Thread: Has anyone made the kerfing plane described by Tim Fidgen in the Unplugged Workshop

I havent made one. I have bought material from Issac at Blackburn tools.
Blackburn Tools - Rebate saw-plane blade

There are some local guys who sell the plate and some have the capability to cut teeth with file or machine or you could try your hand.

hopefully they will chime in soon

There are a few here who could supply a toothed blade, what spec do you need? Rip/Crosscut, TPI, etc.

I think a replacement Japanese saw blade with a parallel blade could also work well.
Something like this : https://www.carbatec.com.au/blades/japanese-saw-blades/blade-for-z-8008

Edit:
I just had a look at Issac's saw and found some very custom teeth there!
Blackburn Tools - Rebate saw-plane

You could also use a blade from a well used saw, or a kinked or broken one. Just shear out a good section, and then stick onto the wooden plane. I plan to use a well worn wooden plough plane, remove the skate, and replace with a bit of saw plate... I do have some candidate saws, as well as uncut scraper blades.

What, exactly do you intend to do with this gadget? With those extended gullets on the Blackburn model (to hold lots of sawdust), it's obviously designed to make long slots. But those teeth would make a mess of cross-grain, so I take it it's meant for a pretty specific job?

As for the blade, it would be a pretty simple job to make a one-off. How wide does the kerf need to be? If it's not particularly critical, the raw material could come from an old hard-point hand saw (or even a new one - they are hardly expensive!), which is just normal saw-blade type spring steel once you cut the hardened teeth off. To shape the blade, use a 1mm metal-cutting disc in an angle grinder, and a piece of steel clamped to the saw plate to act as a guide & heat-sink. Clean up any slight deviations & burrs with a flat file. New teeth can be made with saw files (three-corner & large diameter chainsaw file). The Sutton carbide-tipped multi-purpose drill bits will easily make holes in spring steel.

This is a saw I made a couple of years ago for cutting the sides of trenches for sliding dovetails: pic 3.jpg

Different blade style because it is for making neat cross-grain cuts, but similar in principle to the saw you want. The blade in this case was cut from a floor scraper blade, which Bunnings used to sell, but no longer carry, unfortunately: pic 1.jpg

My saw works reasonably well, but the small teeth quickly choke up in stopped cuts & have to be cleared after every few strokes, depending on the wood. After seeing the Blackburn blade, I'm wondering if I can modify my tooth pattern to incorporate some extra-deep gullets, & prolong the time between clearing teeth.

Trouble with this forum is you guys are always coming along with interesting ideas & distracting me from stuff I should be doing.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

the raw material could come from an old hard-point hand saw (or even a new one - they are hardly expensive!)

Indeed, why not just use the hard-point teeth?
That japanese-type tooth is pretty versatile.
Paul

Originally Posted by pmcgee

Indeed, why not just use the hard-point teeth?
That japanese-type tooth is pretty versatile.
Paul

Paul, it may be that this 'kerfing plane' has to have no set - there didn't seem to be any on the pics pointed to, & I thought that was maybe part of the plan. That was why I suggested whacking off any existing teeth, because they will have lots of set. But you're right, for someone with limited gear & sawmaking experience, why not?

I'm handicapped by not knowing what this gadget is intended for, I consulted Mr, Google, but didn't get a lot of help. It seems like a very specialised tool to me, so it must have a very specific job to do?

Cheers,

I hadn't thought in particular about the kerf ... but the japanese-tooth 8ppi Irwin handsaw I was thinking about in particular measures roughly with a vernier 'ruler'
1.2mm (48 thou) and kerf 1.4mm (56 thou) [... not entirely sure I trust the numbers, but it's indicative]

Not entirely sure how I feel about it - the kerfing thing.
In dog-training eg, you want to know what is the real problem and what is just a symptom or by-product.

Tom Fidgen here at 2:10 ... and close up at 5:40.

Aha, now I see! Thanks Paul.

Been doing that for many years, but being from the "do it the easiest way" school, I run the kerf with a thin blade on the tablesaw, and finish the cut on the bandsaw, unless the board I want to re-saw is wider than 300mm, in which case it's the meat-&-veges-powered saw for part II..

In the video, it looked like he put about a 5-6mm deep kerf on his board (I usually cut quite a bit deeper with the TS), and so you would need little or no set on the blade for that depth of cut. You're right, I think, you could cut a blade from a new hard-point and it should do the job.

Cheers,

A Kerfing Plane in Portugal - THE UNPLUGGED WOODSHOP TORONTO

Yep, it obviously doesn't need fancy raw materials or equipment to make one of these here 'kerfing saws' (though doesn't any saw make a kerf?? ). Should be well within the capabilities of an intermediate level w'worker with a modest amount of gear.

Yesterday, I was looking at the 'trenching saw' I made a while back, and wondering if I could modify it to turn my one-trick pony into something with wider capabilities. It would need a second (rip profile) blade, because the current one is a crosscut, but that's not a problem. However, I would want to preserve the depth-adjustable blade feature for the trenching role, which means the arms for a fence would have to be fitted so the blade can slide past them. I think it will work if I make a couple of brass rods to serve as the fence arms, and replace the current locking bolts. That would mean they'd have to stay in place when the saw is used for trenching, but they shouldn't get in the way, and might even be a convenient hand-hold. By this time I'd finished my coffee, so I stopped thinking about it & went back to the more urgent project I'm working on (a couple of new saw-horses which are about 4 years overdue!). However, the seed has been planted, and when I next get a bit of time for mucking about, I'm going to have a go at it. I may start from scratch, rather than modify the existing saw, but that remains to be decided.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

'kerfing saws' (though doesn't any saw make a kerf??

pssst. kerfing 'plane'

Originally Posted by pmcgee

pssst. kerfing 'plane'

Oh! Silly me, can't tell the difference between a saw & a plane...

I'm going to make one of these & am wondering if there is an Australian supplier of split nuts. I've done a bit of a search, but can't find anything. There was a thread a while back which suggested Blackburn tools in the US, but I think postage for a couple of split nuts wouldn't be worth it.

Grab some from an old saw. cheaper than postage from the US.