Thread: Tips, Techniques and Theory

Bret.

I would use just a heap of scrap timber that you having lying about.
I think plaster board screws are cheap, and seem to be popular, so I would just use them to screw the bits together with, Glue and fancy wood work joints are over rated in my opinion.
Wouldn’t even bother pre drilling, only fancy patty’s do that garbage.
Don’t fret if a few screw heads get rounded over or chewed up, it happens.
Being a bit fussy my self I would probably slapper a few coats of what ever paint stuff you have as well.
Wouldn’t even bother masking up , a bit on the metal will stop it tarnishing.

Hope this helps.

Cheers Matt.

Brad, I think what you are referring to as "two pieces" is typical of the old Spiers & Mathieson smoothers that had "open" handles. They have a one-piece bed that fills in the back, & a channel is cut in the base. The handle has a long square 'toe' that slides into the channel. Norris made some of his planes that way too, but the Norris I have (late model A5) has a three-piece infill consisting of two cheeks glued onto a closed handle which forms part of the bed. The construction is very obvious in this plane because the handle is Mahogany, and he cheeks are Beech, so it is easy to see the parts. I got the Norris before I'd got to the stage of doing the woodwork in my first infill, so I copied the Norris for the rear stuffing, (except I used the same wood for handle & cheeks) - if it was good enough for Tom Norris.....

I cannot see any major advantages of doing a two-piece infill like the Spiers etc., it might be a teeny bit easier doing it that way, but probably not much, and it's really only applicable if you intend fitting an open handle. If you are going to use a closed handle, the three-piece approach is the only one that makes sense to me.

One thing I am certain about - sculpting the infill & handle from a single block of wood would NOT be the easiest way to go about it. I've seen a couple done that way, and they looked a bit lumpish. It would be hard to get clean, crisp lines carving it all out of a single piece. Making the cheeks as separate pieces makes it much easier to get sharp, clean lines: Infill 1.jpg

Cheers,

Thanks Guys, I will continue on the path of 3 bits.

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Bret.

I would use just a heap of scrap timber that you having lying about.
I think plaster board screws are cheap, and seem to be popular, so I would just use them to screw the bits together with, Glue and fancy wood work joints are over rated in my opinion.
Wouldn’t even bother pre drilling, only fancy patty’s do that garbage.
Don’t fret if a few screw heads get rounded over or chewed up, it happens.
Being a bit fussy my self I would probably slapper a few coats of what ever paint stuff you have as well.
Wouldn’t even bother masking up , a bit on the metal will stop it tarnishing.

Hope this helps.

Cheers Matt.

Thanks Mott, I actually has a few plaster board offcuts left over from the reno, might as well use them up for the handle, I got some villa board scraps too, might be able to use some for scales on the handle. I won’t be using screws because they won’t match the metal I already used, but I have some stainless nails left over from the pool deck, will just bash them through, if they are too long I will just bend the ends over, will help to hold it alll together. Thanks for the ideas, very helpful.

Originally Posted by Ironwood

Thanks Guys, I will continue on the path of 3 bits.

Thanks Mott, I actually has a few plaster board offcuts left over from the reno, might as well use them up for the handle, I got some villa board scraps too, might be able to use some for scales on the handle. I won’t be using screws because they won’t match the metal I already used, but I have some stainless nails left over from the pool deck, will just bash them through, if they are too long I will just bend the ends over, will help to hold it alll together. Thanks for the ideas, very helpful.

Brad,
That’s the spirit,don’t fret over what the Judges think either.

Cheers Matt.

Hi, is there any advise how to best bend the cheeks on a coffin shaped infill plane?

I tried to google it, but it seems people skip over that step and do not show it. However, might also just me not finding the right siten or entry.

I would like to know if there are some tricks worth sharing how to do it to get the shape you want.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Ck, you are right, most builds you see on the interweb don't go into any detail at all on curving the sides, the only person I've seen address it to any extent is Bill Carter, who makes the observation that cutting out the profile contours of the sides before bending risks getting kinks in the "low" spots. I didn't know this when I made my first couple of curved sides, so I did all the cutting out first (much easier when the stock is still flat, and especially levelling the bottoms of the sockets to a perfect straight line!).

I didn't even make a former for my first, but bent the sides around the sole. Of course this wasn't very clever because a) it was exceeding awkward to do, & b) the spring-back meant the sides didn't fit well. However, by more good luck than good management, I didn't get any kinking. But I did on the 4th or 5th curved plane I made. It wasn't too serious, and I was able to squeeze most of it out by clamping the former up really hard. But on the last plane I made, using the softer Chinese H62 brass, I went for low-profile sides and they kinked more. Again I was able to remove most of the sharp bends by clamping the former up hard, but I decided the better route in future would be to cut the dovetails whilst the sides are flat, but not cut the contours of the sides until the curves are applied. It will make sawing the top profile a little more awkward but not unmanageable, I hope. I plan to give it a go sometime in the next few months, & add it to the 'manual' if it goes well.

Perhaps the bigger question, & one that I doubt has an answer, is how much extra bend to put in your former so that when you take the side out, it springs back to "just right". For starters, brass from different sources vary widely on how 'springy' they are, there was far less springback in the H62 I've used than the c380. But even the 380 varies from batch to batch, so unless you used a heated former, which none of us is likely to ever do, it gets down to trial & error. My experience suggests you can add at least 5-8mm extra at front & back on a typicaal curved smoother side (~200mm plus or minus a bit) and usually, you will still be a bit short of a close fit.

One warning I will give you is to do your best to get the side curves matching the sides as closely as you can - something less than a mm front & back if possible. This makes it much easier to scribe the tails to the sole accurately & get a neat, snug fit of sides to sole. I was very cavalier with plane #1; I reckond I had them 'near-enough-sorta" (meaning they were out by several mm front & back), and paid for that dearly when it came to fitting the tails in the pins, & again when trying to clamping the damned thing together on the peening block!

So my advise is to start with what you think should be a reasonable amount of extra bend, and if the side springs back too far after clamping in the former re-cut your former to put a bit more bend in it. If you over-do the bend it's no big deal, it's fairly easy to just sit the side on the bench & carefully press some of the bend out. There's no danger in cracking the brass unless you go completely whacko & bend it back & forth numerous times....

Cheers,

I will make sure to document my journey then as well. Let's see what I come up with.

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The Due date for your master piece,
Is now 30 JUNE 2021

See Judges corner if you need more info.

Cheers Matt.

Bob,(Old Grey beard)

We flattened the body soul, the hard way.

This might get some keyboards tapping.


How to flatten a plane sole without getting your hands dirty - YouTube

Cheers Matt.

Matt

I noticed the bicycle pedals were going backwards. Did he rig up a fixed wheel? Wasn't too fussed with his hair style.

Regards
Paul

I didn't even notice his hair. To busy looking at the tiled floor in his workshop. Fancy!

How ingenious!

I’m currently on a research assignment(Or on holidays enjoying wet lunches), either way it’s kind of the same I’m sure.

But viewed this while visiting The Burke museum in Beechworth Victoria.


It was rather large, approximately 1800 mm long(70 inches for the oldies).

It really is just a stick with a fancy hole cut into it.

Cheers Matt.

Matt

As the plane was in use at a brewery, where they tend to have barrels, I think that tool would be a Coopers plane, which is designed to be used in a fixed position, upside down and at an angle. The work is moved, not the plane.

Regards
Paul