Thread: My Infill Plane

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Thanks for looking out for me, both of you. I will actually have to learn a whole new hammer technique. I used to wonder why a mate of mine rests his thumb on top of the hammers' handle instead of wrapping it around (like I do). He is a trained coppersmith and, for years, was trying to move metal around not smash a skinny piece of it through wood.

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That’s interesting, or actually not really,I was taught too have my thumb on top, an not rap it around, we we’re also taught too let the hammer go just before impact,then grab the hammer on the rebound, you really just loosen your grip for a nano second, basically, the human hand is not really designed well for hitting metal, even with the use of Tools[emoji849].

MA if you’re a little apprehensive about bashing the S…… out of hours of work, an that’s understandable!

Just grab some left over bits of metal, put them in the vice , select some appropriate Death Metal(Don’t try too understand if you’re over 57) an have some Bashing.


Cheers Matt.

I second Matt's suggestion of a practice run or two,MA, to get the feel of the way the metals move. I reckon your years of hitting nail heads accurately will have honed your eye/hand co-ordination a little above average!

Your main 'adjustment' will be to ease off & just tap-tap away, not try to clench each D/T in one or two blows like setting a floor nail.....

Cheers,

Hi all. Been a busy couple of weeks, so until today, things had stalled a little. However , I found a couple of hours today and my 1st real attempt at peening is as below. My anvil is a cylindrical block of steel and my ball pein hammer of choice was a 12oz Cyclone Forging model. I ama little worried about the distortion around the mouth.

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That looks like a very thorough beat-up, MA.

And no serious mis-hits on the brass that I can see, either - that well-schooled hammering arm of yours did a good job. Should clean up very nicely....

Cheers

MA, As Ian said looks like a very good bashing, you should feel proud of that metal manipulation, any Roman would be happy with that, but don’t sit there staring at it, get the file out an make it all pretty an nice now.

Off you go.

Cheers Matt.

Thanks, Ian and Matt. I wasn't sure how much to peen. I also used clamps on both sole and sides to keep everything aligned. I found the pins much easier to work than the tails. The pins could rest directly on the anvil, but the tails were reliant on the wood block being at just the right angle to transfer the force down in a straight line. I hope cleaning them up doesn't reveal too many gaps!

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Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Thanks, Ian and Matt. I wasn't sure how much to peen. I also used clamps on both sole and sides to keep everything aligned. I found the pins much easier to work than the tails. The pins could rest directly on the anvil, but the tails were reliant on the wood block being at just the right angle to transfer the force down in a straight line. I hope cleaning them up doesn't reveal too many gaps!

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We won’t know if there’s any gaps, if you fill them with little bits of brass an tap them in, honestly know one will know, unless you plan on providing X,rays of the joints,
Not that I would do that, but I’ve heard it’s done[emoji6].

Cheers Matt.

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

....... I hope cleaning them up doesn't reveal too many gaps!.............

Yes, there's always a bit of apprehension when you begin filing off the excess metal, but by the looks of your effort, you should be rewarded with nice tight joints. I've managed only a couple of planes that were absolutely perfect, without a single teeny pin-hole somewhere. Fortunately, very small flaws aren't noticed unless you go looking for them, and they don't materially affect the strength of the body. I have huge respect for the blokes who banged up the early Spiers & Norrises, the all-steel examples I've handled were generally so well-done you cannot see a single joint, but the little (Spiers?) thumb plane of Rob's has a couple of places where moisture seeped in and created a fine line of corrosion, and I've seen a few pics of quite badly corroded joints, so no-one can be perfect every time...

Closing the tails (on the sole side) has always been my main challenge too. As you discovered, you have the problem of support while you bash away at the tops of the tails. With straight tops like you are working on here, if you have an anvil block with a clean, straight edge, you can sit the top of the side on the edge of the anvil & get full support. It can be a bit awkward while clamps are still being used and the thin edge of the side tends to want to slip off the anvil, but it can be managed. You will get some bruising of the brass, but it should be minor & easy to file clean.

A better solution I've come up with is to screw a couple of strips of steel to the block to support the sides. These will support the sides for light peening, enough to get them clenched up, but for heavier work, I sit the steel strips on the anvil to back them up solidly. If you use 5 or 6mm steel strips, it's much easier to keep them on the anvil. You get very solid support and little or no bruising of the tops of the sides: 6 ready to pein.jpg

Clamps are always a nuisance until the pins & tails are clenched enough to hold securely, then you can get rid of the clamps & go at the final peening without obstructions.

Curved & contoured sides are a bigger challenge. I've tried making carefully-fitted peening blocks with cutouts to take & support the sides (illustrated in the 'manual') but they are difficult to make with the required accuracy, and not worth the bother for a one-off, imo. In any case, no matter how good the fit, wood absorbs much of the effect of the hammer blows so you don't get the support metal backing gives. So my first attempt to find a better solution was to use some strategically-placed bolts. This is a small (~160mm) plane where I used only two bolts: 8 pins clenched.jpg

..and quickly discovered more would have been better; I still had to rest the straighter sections on the anvil directly to get support, and the bolts caused a bit of bruising (which wasn't serious & easily smoothed off).

So my last few have been done using scraps from cutting out the sides screwed to the block. I still need to rest the scrap strips against the anvil, but it gives much better support and I get little or no bruising of the tops of the sides. This one is a tiny plane & my strips were fitted a bit crudely, but they did the job: 4.jpg

Just a heads-up before you move on to the curved-side, over-stuffed model coming up....

Cheers,

Matt, is that what they call brass putty? Ian, I did try resting the heads of the roofing screws on my round anvil but with only limited success. I would think it would be a lot more painful if my sides were steel too!

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Matt, is that what they call brass putty? Ian, I did try resting the heads of the roofing screws on my round anvil but with only limited success. I would think it would be a lot more painful if my sides were steel too!

I’m fairly certain it’s called “Brass putty” in some circles [emoji6].

Now I'm getting to the good part. Only a couple of glitches (except for the dings in the top edge of the brass from every roofing screw).

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Looking awesome

Thanks Martin.

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Now doesn’t that look like like a pretty thing too be hold, it’s really exciting seeing that for the first time, all the measurements all the marking out all the cutting and filling, possibly a few naughty words and then from the ashes the Phoenix rise’s(I shouldn’t use words I can’t pronounce or spell lol).

Well done Sir well done.

Cheers Matt.

Are you planning another plane build yet [emoji6]