (crossgrain :eek: ) shaving emerging from my superbly fettled #4 is so thin that it's almost invisible. See?

Col

[craigb]

In this photo, the (crossgrain :eek: ) shaving emerging from my superbly fettled #4 is so thin that it's almost invisible. See?

Col

My God! That's incredible Col :eek:

(The plane looks good too. Is it an old 'un ?)

[Driver]

My God! That's incredible Col :eek:

(The plane looks good too. Is it an old 'un ?)

Craig - no, it's a modern English Stanley. I bought it about four years ago. It has undergone a considerable amount of re-modelling, fettling, tuning and general ferkin about since then.

I replaced the plastic knob and tote with a set of rosewood replacements and the cutting iron and chip-breaker with a set of Lie-Nielsen's. I've also flattened the sole and squared up the sides. It's a pretty good plane now. I've got an old American #4 that I bought for $35 last year (it was winking at me in a seductive manner from the middle of a pile of old crap). It didn't need much work at all to bring it up to working fettle. I'm hard put to say which of the two works better. I should really do a Derek and change the blade angle on one of them by grinding a back bevel. (That's another job for this weekend's list!

Col

[bitingmidge]

I'm curious Col, how much have you spent on it to get it to that stage (including the original purchase price?)

Not much change out of a Veritas I think?

Cheers,

P

[craigb]

A few years ago, when I didn't know any better, I bought a new Stanley Jack.

When I realised that I'd have to tune it, I put a strait edge across the sole to see how flat it was.

Well in places there's at least 0.5 mm gap, and I just couldn't face the thought of the amount of time I'd have to spend planing a piece of wet and dry to get it flat.

So I didn't do it and I don't use the plane.

Then of course there's the crappy plastic knob and tote.

I got a 1950's #4 of ebay for a little money and spent some time fettling that.
It was much less "out" than the modern Jack.

Anybody want to buy a Stanley #5

[zitan]

There's no point trying to lap out anything more than 0.1mm. Just get the thing milled with a planer head. Only takes a few passes on a milling machine!

Anyhow, thats what I did to my 12-204 several months ago. Clamped it on its side in a vise with a bit of sacrificial aluminium, milled one side flat with a 50mm 6-insert planer head doing about 280rpm and a slow feed rate, then the other, then the sole. What was interesting is seeing just how impure the cast iron is; full of streaks and darker areas matching the cooling pattern.
Used an endmill to clean up the face and mating surfaces of the frog (which I could have done with the planer head anyway since I had to turn up a new rivet for the lateral lever). Put it all back together and lapped the base on 80 grit w&d. Takes beautiful thin shavings now, no chattering like it used to.

I could surface grind it if I wanted but I don't see the need, it's still just a 12-204.

[Driver]

I'm curious Col, how much have you spent on it to get it to that stage (including the original purchase price?)

Not much change out of a Veritas I think?

Cheers,

P

You're right, Midge. All up it has cost me about $300.

When I bought the plane, I had just got back into woodworking after a very long lay-off and I didn't know then what I know now (I wonder how many times and on how many different aspects of life that thought has passed through my mind?).

I wouldn't repeat the exercise by buying another modern Stanley. On the other hand, because it was one of the first tools I bought on taking up woodworking again, I have a certain attachment to it. As well, I learnt quite a lot about planes just from the lengthy exercise of bringing it from its crappy off the shelf state to where it is now.

Not only that but you can see from the photo the truly legendary ability it has to take a thin shaving!!!!!

Col

[Groggy]

I once took a shaving so fine that it disappeared in a puff of dust as it came off the blade.

I once sliced off a shaving so thin - it only had one side to it....