Thread: Mid century style shelf for my planes

Hi all,

There are some planes by Bill Carter.
4th shelf from the top there are 2 Mitre planes on the left.
Also the little Box wood plane is by Bill as well. The 5th
shelf down the small Mitre plane in the middle is by Bill.
The 6th shelf down has a Gunmetal Mitre plane by Bill.
The one in the other picture is a 36" Jointer by Bill Carter.
The first Mitre plane on shelf 4 was Bill Carters fist
metal plane he made. When my father passed away,
I think Bill wanted to buy that plane back. There is one
plane i would like any info on and that is on shelf 5 with the
tall handle ?? On shelf 4 there are a couple for Ian to copy.
I could pop them in a match box. Hey John my wife hated
that door there so a win win situation for me.
Martin.

Originally Posted by old workshop

...... On shelf 4 there are a couple for Ian to copy.....

I think the one on the right is smaller than anything I've made so far!

Wouldn't mind seeing a close-up of the littlies. (Just to satisfy my curiosity, y'hear - I'm not making any more planes).

The one you asked about - I haven't the foggiest idea! It looks like it was made for a very specific job, but I have not seen anything with a handle positioned like that before. Some details & close-ups might help the more knowledgeable. I'm also thinking that where you are, you get both French & English influences, so it may be something peculiar to the folks to the east of the ditch? My knowledge of continental tools is an order of magnitude less than my limited knowledge of British types.

It looks like you have several "user-mades" as well. And the big one on shelf 3 (from the top), caught my eye; the one with what looks like an adjustable-pitch frog. I'm sure I've seen something like it recently. It may even have been yours - did you post it somewhere within the last year or two seeking info on it?

That is quite an eclectic collection, to be sure!
Cheers,
Ian

Hi Ian,

It was me who posted it on your page by mistake.
Will post a couple of pics of those small planes, just in case
you would like to make another you know what.


If you do get more planes Azahan you can make a rack on the wall
and buy those chisels why you can.

Martin.

Originally Posted by old workshop

Hi Ian,

It was me who posted it on your page by mistake.
Will post a couple of pics of those small planes, just in case
you would like to make another you know what.


If you do get more planes Azahan you can make a rack on the wall
and buy those chisels why you can.

Martin.

Last week I bought a dirt cheap second hand grinder, and this past weekend I went to the Sunday market and picked some old chisels. I'm sort of ignoring the condition of the handles for now, with the thought that I'm going to make (or have someone make them) in the future.

I am falling deeper into this hole

Originally Posted by mdrose

Last week I bought a dirt cheap second hand grinder, ......

Grinders are a boon if used well, or a major destroyer of tools if used badly. If you haven't used a high-speed grinder to prepare chisels before, do take it easy & if the wheels are the typical grey type, make sure they are de-glazed thoroughly before & during use. The secret is to use a light touch, keep a bare finger on the blade 25mm or less back from the edge being ground as a "thermal sensor". Dunk the chisel in water as soon as the blade feels a bit too warm for comfort.
The old-style star wheel dressers are quite effective for de-glazing & are dirt-cheap. A diamond dresser doesn't cost all that much more & it can be used more efficiently to shape a wheel if required.
Cheers,

Further to Ian's points about the typical grey wheels, counterintuitively, I grind chisel bevels on the course wheel as it is faster and generate less heat. The courser finish matters not, as you will hone the cutting edge with a stone/plate anyway.

Counterintuitive it may be, Lance, but it's the 'correct' approach, for precisely the reasons you say, fast stock removal & less heat. But keeping the wheels clean with fresh cutting material exposed is paramount to safe grinding.

The more friable alox (white) wheels are more forgiving, and less likely to overheat as quickly as the grey wheels, but still need to be kept fresh & used with a light touch. For many years I kept a 40 grit grey wheel on one side for the heavy/dirty work and an 80 grit white wheel on the other for light re-grinds of plane irons & chisels etc., but a few years ago I lashed out & spent the kids' inheritance on a CBN wheel instead of replacing the worn alox wheel with another, & I'm extremely happy with it. It will remove metal as quickly as the friable wheels (of similar grit size), but with way less heat buildup & unless you do something foolish, they stay remarkably clean. Having the abrasive on a perfectly flat side is a huge bonus, allowing me to clean up a badly beaten-up chisel back or do the initial preparation after heat-treating a newly-made blade fairly safely (though still a fair amount of hand-lapping required).

You can still burn irons with a CBN wheel if you are careless, they are not foolproof. There are many folks out there who have bad experiences with powered grinders and swear off them for good. That's fine if you have masochistic tendencies & unlimited time, but learning to use a powered grinder properly is a fundamental skill that pays huge dividends over a lifetime, imo. If you are new to power-grinding, find an old past-its-useby-date blade and practice with it 'til you learn the feel of how the wheel cuts & when it's not cutting properly & learn to recognise incipient overheating. It doesn't take long to grasp the fundamentals. And contrary to some claims, it needn't chew up your irons any more than doing it by hand, there is no need to remove any more metal on a powered re-grind than doing it manually. I still have the first Hock iron I bought at least 30 years ago; it's had a lot of use and many, many, re-grinds but there's still close to half the usable blade left - I'm pretty sure it will see me out.

Here endeth the sermon.....

Originally Posted by IanW

Grinders are a boon if used well, or a major destroyer of tools if used badly. If you haven't used a high-speed grinder to prepare chisels before, do take it easy & if the wheels are the typical grey type, make sure they are de-glazed thoroughly before & during use. The secret is to use a light touch, keep a bare finger on the blade 25mm or less back from the edge being ground as a "thermal sensor". Dunk the chisel in water as soon as the blade feels a bit too warm for comfort.
The old-style star wheel dressers are quite effective for de-glazing & are dirt-cheap. A diamond dresser doesn't cost all that much more & it can be used more efficiently to shape a wheel if required.
Cheers,

Thanks for your tips Ian. I have used grinders at work to repair old plane blades & chisels before, but having my own at home allows me to take it nice & slow. I'm getting better at eyeballing that 25-30 degrees bevel, and dunk it in water every few passes.

That tip about using the coarse wheel is a good one. I might just take the fine wheel off and fix a buffer wheel.

Also, this bench grinder has opened up new ideas for me... I remember seeing someone make a marking knife out of an old file on Youtube, and it looks absolutely beautiful.

Azahan