Thread: Challenge 20 - 21. Ironwood.

Originally Posted by IanW

People seem to be getting bigger, so your handle is good future-proofing...

Cheers,

Excellent. I thought I had reached my full size, but I am now looking forward to some dizzy heights.



Regards
Paul

I have got nothing done on the plane today, been busy doing some plastering on the new ceiling in the bathroom renovation.
But I been thinking, yes dangerous, I know .
Looking into the mouth of my plane from above, it looks a bit congested in there, with the blade at 60 degrees, and the lever cap on top of that, I have the front infill with a convex curve going down to meet the edge on the front of the mouth opening of the sole.
Is it a normal thing to take the timber right to the edge of the mouth?
I have been looking at pics on the internet for the answer, but no one seems to show pics inside the mouth.
I haven’t got the shape of my lever cap set in stone ( or brass ) yet, so I can probably shape that to make a bit more room, but I am wondering if I should trim the front infill to open things up a bit, so I can leave the lever cap with a fuller curve at the front.
Anyone care to comment about this ?

Well I think I have pretty much decided what I’ll do. After taking out various parts and looking at where I think they should sit, I will cut the convex curve off the rear of the front bun, so it’s more of a thinner wedge shape, but still take it back to meet the top of the mouth opening.
The lever cap can be about 2mm higher up where it contacts the blade, and I will put a bigger radius curve on the top face going down to where it meets the blade.
This will open up the area in the mouth by quite a bit I think.

Hard to know how to advise you, Brad. In my experience, high angle planes tend to choke a bit, the shavings just don't fly out the way they do on standard pitch planes, and build up in the escapement. It depends on how thick shavings you are making, thicker shavings tend to hold together & shoot out, while fluffy ones just build up in the escapement.

If my experience is anything to go on, the front bun won't be a source of choking, it all happens down there in the mouth & just above it, where the shavings run into the bottom of the lever cap. My first plane (55 deg bed) was a terrible choker when first made. It had a very thick LC with a rather blunt curve to it, and I diagnosed that as being the main cause of my problems, so I took it out & filed about a Kg of metal off it (well, maybe not quite, but it seemed like a lot! ). That improved matters a lot, and the other thing I did was to file a bit more forward slope on the front of the mouth. It's pretty good on most woods now, but still has a tendency to choke a bit with some woods.

WRT the front bun, I copied my Norris for #1 & bought the bun down to about 3mm in front of the mouth. On planes made since, I've brought the wood even closer, and a couple are actually flush because I ended up filing more off the front of the mouth to get the blade through than I expected. As far as I can tell, as long as the wood is not overhanging the mouth, it isn't going to contribute to any choking. Just ensure there's a comfortable forward slope on the front of the mouth, that seems to be the main requirement.

I'd leave the front bun as you showed it, myself. I think it looks good, and it gives you a large flat to rest your hand on. The sharp rear edge of the bun on my Norris is horrible, it cuts into my hand & becomes quite uncomfortable on a long planing session. If you take a look at some of Konrad Sauer's planes, the bun curves back like yours, & I don't think he'd do that if he thought it was going to cause problems with ejection of shavings. Can't remember if I started doing mine that way before I saw his, but I've made 'em like that on the last half dozen infills & haven't encountered any problems.

You can always cut the top of the bun back later if you think it's causing problems.
Just my thoughts...
Cheers,

Ok, thanks Ian.
The bit that I am worried about, is the ramp from the front edge of the mouth and the slope up and forward from there.
After my last post, I was going through your manual, and I think it was on page 52 that actually shows the timber a few mm forward of the mouth.
I have been asked to start work a couple of days early, so won’t get any more done for a while on the plane, but will still be in thinking and planning mode.

I have not got much done on my plane lately, too much other stuff getting in the way I'm afraid.

I found a bit of time to start on the rear handle. I have done the shaping and a bit of sanding.
It fits better in my hand than the mockup one, as I lowered the finger hole a bit , on the mock one my little finger was squashed a bit on the bottom of the hole, and there was a gap between my middle finger and the top of the hole, now its all spaced a lot better and feels better in the hand.
DSC_1685.jpg

That's coming along nicely!

Coming along, Brad.

I should start a discussion in the "Tips" thread regarding the finger hole dimensions for a closed handle.

It's a bit of a tussle between getting the finger hole long enough & wide enough. You are constrained by the blade at the top, & moreso if fitting a screw adjuster because there has to be enough wood remaining to make a channel for it without it becoming too flimsy to provide any useful buttressing to the handle. At the bottom, you can't go lower than the sides, & if over-stuffing, you need the cheeks to be a bit higher than the sides or there's nothing to bring over, & the bottom of the finger hole has to be lifted. I find that an 11mm radius for the top & a 9.5mm radius at the bottom of the finger hole are the minimum to accept average fingers comfortably, and both could be increased a few mm if you have large fingers.

Making a bigger cutout usually means setting the grip back another 10mm or so, so that the web joining the top of the grip to the blade bed doesn't get too skimpy. On a short-bodied smoother, it gets to be very tight, which is why many of the old small smoothers have the woodwork sticking way out at the rear.

Ah,the joys of "prototyping"....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Ironwood

I have not got much done on my plane lately, too much other stuff getting in the way I'm afraid.

I found a bit of time to start on the rear handle. I have done the shaping and a bit of sanding.
It fits better in my hand than the mockup one, as I lowered the finger hole a bit , on the mock one my little finger was squashed a bit on the bottom of the hole, and there was a gap between my middle finger and the top of the hole, now its all spaced a lot better and feels better in the hand.
DSC_1685.jpg

Brad,
I’ve seemed to have missed your build thread,
But boy that’s looking good,

Cheers Matt.

Lookin good Brad. Great contrasting colours happening.

'bout time for some more action here. I got some done on the infills today.

DSC_1695.jpg

DSC_1699.jpg

DSC_1700.jpg

I got the front bun epoxied in this afternoon, have to leave it until Sunday before I will get a chance to put the rivets in, and get the rear handle and infills epoxied in.
Then will be shaping the blade, and making the lever cap. Fun days coming up

Very tidy work! I must admit there is some charm to wood and metal mixed.

Steve

Brad,
That is looking exceptionally simple clean an neat,
Not an easy think to pull of.

Cheers Matt

That is so neat!

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