Thread: Handplane Adjustment Hammer

Beautifully made plane hammer, looks nicely balanced,does it feel balanced?
What did you use to create the bond between the steel and jarrah?

Regards,


Frank.

Originally Posted by lewisa88

...I'm also currently in the process of building a dovetailed shoulder plane which I have been photo documenting as often as I remember to, so if anyone is interested ill write a post outlining that. Enjoy

Regards,

Lewis Allen

Hi Lewis.

What, are you kidding? Get it online dammit.
Haven't you noticed? Photos are food around here.

I like your hammer very well. You could probably sell some like that

Is the idea to use the jarrah on the infill or body of a woodie, and the copper on the metal blade?

What is the size of the end profiles?

The only observation I could offer is that I often use two hammers - an old small-headed ball-pein for the blade, and a larger wooden mallet for the wider impact on the wooden parts - trying to minimise the impact marks that many old woodies have suffered.

How do you find it works?
and what type of planes do you use?
and ... what can you tell us about your smoother?

Cheers,
Paul.

Nice hammer. I would have thought brass instead of copper, but I suppose copper is even kinder on the plane's cutting iron.

I have to make myself something similar (one day ), so two questions: how heavy is the head; and how long is the handle?

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers, Vann.

Very, very clever.
I don't use woodies much but if I did, I'd probably steal your idea and make one myself.

Brilliant thinking for having the wood face for tapping the wedge, soft metal for the iron. As someone else mentioned, Brass might have been a bit more durable but it will probably take an awfully long time for that to deform to the point of needing to replace it.

Hi Lewis

Very nice looking hammer.

I have a couple similar, the one below I use most of the time. This differs from yours in that the one side is brass. Even though this is harder than copper, it gets chewed up on the steel end of the blade. Still, better that than the iron getting battered. The wood end has been replaced several times: ebony, jarrah and she-oak all tried at various times. It needs replacing again. I think this time I will go with raw hide. I found hard rubber and cork too squishy.



Yes, please show us the infill!

Regards from Perth

Derek

Onya Lewis,

That will do nicely as a fret hammer as well.

Originally Posted by Ball Peen

That will do nicely as a fret hammer as well.

What is a fret hammer?

Well done on the hammer.

Originally Posted by ClintO

What is a fret hammer?

Never heard of one before but ...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqdU39v24Pk]Dual-face Fret Hammer - YouTube[/ame]

thanks for your kind words everyone.
to answer most of your questions...

FRB Design...The jarrah is simply glued to the face, because I trust the wood will get mashed before the bond between the wood and the steel will fail...and the copper is silver brazed to the steel.
Is it Balanced? well, not as well as I might have hoped...it was based very loosely in design(size, weight etc) on the japanese hammer I have, which is very well balanced, but the walnut I used for the handle just didnt quite have the weight I was hoping for, but as a plane for light tapping it functions great.

Pmcgee... I did make this hammer specifically for my Spiers NO.8(pictured) with every intention of it to be also used on my "yet to be made" infill shoulder. Then I was gifted the large woodie(pictured)...where you are entirely right that I do need a larger wooden hammer to adjust a woodie of this size, this hammer work well in the fine adjustments needed on a smaller plane but doesnt have the heft for the larger ones.

Vann... The reason I chose copper over brass was partly because I had copper lying around, and partly because I actually like the idea of slight marks being left on such a hammer, every dent leaves a bit of history(obviously the dents are only small from taps, so the same can't be said for wanting marks left on you hammer after wailing on an anvil)...the copper actually was work hardened before the final machining of the head too, so its not in its buttery soft annealed state.
Head measures 70mmx23xmm18mm and the hammer is a total length of 325mm. weight??? somewhere around 200+ grams??? I could be way off

Derek... The only issue I can see with a hide face is that you may lose the feedback you get from wood, its firm but it could be a little forgiving to really feel whats happening, but try it and let me know. But then again it will last quite a bit longer I think, might be a nice happy medium.

Also, as of today the infill shoulder plane is 90% complete, just needs final lapping and finishing, which should be done tomorrow evening if time permits. so not too far

Hi Lewis - nice hammer. I tried to be a helpful moderator by rotating your pics to save readers developing a list to port, but they have gone back as attachments & not thumbnails. I will try to sort that out.....

I think copper is possibly a better choice than brass for this sort of hammer. I made my plane adjuster out of a scrap of brass, but the brass we can get readily around here are all harder alloys designed for machining. When walloped against metal they tend to work-harden, and chip & flake very readily. Copper is softer & should suffer less from that problem...

I didn't think about a striking-point at the back when making my infill smother (the one on my avatar). This makes it bit of a pest to adjust, because if I advance the blade too far on initial setting, I can't just bring it back a tad by striking the back. I have to undo the lever cap, reset the blade above its cutting position and try again. Luckily, it is a one-setting-only tool, & I never vary it once it's cutting nicely, so it's not a fatal flaw.
Cheers,