6 Attachment(s)
Running slightly ahead...
As I said earlier, I started on a mitre plane just a bit smaller than yours a while ago. I'd put it aside to concentrate on a couple of other things, but your thread got me going so this morning I decided to do a bit more on it. I was just a bit further along than you are atm, and maybe this will help you see where you're headed next, more clearly.
I'd got as far as having everything ready to assemble - just had to make up a peening block (should've had one from the previous one I did, but darned if I could find it, probably chucked it out thinking I was never going to make another this size :doh: ). So I did that first thing. The good part about these mitre planes is the straight tops of the sides keep it simple, so making up a new peening block didn't take long. Here is my plane, clamped by the vise against the metal cleats screwed to the block, with a small clamp holding the sides firmly against the front cross-piece: Attachment 535197
I used a cardboard shim when fitting the cleats, which was removed before clamping up. This ensures the sole will be pulled tightly against the side sockets & not 'bottom out' against the block. With my trusty 4oz ball-peen, I went along the outer edge of each pin (i.e. the bits of projecting steel sole), lightly peening them to lock the tails in & drive the sole against the side sockets.
Once the sides were locked in, I removed it from the vise, & used a couple of small clamps instead so I could move to my bench-top 'anvil' (a hefty chunk of steel): Attachment 535196
Then it was just a matter of going round & round, peening each pin a bit, always working from the outside (sole side) towards the corners of the tails. When I was sure I had the tails very solidly locked in, I switched to the sole side & hammered the brass down to fill the gaps on that side. Lastly, I worked on the cross-piece. It's easy doing the top parts, but the bottom bits up aginst the sole are tricky. I use a well-work nail punch, which explains the round divots you can see here (they don't go deep & will file out easily): Attachment 535195:
A peened-up body looks pretty rough: Attachment 535194
... but after some coarse & fine filing, things start to look a bit better (you'll notice I also cut & shaped the toe & heel of the sole): Attachment 535192
Actually, I usually work on the sole first because it's easier, so you get some quicker gratification. Pleased to see the sole is very close to flat, the heel part dips a little behind the mouth, as it always seems to do, but it's only a tiny amount & will flatten out very quickly once I start lapping in earnest: Attachment 535193
I'll have to put it aside again for a few days while I work on some more urgent stuff, but hopefully I can get back & finish it by mid to late next week. The biggest job remaining is to make & fit a lever-cap, fit some infill (got a nice little bit of gidgee for the front bun) which is easy, no over-stuffing with these planes.
Not trying to upstage you in any way, just thought my going through what will be your next steps might helpful....
:)
Cheers,
Ian
The construction of the Davies plane
Rob, I should've taken a closer look at the pic of the original Davies plane you included in your first post, which shows its construction pretty clearly. It looks to me like the side-to-sole 'dovetails' were made by peening lots of sole material over the brass tails (or pins if you like :) ), they have a slight irregularity in their slopes, same as mine do, which seems to be an inevitable result of so much peening of a harder metal against a much softer one.
The front piece is attached with 2 dovetails each side (I used only one in the body above), a pretty impressive feat for such a small part in such thin stock! The bridge is unusually long (or deep?), & looks like iron/steel as do the rivets holding it, while the rivets holding the woodwork are brass.
So you are off the hook with fitting the bridge, you won't have to make any holes 'til after the body is made, which in my mind makes it far less fraught than trying to work out where to put the holes before assembly. Drilling through that thin bridge for the pins will test you out (or your drill-press, rather) 'cos you'll probably do them from each side & they'll need to meet up fairly well in the middle.
Because you are using a wedge, the bridge position is a bit less critical than a lever-cap, if you get it out of srauare to the blade bed by a fraction of a mm (quite easy to do, trust me!), you can still get the wedge to fit neatly & nobody will know it's not perfect without taking calipers to it. A lever cap can be off by a fraction too, and made to close evenly by filing the mating edge a bit, but it needs to be very close, or the eye can easily spot the wonky fit - not a pretty sight, though not quite as bad as the crooked mouth on one of my recent efforts...
According to the pundits, Mr. Davies was not a regular planemaker, but he was obviously not unskilled. It's the only plane known by him, but if that was his first & only, he was no slouch. He was obviously pleased enough with his own efforts to have it engraved so elegantly.
:U
Cheers,