Thread: A teeny-tiny plane

And I thought your eyes were getting bad!

What - no sheoak infill?

Hi All

Lovely little plane, Ian. Hope it makes many leaves..

As a slight divergence, when Ian mention that the violin planes reused as little scrubs, I realised I had never looked at how violin planes are used. So odd looking at some YT's. Thought this one may be of interest for a) the tiny, tiny plane that ones of his favourites, ( the one would find Ians cabinet spacious) and the little handles that he is putting on the blades.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFIyl9M8jWU

Cheers M

Originally Posted by aldav

And I thought your eyes were getting bad!

True, but my head-band magnifier still works....

Originally Posted by labr@

What - no sheoak infill?

No she-oak Bob, not even a scrap of western rosewood (A. rhodoxylon), which has become my favourite infill wood for small planes. The blade just sits on the sole & back. It would take a LOT of fiddling & many more expletives to fit a tiny wedge of wood in there with the desired accuracy, though it would serve to prevent the accumulation of gunk over the years. Using a lever-cap means no wood anywhere, which is a plus/minus as the wedge is often extended to act as a handle. Making that little LC was a good challenge, I gave it plenty of shape, but not as much as on a larger size.

Martin, thanks for the video, it shows what I meant by instrument makers using them like little scrub planes & why they typically have big mouths. Also, some of the commercial models came with handles, so that's not an original idea, but I like the use of champagne corks - good excuse to empty a few bottles! I reckon handles would be very convenient if you used these things all day, though I've seen them used by pulling almost as often as pushing. For the brief times I use tiny planes, I can hold them ok, but if my arthritis gets much worse, I may be retro-fitting some handles myself!

Like I said, I wanted to give this one a rounded bottom like I did on the first plane I made in this style (which was just a bit too wide & long to manage the job on the leaves): VP.jpg

I made the round bottom by starting with a 5mm thick sole, and filed the shape after attaching the sides - I'm working on it here getting the curves even & the blade to match: 8 blade camber.jpg

I had intended doing something similar with the current plane, but decided the 'dovetails' on the thinner sole & thinner sides would likely end up being too fragile, so I went with a flat sole & tight mouth. It can still follow a shallow curve, & the tight mouth helps limit tear-out so it will have its uses. I should have made it before helping LOML with her creations, but I'd already procrastinated and time was getting tight. They turned out ok & she is happy with the result: Gumnuts.jpg

...but if she decides on a similar project in the future, I think I'll just make another little plane, but with a wooden body, which will make it easier to shape the sole.

Cheers,

Those leaves and gumnuts turned out well .
Regarding handles, I haven't watched that YT vid but I imagine the so called squirrel tails are a good solution for controlling tiny planes. Not sure if you could retrofit a squirrel tail to one of yours though.

Originally Posted by labr@

Those leaves and gumnuts turned out well ......

LOML deserves most of the credit, I did turn the nuts & caps for her, which was very easy, they are not exactly complex, but she conceived the whole idea & did all the "value-adding" with the painting & fitting stamens etc. (which I think turned out to be more demanding & tedious than expected!). She made a fair fist of carving the leaves, too, but her girly fingers didn't like the sanding part at all, so I did much of the final smoothing of them, which is where the little plane was handy, especially on the backs...

Originally Posted by labr@

... Regarding handles, I haven't watched that YT vid but I imagine the so called squirrel tails are a good solution for controlling tiny planes. Not sure if you could retrofit a squirrel tail to one of yours though.

All of the handles I've seen on tiny planes were a rod fixed into the back of the plane, with a wooden knob attached at t'other end. I guess you could cast a 'tail' into the cast bodies, but the backs of my planes are at least 6mm thick & soldered & riveted to the sides so they are pretty strong. If I wanted to fit a handle I think it would be reasonably easy to drill & tap a hole to take a rod 5-8mm (depending on the size of the plane). It's the way I fit a screw for an adjuster on low-angle planes...: Redone rear.jpg

... but they are a bit bigger and easier to space the rivets holding the back piece so I don't drill though them. But it's quite feasible, and who knows, I might decide to add a handle or two in the future, but as I said, I don't use them for long sessions like an instrument-maker does, so I haven't felt the need yet....

Cheers,

Ian

This one is a little treat!

Which was the relatively easy to work SS? I remember you saying than one piece was a real "pig." I think that was the word you used....

Regards
Paul

That's a beaut, Ian!! ... Okay, a tiny beaut

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

...Which was the relatively easy to work SS? I remember you saying than one piece was a real "pig." I think that was the word you used....

Paul, the SS you gave me that is easy to work is the stuff that was made into a box (for switch-gear or something like that?). It was probably 3.2mm to start with, but after being pressed into shape & heavily sanded, is a little variable and between 3 & 3.1mm depending on where you caliper it. It cuts & files far more easily than the thicker, heavily-stained pieces, though not as easily as with mild steel, I can only go about half as far with a jewellers' saw blade as in the same thickness of mild steel or annealed O1. The stuff I referred to as "piggish" destroys a #6 blade in just a few mm! A 32 tpi hacksaw blade does a bit better, but they don't last long, and even the cutoff wheels go about 1/3rd of the distance they'd manage in mild steel. It also work-hardens more quickly when peened.

So while I'm grateful for your kind gift, I have said a few rude words about it at times. It's a relief when the cutting, peening & filing is finally done, it polishes like a mirror & feels more slippery than mild steel or O1, the other steels I've used for soles, so you do end up with a somewhat 'superior' product and the thought that the planes should be around for centuries to come (barring major fires or nuclear holocaust), is some recompense for my aching arms & shoulders.

I bought a piece of 4mm SS off ebay to make one of my mitre planes. The alloy was not specified, & I was hoping it would turn out like the 'softer' stuff to work, but it was hard too, somewhere in between the two types you gave me. So if we could ever discover what alloy the softer stuff is, that's the one to use for plane-making, but for a first attempt at a dovetailed plane, I would advise sticking with mild steel, a far less recalcitrant material to handle....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by derekcohen

That's a beaut, Ian!! ... Okay, a tiny beaut ...

Thanks Derek. I started making tiny planes just for fun, but some of them have turned out to be quite handy to have, especially for the "small" work I seem to be sidling into this last year or two. But it is tending to become a minor obsession, the "collection" keeps growing: All minis size a.jpg


Cheers,

Originally Posted by derekcohen

That's a beaut, Ian!! ... Okay, a tiny beaut

Delightful Ian. Must admit that it is the first gum leaf smoother that I have ever seen.

Question: Will you now need a companion gum leaf scrub plane for preparing the flitches for the gum leaves?

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

:... Will you now need a companion gum leaf scrub plane for preparing the flitches for the gum leaves. .....

Hmmm, hadn't thought of it 'til you mentioned it Graeme, but p'raps before I start on the scrub plane I should make a teeny-weeny frame saw to cut the flitches out of a (very smalll!) log....

Yeah nah, I've retired from the gum leaf business for a while, at least, though I fear if they are a hit at the ladies' stall I might get a repeat order. If I do I'll be able to stall a while by saying I have to make some more tools first.

Cheers,

Ian, you've commented on the difficulty of holding the tiny planes while in use but how do you restrain the small workpieces such as the gum leaves you showed?

Ian

Thanks for the clarification. I do have some more of the "box" stainless and some sheet stainless in different thicknesses. I will put some in next time I am passing your way and you can "try before taking."

Being an alloy, stainless has a wide variety of mixes for different purposes and work hardening is an unfortunate characteristic, for the likes of the toolmaker that is: The range of stainless products is a bit like the wide variability you have mentioned with brass.

Regards
Paul