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  1. #31
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    Default The lady hasn't sung yet....

    After making the second version of the Veritas kit plane with my modified adjuster, as detailed above, I was left with the original Veritas adjuster shaft. Seemed a pity to just chuck it in a drawer & forget it, so I started thinking about a Vers3.

    The little rear-bun smoother I made a few months ago has turned out a real winner, it’s one of those tools that makes me wonder why it took so long to discover I needed it! 10.jpg

    So, for vers3 of the Veritas kit plane, I decided to make a similar model, but with an adjuster. By making the rear bun about the same height as the instructions for the kit suggest, the adjuster shaft should fit & do its job. So I sat down to design my new plane.

    The kit instructions suggest a length of 200mm for the plane they illustrate, but I wanted to make mine shorter – no more than 170mm long, if possible. I reckoned I could do this by shortening the rather long toe of the Veritas version (75mm) so I cut the nose down to 45mm, which looked a better proportion. That gave me the length I wanted, and kept the back the same, which is good, because if the rear bun gets too short, it’s uncomfortable to hold. I drew up a side profile accordingly and made some templates for sides & sole.

    The Veritas blade that came with the kit is 1 5/8 inches wide (41mm). I reckoned a 1 ½” (38mm) blade would be more in proportion. But grinding 3mm off each side of a blade seemed a bit too tedious, so I resigned myself to making it to take the 1 5/8” blade.

    This job, like the last, is happening in short bursts when I can get shed time. This is not a good way for me to work – I have to stand & stare a while each time I get back to it, to figure out where I am! It also means picture-taking has been a bit erratic, so not all steps are covered, but you’ve seen all that before, anyway, haven’t you...
    Despite the stop/start progress, things were coming along pretty nicely. I’d got the sides cut out, & bent to shape, and transferred the tails to the sole. Got one side of the sole cut out during a coffee break, and the next day, I pressed on with the second side.

    But things happen that shouldn't happen when I’m doing things on the fly & not giving it the attention it requires. I was well into my second cut when I realised I had screwed up. Spot the blunder: 1 Take 1 a.jpg

    That pic might be a bit small, depending on how you’re viewing it, so just to make the point: 2 Mistake.jpg

    Yep, I’d just made the most fundamental error that you can make when dovetailing. I was cutting off the wrong bit!
    I sat & stared at it for fully 5 minutes, trying to figure out if I could gather up all those little dots of metal on the floor & put them back where they came from. In fact, it is possible to repair something like this by driving in a wedge of steel during peening, but I wouldn’t have been happy with a repair, so it was either start a new sole, or revert to my original plan & make the blade narrower. A quick ruler check showed that cutting off the pins on that side would leave me with a sole that was still wide enough for a 1 ½” blade. I decided it was Fate telling me my design needed to change, so I cut it down, re-marked the pins: 3 Take 2.jpg

    And sawed out the correct pieces, this time. After some filing & fiddling, both sides went on with no further dramas: 4 Sides on.jpg

    I cut out & bevelled the mouth, then peened up the body. Here it is getting its initial clean-up after peening: 5 Cleaning D-Ts.jpg

    It’s still pretty rough, but I leave it at that until the infill has been installed & riveted in place, before doing the final cleanup.

    For the stuffing, I’m using another chunk of Gidgee. This piece is more straight-grained, but has a very subtle fiddleback pattern, that I’m hoping will stand out a bit more when it’s polished, but in any case, I’m confident it will polish nicely enough to look the part. Over-stuffing a curved body is a pita – it takes patience & care, and can’t be rushed - I made sure I had a few clear hours to tackle this part. I marked out the pieces using templates for side & sole shape. With my ageing eyes, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to see knife-lines in dark wood, so in situations like this, I do what we were taught by our woodwork teacher back in primary school – rub a bit of French chalk over the lines. Makes a huge difference! 6 Enhanced lines.jpg

    After much careful sawing, paring, & rasp-work, both buns are sitting nicely where they should, & ready to glue in: 7 Woodwork ready.jpg

    I sawed off the extra wood overhanging the sides, & was about to mix up the Araldite to bed them in when I realized I’d forgotten to fit the adjuster. Drat! It would have been a bit easier to set the rear bun up for drilling while the edges were still square, but fortunately, the swivel jaw in my home-made drill-press vise allows for holding odd-shaped objects. The reason I was leaving this 'til now was because I wanted to check the measurements after the rear stuffing was in place. The holes need to be put in pretty accurately for the adjuster to have its proper range of travel.
    It only requires two 7/8 holes to be drilled in the bed, but the one that takes the Aluminium cup that the adjuster pivots in has to be just the right depth or the pivot will either bind against the blade or wobble in its hole if it’s too deep. The cup is a really tight fit in the woodwork, so it’s not easy to do a test-fit. I relied on checking the depth with calipers, and eventually snuck up on the right depth. All looks good: 8 Adjuster fitted.jpg

    So, I glued the woodwork in & left it to cure overnight: 9 Infill glued.jpg

    Maybe I'll get some more shed time tomorrow...
    Cheers
    IW

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  3. #32
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    Default

    Ian

    Another great build. I actually think the stuff up adds even more veracity, not that I am suggesting anything else: I just like the human fallibility. I think it draws woodworkers together.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  4. #33
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    Nov 2011
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    Melbourne
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    Default

    Ian,

    Like Paul said
    Just another fantastic write up, an your recovery from the missed place saw cut,was brilliant an a little lucky too[emoji849].
    I really like these little smoothing planes.

    I’m very glad you haven’t stopped making tools
    An of late I’ve really been thinking about following your great lead an letting the seed you have tried planting on me germinate a little,


    Cheers Matt,

  5. #34
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    Port Sorell, Tasmania
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    Default

    Love your work Ian. I would really like to build a coffin smother based on one of your builds but my wife reckons I already have about 10 years of projects in front of me. Hope you are still watching this forum and able to provide guidance when I need you.

    Tony
    You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. ~Oscar Wilde

  6. #35
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    Mar 2008
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    Default

    This is wonderful Ian. Thanks for the detailed description, allowing us to build a plane vicariously through your efforts!

    When creating the side profile bends, how do you do that? While bending against a template form could work, I would image there would be a degree of spring back, thereby negating the benefits of a form to get two matching sides. I am intrigued,

    Kind regards,
    Lance

  7. #36
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by LanceC View Post
    ....... When creating the side profile bends, how do you do that? While bending against a template form could work, I would image there would be a degree of spring back, thereby negating the benefits of a form to get two matching sides. I am intrigued.....
    Lance, I do indeed use a form. I missed that bit out because I've been working at this in fits & starts & didn't always have the camera on hand. To allow for springback, the form has some extra 'bend'. To save repetition, take a look here, where I've described the process in some detail.

    The form bends the shape pretty nicely, the only difficulty is figuring out how much extra bend to apply. I've done about a half dozen planes with curved sides now, each was a different size or shape, and each lot of brass I used was different in its behaviour. It's all supposed to be the same alloy (380), but some was definitely springier than others. On one plane, my guess of how much extra was almost spot-on, while this last one was way off - it was the springiest bit I've used so far. It doesn't matter too much if you miscalculate, you won't be too far over or under. You are far more likely to be under, in which case either make a new form, or re-cut the form you used to a tighter curve & have another go at it. If you overdo it a bit, just gently squeeze it back in the vise. You don't need a perfect fit, the curve needs to be close to the sole profile, but if it's a mm or so off either end that will do. It's perfect if the curve is slightly tight & you have to squeeze it a teeny bit to have it sit against the sole all the way along - that makes it easier to slip the side on when testing your fit after sawing the waste out. You need to be able to scribe the tails to the sole accurately, that's the main thing. Mine have always ended up needing to be pulled in a little bit with clamps when setting the pieces up on the peening block.

    Even though I didn't take my own advice, I would suggest anyone making their first infill start with a parallel sided design. There's enough to cope with on your first foray into metal plane making without adding the extra complication curved sides bring to the party. A parallel-sided design can look just as spiffy as a coffin shaped example, I think: b.jpg

    ..and makes fitting the infill much more straightforward, too.

    'Over-stuffing' looks great, but is also an extra worry if it's your first attempt, & doubly so for curved sides. I over-stuffed the first one as well as going for curved sides (hubris was clearly overwhelming commonsense!), and that was another source of deep anxiety and near-disasters that helped spin that build out over several years: front bun replaced 2018.jpg

    Keeping the wood inside the sides gives you scope for some creative chamfering of the sides, which can add some interest to your design: 2 side.jpg

    I've made up most of my methods on the go, and picked up a few good ideas from reading about other people's builds, and certainly don't profess to be an expert. I'm a long way from the Sauer & Steiner league yet, but have managed to cobble up a few planes that work very nicely for me, over the last 12 or so years. So I say to anyone thinking about having a go, just make the start - get yourself a bit of brass & steel & start playing with it. It doesn't matter if it takes you a while, persistence will get you there in the end.....

    Chees,
    IW

  8. #37
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    Default Getting there...

    I forgot I had a couple of pics of cutting the mouth out, so I’ll rewind a bit.

    To form the mouth for my first couple of planes I first sawed out a slot wide enough to get a file through, then filed away to form the bevel. To keep the mouth fine, this ‘starter slot’ needs to be a little less than the thickness of the blade you intend using, so that you have a bit of extra metal up your sleeve when it comes to adjusting & straightening the moth & blade bed after the infill has been installed.

    The sorts of blades you are likely to use for a plane like this will most likely be ~3mm thick, so the ‘starter’ slot needs to be a little less than that, which means even a 6 inch file won’t fit through the mouth slot you’ve made (they are typically about 1/8” or 3.2mm thick). Warding files are much thinner, and that’s what I use to start filing the bevel. A block clamped to the sole gives me a guide so I know when I’ve reached the correct angle of the bevel.
    Now that’s an awful lot of filing, particularly for a 2” or wider blade & a thick sole, & I soon got very tired of that approach - there had to be a better way. The better way I came up with is to saw out as much of the waste as possible. It’s really hard to cut straight on such a deep cut (a 45 degree bevel in a 6mm thick sole is getting on for 8.5mm wide!), so I use the jewellers saw to cut out enough of a step to get a hacksaw blade in: A1 Mouth 1st cut.jpg

    The hacksaw is a bit more controllable but still needs to be kept well clear of the scribe lines because the damn things like to wander. So you’re left with a rather rough surface & still plenty of filing: A2 Mouth cut out.jpg
    ..but I assure you it’s a lot quicker & easier than filing the whole thing down!

    Ok, back to real time. The morning after glueing in the stuffing, I set the rivets. I like to do this as soon as the glue has cured a little bit, but isn’t yet really hard. There will be enough plasticity in the glue to accommodate being squished a bit as the rivets are hammered down.

    Setting rivets is pretty easy, once you get the hang of it. It’s a matter of putting a sufficient counter-sink in the side, and not having too much rivet sticking out to peen down. For the 1/8” brass rod I used on my plane, I made the counter-sinks (after drilling the holes, of course), with my home-made counter-sinker (an old triangular file sharped to a 45-50 degree point. You can use a regular counter-sink bit, but the 60 degree angle makes a wider hole that taks more peening to fill. It really doesn’t need much of a ‘collar’ on that rivet to hold very firmly. About 6 twists of the tool makes an adequate countersink: A3 Rivet countersinks.jpg

    For a 1/8” rivet, I find about 1.5mm sticking above the surface gives an adequate amount of metal to fill the countersink. If you have too much sticking out, the brass will start to split & flake before you have properly seated it, & you’ll end up with a gappy, unsightly job. It takes a bit of time & concentration to avoid mis-hits as you persuade the metal down, so I like to do a few at a time with a break in between. I always have the occasional slip, but the small dings a light blow leaves will disappear when you clean up the bodywork at the end: A4 Rivets peened.jpg

    OK, with the stuffing set in, I needed to attend to my over-wide blade. I tossed up between grinding the required 1/16” off the sides, or using the angle-grinder to cut it off. This is an O1 blade so a bit delicate when it comes to excess heat. I decided to go for the angle grinder. I marked lines where the metal had to come off and made the first cut: A5 cutting blade a.jpg

    It was easier than I expected. I clamped the blade between a couple of chunks of 6mm flat bar as a eat-sink, & even the tip of the blade barely got warm (the cut-off piece turned pretty blue though!): A6 cutting blade b.jpg

    A touch on the side of my CBN wheel and the sides were cleaner than the original factory finish. It fitted perfectly: A7 blade done.jpg

    Whew! I was a bit worried about that step, but it turned out to be far easier than I feared, and a heck of a lot easier than making an entirely new sole would have been, so I reckoned I’d made the right decision.

    I spent several hours tidying up the blade bed (no matter how careful I am I never get a perfect mating of the infill & sole bevel), then filing the front of the mouth ‘til the blade just came through. I will file it a bit more after I lap the sole, but that can’t happen until I make & fit a lever cap.

    So with the half-hour or so left today, I started cleaning things up. First with a rasp, to bring the wood as close to flush with the metal as I dare, then switching to coarse, then fine files, & finally sandpaper (on a hard block) to get the basic lines smoothed: A8 cleaning up.jpg

    There’s another hour’s work to go on the wood, but it’s starting to look like a plane body now. I won’t do much more than this until I get the LC fitted, as it will have to go back on the drill press for the pivot holes to be drilled out. Once that’s done & a test-drive shows it’s working something like it should, it’ll get its final going-over.

    Not sure when I can get another session on it – I estimate another day’s worth of work to go..

    Cheers,
    IW

  9. #38
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    Got a couple of hours on the plane today. Enough to make a lever cap & install it: LC fitted.jpg

    So all that's left now is to lap the sole, open the mouth enough to let shavings through,and a final spit & polish....

    Cheers,
    IW

  10. #39
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    Ian

    I love that plane. So

    I want one.



    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  11. #40
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    Default Done, still a little bit of dusting to do....

    Had most of today to myself, so it was spent very happily finishing the plane.

    With lever cap done, the next job was to put the blade assembly in & lap the sole to 'very close', before a final bit of filing to form a mouth. Having had the unpleasant surprise before of the blade going from barely through, to a too wide mouth, I took my time & checked frequently. Got this one near-perfect, so very happy about that.

    With the sole barely flattened, I couldn't resist, I had to give it a test drive, so I honed the blade up and went at a bit of scrap. It made full-width 2 thou shavings on the first attempt - very encouraging! First shavings.jpg

    So I spent an hour or two doing the final clean-up, polished the lever-cap and the woodwork, and set it up for a portrait: Vers3.jpg

    The keen observers will note that I changed my mind on the rear bun. It started with a little camel-hump behind the bed, which I thought might prevent my hand bumping the adjuster knob & knocking things out of whack: A8 cleaning up.jpg

    But a) it looked a bit naff to me, & b) it fouled the brass knob & prevented the screw from screwing all the way down (which isn't a problem now, but would be when the blade wears), so off it came, & I think the lines are much better with it gone. From the few minutes I was using it, my hand was sitting comfortably clear of the knob, so my fears were groundless. The plane has a very nice action, with a solid feel, & the low grip the buns afford seems just right. I've come to like these "non-handled" infills as Norris called them. After a little bit more fettling I think it'll be a rather good little plane. I need to do a little bit more work on the sole, and I'm not altogether happy with the cap-iron - I used some 1.6mm steel because the 1/8" stainless steel I used for Vers2's cap-iron is really too thick, but 1.6 seems a bit flimsy. I'm searching for something about 2-2.25mm thick, 'cos I reckon that will be ideal for small planes like this. Any suggestions??

    So here they are, Versions 1, 2, & 3: Vers2&3 b.jpg Finished plane.jpg

    Who would have thought a simple kit could spawn so much fooling about??

    Cheers,
    IW

  12. #41
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    Default

    That is really inspiring Ian.

    I love the form of the Krenov style planes, they make me think of the old 1930’s Austin Seven.



    Your latest one, being a little more squashed looks like the old Mickey Mouse car (which isn’t bad, just different).



    Kind regards,
    Lance

  13. #42
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    Ian,

    Like Paul, I like so I want,an I’m pretty sure I can guess your reply[emoji849].

    But reading in regards to the modification to the rear bun,
    All I could think off was,

    Off with his head [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23].

    Cheers Matt
    Is there now something stirring in the pot ?

  14. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simplicity View Post
    .....Is there now something stirring in the pot ? ....
    Always something cooking here, Matt!

    But nothing new - got a commission for a shoulder plane (for a friend, so I couldn't say no), but I'll probably make two, because in cutting out the blade bed, you end up with two equal wedges. So two for the price of one (plus a bit)....

    Then I really must get on with the gallery & bookcase for my desk that I made 10 years ago. I planed up the wood 2 years ago & stacked it to 'rest' - I think it should be sufficiently relaxed by now.

    Hmmm, then there's some more jobs around the house that LOML has in mind......

    Cheers,
    IW

  15. #44
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bushmiller View Post
    .......I love that plane..... ...I want one.....
    Well Paul, you can have it - all you need is a Veritas kit, a few bob's worth of brass, a bit of wood for the infill - and time!

    Cheers,
    IW

  16. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by IanW View Post
    Well Paul, you can have it - all you need is........ . . time!

    Cheers,
    Aye. There's the rub .

    Too many projects. Glad to see your bookcase took two years. My desk only took twelve months and the bookcase about three months. I shall tell SWMBO how fast I am compared to some! Not gearing myself up for too many brownie points there .

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

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