IanW
13th October 2017, 09:28 PM
A couple of weeks ago I made a small rebate plane (http://www.woodworkforums.com/f152/brass-rebate-plane-217212) using rivets to join the pieces. I’d long planned it as a bullnose, but it morphed into more of a small shoulder plane, for various reasons, one of which was that I had decided I wanted to make a small chariot plane which in bullnose form would suit the jobs I have in mind better than a ½” wide plane.
Now I have to confess that this is another of my whims. Chariot planes have fallen out of the repertoire for almost 100 years, and again (as I asked recently about panel planes), why has a plane that was apparently part of many tool kits back in the day, so comprehensively disappeared? They look like a neat little gadget, but apart from various pics in books & magazine, I have only seen chariot planes in the flesh about twice, & was unable to even touch them. More troubling, I could find very little in the way of typical dimensions so I went by intuition to a large extent. This was my inspiration, the Norris 28 (well, the pic is probably of a 28GS, the 28 had steel sides): 422037
They came in 3 sizes, & the smallest had a cutter width of 1 1/8”. I’d already decided I wanted a cutter of about 1” width, and to supply that I had a well-worn old block-plane blade I planned to trim to size. It had about 15-20mm of hard metal left, according to my file test, and I stood to lose a few mm more re-squaring & cleaning up the badly-rounded part off the back. I made a drawing for the sides by eyeballing the pic & judging the scale, cut out a template, and marked out some 1/8th brass plate. I had some 1/8th gauge-plate for the sole, and the nose-piece will be that scrap of 3/8” thick brass left over from some other job: 422036
The dovetails were marked out on the sides, cut out, & filed to the scribe lines. In my vast experience of making dovetailed planes (now a total of 3!), I have found that the amount of projection of the pins & tails is important. About 1.5mm of projection on small tails like these works well – less than that & you might struggle to fill any larger gaps, but you don’t need or want much more, either, as too much metal just gets in your way. I allowed a bit more than 1.2mm, which turned out to be just enough.
I then transferred the tails to the sides of the sole, just as you would for a set of drawer sides: 422035
After cutting out most of the waste & some careful filing to the scribe-lines, I had a good tap-in fit on the first side (Edit: Getting the corners really sharp for a close fit needs a sharp-cornered file. A #4 Grobert needle file was perfect for this): 422034
After fitting the other side, I turned my attention to fitting a chatter block and filing the blade bed. I had intended riveting the chatter-block to the sole, but decided in the end to silver-solder it. I reckoned it would be easier to do with these small components, and it would give me a chance to remove it easily & try again if things went pear-shaped. In fact, it was all pretty straightforward, & working with an ‘open’ mouth was a lot easier than having to file out a ‘closed' mouth on a typical sole. The mouth was totally accessible because I didn’t have to fit the nose-piece until near the end of the construction.
With the chatter block fitted & filed to pretty close to its final angle, it was time to make up a buck and start peening. For this little plane I routed out an image of the sides, fitting them as closely as I could: 422033
I started peening with the sides clamped firmly to the buck, and after the dovetails had been closed enough to hold firmly, the clamps were removed & I could peen away unrestricted.
Here we are, almost done, but I probably spent another ½ hour peening from here, checking each tail & making sure the metal was worked well over & there were no potential gaps:422032
You might notice the steel has been peened more than the brass. This is deliberate because the brass I’m using (380 alloy) is a bit brittle and will start to split & flake if peened too much. But by making the brass tails a tight fit, they don’t need a lot of peening, just enough to ensure they squash down a bit & fill any small gaps. Most of the metal-moving & filling is done with the steel.
With the peening done, I filed the sides & sole roughly level. I’m not aiming to clean it up completely yet, that will come after I fit the nose, I just want to check that the peening is thorough. All looks well: 422031
Now it’s time to think about fitting the woodwork. I had some small scraps of Mulga, & while the bit for the blade bed was ample, the beautifully-figured piece for the wedge was a little thinner than I wanted. It was too nice to reject, so I decided to give it a try: 422030
With the wooden bed fitted & epoxied in place, I could tidy up the whole blade bed (a much easier operation with an open mouth!), after which the nose-piece could be put in place. It was filed to a nice-firm fit, then I held the cutter in place & tapped it ‘til it looke like I had the right opening with just a smidge of blade protrusion. I was aiming for a bit less than 0.5mm. It was then silver-soldered to fix it. I was intending to rivet it as well, but the solder flowed in beautifully & made such a good, solid (& neat) job I decided rivets would be unnecessary. 422029
The bridge began as a solid chunk of 3/16 brass, which was first drilled & tapped for the retaining screws, then shaped with files to a sort-of traditional ‘cupid bow’.
It was fitted with much care – for me this is always the most fraught operation of the build, but this time it went well. It sat nice & square, contacting most of the roughed-out wedge. I’ll adjust it to fit perfectly with a bit of judicious scraping during the final clean-up: 422028
Run out of pic space - to be continued.......
Now I have to confess that this is another of my whims. Chariot planes have fallen out of the repertoire for almost 100 years, and again (as I asked recently about panel planes), why has a plane that was apparently part of many tool kits back in the day, so comprehensively disappeared? They look like a neat little gadget, but apart from various pics in books & magazine, I have only seen chariot planes in the flesh about twice, & was unable to even touch them. More troubling, I could find very little in the way of typical dimensions so I went by intuition to a large extent. This was my inspiration, the Norris 28 (well, the pic is probably of a 28GS, the 28 had steel sides): 422037
They came in 3 sizes, & the smallest had a cutter width of 1 1/8”. I’d already decided I wanted a cutter of about 1” width, and to supply that I had a well-worn old block-plane blade I planned to trim to size. It had about 15-20mm of hard metal left, according to my file test, and I stood to lose a few mm more re-squaring & cleaning up the badly-rounded part off the back. I made a drawing for the sides by eyeballing the pic & judging the scale, cut out a template, and marked out some 1/8th brass plate. I had some 1/8th gauge-plate for the sole, and the nose-piece will be that scrap of 3/8” thick brass left over from some other job: 422036
The dovetails were marked out on the sides, cut out, & filed to the scribe lines. In my vast experience of making dovetailed planes (now a total of 3!), I have found that the amount of projection of the pins & tails is important. About 1.5mm of projection on small tails like these works well – less than that & you might struggle to fill any larger gaps, but you don’t need or want much more, either, as too much metal just gets in your way. I allowed a bit more than 1.2mm, which turned out to be just enough.
I then transferred the tails to the sides of the sole, just as you would for a set of drawer sides: 422035
After cutting out most of the waste & some careful filing to the scribe-lines, I had a good tap-in fit on the first side (Edit: Getting the corners really sharp for a close fit needs a sharp-cornered file. A #4 Grobert needle file was perfect for this): 422034
After fitting the other side, I turned my attention to fitting a chatter block and filing the blade bed. I had intended riveting the chatter-block to the sole, but decided in the end to silver-solder it. I reckoned it would be easier to do with these small components, and it would give me a chance to remove it easily & try again if things went pear-shaped. In fact, it was all pretty straightforward, & working with an ‘open’ mouth was a lot easier than having to file out a ‘closed' mouth on a typical sole. The mouth was totally accessible because I didn’t have to fit the nose-piece until near the end of the construction.
With the chatter block fitted & filed to pretty close to its final angle, it was time to make up a buck and start peening. For this little plane I routed out an image of the sides, fitting them as closely as I could: 422033
I started peening with the sides clamped firmly to the buck, and after the dovetails had been closed enough to hold firmly, the clamps were removed & I could peen away unrestricted.
Here we are, almost done, but I probably spent another ½ hour peening from here, checking each tail & making sure the metal was worked well over & there were no potential gaps:422032
You might notice the steel has been peened more than the brass. This is deliberate because the brass I’m using (380 alloy) is a bit brittle and will start to split & flake if peened too much. But by making the brass tails a tight fit, they don’t need a lot of peening, just enough to ensure they squash down a bit & fill any small gaps. Most of the metal-moving & filling is done with the steel.
With the peening done, I filed the sides & sole roughly level. I’m not aiming to clean it up completely yet, that will come after I fit the nose, I just want to check that the peening is thorough. All looks well: 422031
Now it’s time to think about fitting the woodwork. I had some small scraps of Mulga, & while the bit for the blade bed was ample, the beautifully-figured piece for the wedge was a little thinner than I wanted. It was too nice to reject, so I decided to give it a try: 422030
With the wooden bed fitted & epoxied in place, I could tidy up the whole blade bed (a much easier operation with an open mouth!), after which the nose-piece could be put in place. It was filed to a nice-firm fit, then I held the cutter in place & tapped it ‘til it looke like I had the right opening with just a smidge of blade protrusion. I was aiming for a bit less than 0.5mm. It was then silver-soldered to fix it. I was intending to rivet it as well, but the solder flowed in beautifully & made such a good, solid (& neat) job I decided rivets would be unnecessary. 422029
The bridge began as a solid chunk of 3/16 brass, which was first drilled & tapped for the retaining screws, then shaped with files to a sort-of traditional ‘cupid bow’.
It was fitted with much care – for me this is always the most fraught operation of the build, but this time it went well. It sat nice & square, contacting most of the roughed-out wedge. I’ll adjust it to fit perfectly with a bit of judicious scraping during the final clean-up: 422028
Run out of pic space - to be continued.......