Thread: My first plane

Matt - how far away from the western suburbs are you (i.e. Kenmore-Brookfield area)? If you happen to be over my way some time, I will happily supply you with enough She-oak or River oak (or both! ) to sole several planes. It would be dry and stable & ready to use.....

Cheers,

OK, now you have piqued my curiosity. I have never heard of 'fishtail oak' before, so I just googled it & got a lot of chatter, but no useful info. Tell us more!

Well Ian, thanks for the offer. I'd come from the other side of town if there were an interesting piece of wood at the end of the trip, but as it happens I'm a Westy too, so it would be a snap to pop 'round whenever's convenient.

As far as the fishtail oak goes: my aunt and uncle have a sort of private arboretum up at Tamborine and the timber was something he came across in his travels. I had thought he called it Grevilia Kevediana, but I can see searching for it is Neorites Kevediana and it's not a mistake my uncle would make. Here are two links I've found, the first is botanical and the second links back to an old thread here with photos of the timber.

Neorites kevedianus - Fishtail Oak | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f222/b...il-oak-100866/

The next time I'm up at Tamborine I'll see if I can 'borrow' a bit.

Cheers
Matt

Matt - it's fascinating to read that old thread in which I took an active part - I had no recollection of it at all, until I re-read it! Hmmmmm......

Fishtail oak grows in N.Qld, but not on the Tablelands, where I grew up, & I never encountered it (along with about 100 other 'minor' species that grow around there!). It gets a mention in Bootle - amaazing how much that mn mnmged to cover.

I'm about to send you a PM...
Cheers,

OK.

I've modified the plane and given it a brass sole and side strip. It works really well, but I think I'll add a brass strip to the fence as well for a slightly larger bearing surface and to make it shinier.

Apologies if the photos are terrible, it's hard to tell on the phone...

Cheers

You've done a grand job on it, Matt. I can't see from the pics how you attached the brass - screws? Glue?

It should be good for several generations, now, unless you plan to make sliding dovetails every day from very hard, abrasive woods!

Cheers,

The photos are great.

The plane worked the dark wood, right?

Thanks,
Paul.

Originally Posted by IanW
You've done a grand job on it, Matt. I can't see from the pics how you attached the brass - screws? Glue?

I wanna know too!

Toby

Epoxy.

I figured I'd see how it holds and if it pops off I'll screw it on.

Originally Posted by pmcgee

The photos are great.

The plane worked the dark wood, right?

Thanks,
Paul.

Yep.

That dovetail is at the full extension of the fence, 26 mm.

A DT plane for the trench would be tricky to make and use I dare say. I used the little Abram Brooksbank tenon saw and a chisel.. done in a snap.

fabulous job Matt ! and it works ta boot!

i've watched with interest and nice to see the plane being tweaked with the brass..i may have missed it if you already said, but i'm curious if the screws are wood screws holding the scribe and fence on or whether they screw into a metal nut housing (metal screws)?

your missing a brand name insignia stamped/carved into it

cheers
chippy

Cheers Chippy.

The fence and scribe are attached with machine screws into insert barrel nuts which were glued in.

I might add a spring washer and a larger washer to support the scribe because it has a tendency to flex out as it cuts. It's a small thing and an easy fix though.

Did designing the wedge take planning and thought, or experimentation?

It's got an under-appreciated role I think.

Thanks,
Paul

50:50 Paul. I based it on the Ulmia wedge but the angles are pretty confusing so it took some nipping and tucking to get it to fit nicely.

I'll make a new one at some point because I can see the Southern Silky Oak won't stand up to too much hammering.

Here's the last tweek for now - a support for the scribe.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Berlin

Epoxy.

I figured I'd see how it holds and if it pops off I'll screw it on.

Hmmm, I've had mixed results with epoxy and brass/wood bonds. I used it to attach brass wear strips on marking gauges & on about 30%, they failed on the brass/epoxy side. Tried cleaning, roughing-up and solvent cleaning prior to glueing, but nothing seemed to make any difference - some held fine, others didn't, so if it's holding now, chances are it'll be ok.

I found out that a glue like "Wellbond" is used for some commercial tools for bonding brass, and I intend to try that, but haven't yet done so, so can't vouch for it's holding ability.

What has also worked well for me was slot-head brass screws driven through a very tightly-fitting hole in the brass. If you put just a teeny countersink in the wear strip, the screw will tighten down and you can file off the top, and make it almost invisible. It doesn't work so well with Philips heads, 'cos the slots go deeper than the countersink, & you are left with a little cross wherever a screw is inserted......

Cheers,