Thread: Challenge 20 - 21. Ironwood.

Really only needs the lever cap to be cleaned up a bit to be considered finished... it’s looking real good!

You’ve mentioned you work away; are you a DIDO/FIFO worker (like me)? If so why not take the lever cap with you along with a few sheets of wet and dry? When wrapped around a pencil W&D can perform just like a file (albeit a very slow-cutting one) and it’s a constructive way to wile away the evenings watching the goggle box or having a few social beers...

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

Really only needs the lever cap to be cleaned up a bit to be considered finished... it’s looking real good!

You’ve mentioned you work away; are you a DIDO/FIFO worker (like me)? If so why not take the lever cap with you along with a few sheets of wet and dry? When wrapped around a pencil W&D can perform just like a file (albeit a very slow-cutting one) and it’s a constructive way to wile away the evenings watching the goggle box or having a few social beers...

Yeah DIDO, Field Service Diesel Fitter.
After a 12.5 hr shift in the heat out there, a shower, a feed, a quick beer and a phone call, it’s lights out for me. I think I’m better off leaving it at home .
Hopefully next week I’ll get a chance to finish it properly.
If not, I’m content that I can present a working plane.

Lovely work! A little spit and polish and its going to be hard to beat.
I didn't measure my shavings, but I'm quite sure they are thicker than yours

Steve

Hi Brad. Wow! Looks great and the timber has come up beautifully. Who made the plane iron?

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Hi Brad. Wow! Looks great and the timber has come up beautifully. Who made the plane iron?

Fairly certain it was Iron and carbon incorporated Pty.[emoji6]

Cheers Matt.

Lookin' good Brad, lookin' reeel good! To get shavings like those straight up with very little final fettling is very impressive, in my book! Took me a lot more fiddling to get my first plane to make one thou shavings consistently....

I can't say anything, being a 'judge', might give you an unfair advantage (), but if it were my plane, I'd look at the 'blunt' nose of your lever-cap as a possible cause of concertinaed shavings. The symptom of a too-tight mouth is choking, i.e., the gap fills with compacted wood & plane stops working.

Mouth opening is not super-critical on a single-iron, high angle plane; blade angle &/or cap-irons contribute much more to controlling tear-out in my experience, and super-fine mouths limit the plane to very fine shavings, and especially so with many of our hard but crumbly Aussie woods. So if you do find the mouth jamming excessively, open it up a teeny bit more. IMO, super-fine mouths are somewhat over-rated anyway, though getting a very fine, even mouth is definitely a bragging point....

Cheers,

Brad,
If that’s not your finished plane, I’m really hanging out too see the finished plane.
An such fine shavings to boot as well.
Hopefully the judges will be lenient, regarding you just using a table without a table cloth tho.

Cheers Matt.

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Hi Brad. Wow! Looks great and the timber has come up beautifully. Who made the plane iron?

I got a few assorted sizes in one of Thumbsucker’s plane blade group buys . Check out the thread here if you have time to do some reading,
D2 Plane Blades - Batch Order 02

Originally Posted by IanW

Lookin' good Brad, lookin' reeel good! To get shavings like those straight up with very little final fettling is very impressive, in my book! Took me a lot more fiddling to get my first plane to make one thou shavings consistently....

I can't say anything, being a 'judge', might give you an unfair advantage (), but if it were my plane, I'd look at the 'blunt' nose of your lever-cap as a possible cause of concertinaed shavings. The symptom of a too-tight mouth is choking, i.e., the gap fills with compacted wood & plane stops working.

Mouth opening is not super-critical on a single-iron, high angle plane; blade angle &/or cap-irons contribute much more to controlling tear-out in my experience, and super-fine mouths limit the plane to very fine shavings, and especially so with many of our hard but crumbly Aussie woods. So if you do find the mouth jamming excessively, open it up a teeny bit more. IMO, super-fine mouths are somewhat over-rated anyway, though getting a very fine, even mouth is definitely a bragging point....

Cheers,

Cheers Ian. I was very pleased when it took nice shavings on the first trial run.
I suspect the mouth is still too small, I had to withdraw the blade a couple of times to clear blockages, I might get the feeler gauges out next week and compare with my HNT smoother.
I can take off a bit of metal off the nose of the lever cap to make it easier for the shavings to exit, when I finish it off I will do a bit of reshaping as well.

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Hopefully the judges will be lenient, regarding you just using a table without a table cloth tho.

Luckily I used the verandah floor to take these photos, everyone knows you don’t put the good tablecloth on the floor, so I think I am safe this time.

Originally Posted by Ironwood

Luckily I used the verandah floor to take these photos, everyone knows you don’t put the good tablecloth on the floor, so I think I am safe this time.

I too noticed the lack of an actual tablecloth. Glad you brought it up Matt !

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

I too noticed the lack of an actual tablecloth. Glad you brought it up Matt !

well, I’ll be standing on my morals, the tablecloth won’t be going on the floor.
It will be a different story when I move on to the presentation table, there may happen to be a tablecloth on there

Well it looks like I will have some spare time on my next lot of days off to finish my plane.
I reckon by next weekend I should be done .

Originally Posted by Ironwood

Well it looks like I will have some spare time on my next lot of days off to finish my plane.
I reckon by next weekend I should be done .

That would be another one done, how awesome is that.
Cough, table cloth, I’m just saying that’s all.

Cheers Matt.