Thread: My Infill Plane

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

...... I have already made a couple of "scrapings" by holding the blade in place and sliding it along some timber (blade wasn't sharpened just the bevel reground).

You're even more impatient than I am, MA. I'm always anxious to see a plane make some shavings too, but I usually wait 'til I've got the wedge or lever-cap in place (temporarily, at least), and the sole partially lapped.

But it's always good to see some sort of action after all the work you've put in so far - encourages you to go on to the finish. Now you've just got to resist the temptation to rush it....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

I am trying to decide if steel rivets will look okay (my smallest brass rod "in stock" is 6mm)

I'm pretty sure I've got some 4mm but I'm not home till tomorrow. I can send you some if I have it.

Thanks Picko. I am going to use the smooth section of some brass wood screws. It's parallel on the couple I have checked. My bridge is 6mm and I am wondering if 4mm is too big. I have made both wedge and bridge this morning.

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Thanks Picko. I am going to use the smooth section of some brass wood screws. It's parallel on the couple I have checked. My bridge is 6mm and I am wondering if 4mm is too big. I have made both wedge and bridge this morning.

I use 3mm for a 6mm thick bridge, 4mm would be ok, but you'll need to be very accurate drilling the holes for that diameter with only a mm 'spare' on each side. If you're doing a fixed bridge with two rivets per side. In any case, 3mm will be plenty strong enough. If you are doing a swivelling bridge (i.e. with a single axle), then maybe steel would be preferable in 3mm, but for whatever reason(s) makers of mitre planes always opted for fixed bridges so I guess you aren't thinking of that. A swivelling bridge works really well with a wedge, but it's just not traditional in this context.....

I'm getting like Matt - keen to see this baby making shavings...

Cheers,

Hi Ian. I read on your manual about the swivelling bridge idea, and that is what I was going to try. I have plenty of nails 2.8mm in diameter, and the peened ends would relate to the steel pins. Do you think it's necessary to pin the timbers even though they have been epoxied to the base? Actually, that might help to close up some gaps!

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Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Hi Ian. I read on your manual about the swivelling bridge idea, and that is what I was going to try. I have plenty of nails 2.8mm in diameter, and the peened ends would relate to the steel pins. Do you think it's necessary to pin the timbers even though they have been epoxied to the base? Actually, that might help to close up some gaps!

Hi MA., "swivelling" bridges were commonly used on some planes but as I said above, they were not used on mitres for reasons that escape me. It makes sense both from a functional aspect & also makes construction easier. It's much easier to fit the bridge after assembly, imo. I can't see any reason why they only seem to have used fixed bridges in the old mitres other than simple tradition. Kingshott (among others) says somewhere that the rotating bridge gets a better grip on things & holds better than a fixed bridge. It is easier to fit than a mortised bridge (imo), particularly in a plane with continuous sides where you have to cut the mortises before bending & hope they end up matching after the sides are bent. But I guess the main idea is to distribute pressure evenly on the wood & prevent those unsightly grooves & depressions across your lovely ebony or boxwood (or whatever fancy wood you choose) wedge if you don't get the angles just right and most of the pressure ends up at the front or back of the bridge. Even when you get the fit perfect to beging with, wood is wood & can move unpredictably & you may find your perfectly-fitted wedge doesn't fit well 6 months down the track. A rotating bridge removes the chance of that happening.

So you are going to need to drill a hole right through the bridge for the pin? So far, the few I've done (mostly lever-caps rather than bridges) have been successful, but there is a bit of angst involved. I set out the axle points on each side and set the piece up very carefully in a machine vise on the drill press, & drill half way from each side. It makes life easier if you drill for the axle while the bridge is still square, before applying any decoration like a cupid-bow. I once drilled a pin hole into my nicely-shaped cupid bow & had to start over! But so far, the rest have met cleanly enough for the pin to pass through comfortably. The worst disaster I've had was on my very first lever-cap a cast bronze one that I'd acquired by good luck (from Konrad Sauer, no less). That was before I'd 'discovered' centre bits & the regular bit I used skated as it started & went off-course (probably wasn't centred exactly on the centre-punch hole). The resulting hole was too far off to live with, so I ended up plugging it with a brass pin & re-drilling to a larger diameter, which fixed things nicely, fotrunately, and drove home a lesson I'll not forget! I always start critical holes with an appropriate centre-bit now....

Does your plane 'need' rivets through the woodwork? All I can say is that the epoxy usually holds more than adequately, but I have occasionally had metal to wood epoxy-glued joints that didn't work, for reasons I do not understand. I'm meticulous about cleaning the metal just before applying the glue, but a couple of times the glue doesn't seem to have bonded to the metal at all, only to the wood. I should add that this has only happened with strips applied to things like square stocks & as far as I'm aware, it hasn't happened with any planes I've glued. In fact, I have had to remove the woodwork on a couple of my planes and it didn't come easy at all! On both planes I had to chop the wood out piecemeal & scrape residual wood & glue off the internal surfaces. Over the last couple of years I have done a few small planes without rivetting the wood, & so far none have shown any sign of letting go, but on larger planes, especially ones that are going to new homes, I add rivets for peace of mind. I don't know what will happen to the epoxy over the long haul, but experience has taught me that any glue joint of any kind can fail, so the rivets provide some reassurance.

Glueing the woodwork in is non-traditional, but it serves two useful purposes in my view. One is it forms a nice, close-fitting bed for the wood, and the second is to protect the metal from moisture. As you discovered, the glue often oozes out through one or two tiny gaps you couldn't even see when filing the pins & tails flush, so it should effectively seal those as well as the rest of the wood/metal contact areas & prevent moisture from getting in. I have had one plane in my hands (the cast-iron body I finished a few years ago), and seen pics of others that were severely rusted under the wood. The woodwork in the plane I had was very poorly fitted so it's not surprising that moisture could get in, but it seems to find its way into even well-fitted wood/metal joints in humid climates, so anything we can do to help prevent it is worth a try, imo.

Cheers,
Ian

Thanks Ian. I must admit I was only thinking of drilling partway into both sides of the bridge and installing short pins (like a floating tenon) but I did buy a centre drill and have long enough nails. I have already shaped my cupids bow (couldn't resist seeing if I could) but it shouldn't affect the ability to hold it in the vise. Today I should get a chance to get some more done.

All right. I have a functioning plane. After lunch I will spend some time finishing it off and sharpening blade. Stay tuned for the reveal!!!!!

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Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

All right. I have a functioning plane. After lunch I will spend some time finishing it off and sharpening blade. Stay tuned for the reveal!!!!!

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It’s been 2 hours!!!!!


Cheers Matt.

Here it is, in all its glory!! I am pretty chuffed with how it turned out and how it works (see samples below L-R Jarrah, Mountain Ash (Vic Ash for the traditionalists), Oregon (Douglas Fir for our Northern Hemisphere readers) and Pine (Radiata probably). Ironically, no end grain planing which was part of the reason for the build in the 1st place. There is plenty of time for future tweaking. Lots of good things learnt working with the metals - really impressed with peening as a means of working metal and making solid joints. Love the heft in my hand, and the dovetails are pretty. The mouth is bigger than I want for my future mitre plane, and the NSW Rosewood is probably a little soft. I will also have to improve the support for the mouth during the peening - I have little triangles of the sole in the throat area. I need to invest in some good jeweller blades, but I was able to find enough tools in my collection to complete all tasks involved. I am very grateful to all those whose tools I continue to use.

And big thanks to IanW for his manual and ongoing encouragement. Ian, your willingness to share, both knowledge and time, is very generous.

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Great job. Looks great and works! Love it.

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Well done Ma, it looks great,performances great, which is just as important buy a factor of one percent over the looks, an it was great watching you build your first metal plane, what a great journey,

Really love the Cubit bow Bridge details.

Could we if possible next time your getting fish an chips ask for a fresh piece of paper, I know I’m picky lol.

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Cheers Matt.

That Looks great MA! Good job.
What did you do with the bridge pins? Just part of the way in? And screw or glue? I suppose with the right size holes in the bridge they would knock in and never move.

Thanks CK, Matt and Rob. It is easy to concentrate on the flaws but this is my first attempt and I am proud of it.

Matt, that WAS a fresh piece of paper!!!

Rob, I drilled all the way through the bridge and used a 65mm bullet head nail (2.8mm in diameter) which was just long enough. I used the centre drill to start all holes and create the opening for the peened material on the sides. The tip of the nail unfortunately didn't peen as nicely as the head. In theory it should pivot but things are pretty tight