Thread: I done made me a plane!

Well here goes...I'm very jealous of anyone who makes their own hand plane so big thumbs up from me. Not that I know much about planes but I love a home made tool so well done.

That is without a doubt the finest hand made shooting plane I have ever seen

You done good! Not the ugliest wooden plane I have ever seen! The shavings are the thing though aren't they! And they look mighty fine!

Hey Paul, no need to be jealous, you can make one too

Originally Posted by NCArcher

That is without a doubt the finest hand made shooting plane I have ever seen

Ha, you lie

Originally Posted by tea lady

You done good! Not the ugliest wooden plane I have ever seen! The shavings are the thing though aren't they! And they look mighty fine!

Even better when I sharpen that blade

Thanks for the responses everyone

Meranti? That end grasin looks like Tassy oak in the pic. of the throat.

I guess those thick sides will give it great dimensional stability. It's a better result than my first ever effort - mine took a deal of fiddling to get the first shaving, and never did a great job. I keep it around to remind me that using pretty woods is no gaurantee of success.

One thing I would suggest is getting a thicker, better blade - it should improve its shooting ability nicely, I would think.

Now for #2, 3 & 4???

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Meranti? That end grasin looks like Tassy oak in the pic. of the throat.

I guess those thick sides will give it great dimensional stability. It's a better result than my first ever effort - mine took a deal of fiddling to get the first shaving, and never did a great job. I keep it around to remind me that using pretty woods is no gaurantee of success.

One thing I would suggest is getting a thicker, better blade - it should improve its shooting ability nicely, I would think.

Now for #2, 3 & 4???

Cheers,

Meranti and Tas Oak are the same thing right? Probably not.

The blade was just an old block plane blade I had lying around. I'll see how it goes as a design to see if it's worth a $50 blade? Next I think will be a dovetail plane or a homemade 51

I like it. Well done.

Nice work. Looks fine to me.

Originally Posted by Tools4Me

Meranti and Tas Oak are the same thing right?

Well, not quite - Tassie oak is one of at least 3 species of Eucalypus (family myrtacae), which are lumped into that category, and native to S.E Australia.

Meranti is one of the 'trade' names for (I don't know how many of) the Shorea species (family dipterocarpacae) which grow throughout S.E. Asia.

So they are a little bit different.

Cheers,

Probably a stupid question, but what angle is the blade set at? Also how do you decide on the size of the gap for the mouth?

TT

Originally Posted by Twisted Tenon

Probably a stupid question, but what angle is the blade set at? Also how do you decide on the size of the gap for the mouth?

TT

Not a stupid question at all TT. I held the blade in my hands and laid it on one of the sides. I went "umm" and "hmm" and "that's about it" and marked the wood. Then I went and measured that angle and found it to be 37 degrees. As for the gap I wasn't too concerned since the wood for the toe didn't have a particularly good edge. I first started by fixing the bed piece between the sides and then fitting the blade and wedge. Next I just slid the toe piece into the body towards the blade until it looked right.

I don't have the skills (nor the wood) to attempt anything more refined

T4M - Solving problems according to our skill levels is all part of the fun & learning process. I reckon the way you set the mouth opening is logical and as goood a way as any I could think of. Being able to set it with blade in place is a luxury that comes with the laminated method of plane construction. With a solid-bodied plane, everything has to be marked out accurately, and your 'break-through' spot-on. That's why a lot of home-made solid-bodies have added-in pieces in front of the mouth, like on the small smoother I made a couple of weeks ago. But you tell other folks that it's a hard wear-piece, added to protet the mouth.

Not so sure about your method for deciding on blade angles! As it turns out, with a 37 degree bed, you still have 7 degrees of clearance on the bevel, assuming you go with the 'standard' 25 degree grinding/30 degree secondary bevel. In another thread, Derek Cohen mentioned that Rob Lee says that 6 degrees of clearance is ok, but I think it's pushing things a bit, myself, particularly if you are a freehand sharpener like me - it leaves very little room for error. On the one hand, you have hit on about the lowest practical cutting angle for a bevel-down blade, while on the other, you will need to be careful with your sharpening & honing.

Be careful! This tool-making thing can become a terrible addiction, which is not always well-understood by those nearest & dearest to us (DAMHIK). When you prodly show your latest & best creation ever, to be greeted with, "What!? another plane? How many of the darn things do you need? Is this to fix that sticking door you said you'd look at, umm, let's see, last year just before your birthday, if I recall (pregnant silence inserted here........?)", it's a bit of a deflation. I guess that's why the Forum was invented...

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

T4M - Solving problems according to our skill levels is all part of the fun & learning process. I reckon the way you set the mouth opening is logical and as goood a way as any I could think of. Being able to set it with blade in place is a luxury that comes with the laminated method of plane construction.

Thinking about it now, probably the main reson I buitl the plane was to see where you needed to hold and push a shooting plane. The position I selected was where I thought would be right. I'd go back another 3/4" or 1" now though.

Originally Posted by IanW

Not so sure about your method for deciding on blade angles! As it turns out, with a 37 degree bed, you still have 7 degrees of clearance on the bevel, assuming you go with the 'standard' 25 degree grinding/30 degree secondary bevel. In another thread, Derek Cohen mentioned that Rob Lee says that 6 degrees of clearance is ok, but I think it's pushing things a bit, myself, particularly if you are a freehand sharpener like me - it leaves very little room for error. On the one hand, you have hit on about the lowest practical cutting angle for a bevel-down blade, while on the other, you will need to be careful with your sharpening & honing.

I do count on my luck sometimes From what I understand of machine tools, 5 degrees of clearance on a HSS metal cutting tool is about the right figure. Interesting that wood is a little more. Not that I in any way planned the clearance I achieved. Sharpening is proving to be a challenge for me. There's some dark art at play there which I hardly comprehend

Originally Posted by IanW

Be careful! This tool-making thing can become a terrible addiction, which is not always well-understood by those nearest & dearest to us (DAMHIK). When you prodly show your latest & best creation ever, to be greeted with, "What!? another plane? How many of the darn things do you need? Is this to fix that sticking door you said you'd look at, umm, let's see, last year just before your birthday, if I recall (pregnant silence inserted here........?)", it's a bit of a deflation. I guess that's why the Forum was invented...

Cheers,

Tool addiction you say. If only you knew...

Thanks for that Tools4me. I have a couple of old timber planes that don't work so well and have been playing with idea the of swapping the blades over to a home made shooting board plane.

IanW I don't get the maths. They are both 25° blades and was wondering about setting the angle for the shooting board plane the same as the Stanley low angle block planes.

Is there an optimum angle?

TT