A plough plane in a pinch with a problem

I've been on the lookout for a plough plane for a little while. My main need is for running grooves for drawers and boxes. I don't have a 6 mm router bit, and knowing that I could buy one, I also knew that once I did, my plough plane requirement would change from a "need" to a "want". So with that in mind, I finally decided that if I couldn't find a used Veritas Small Plough Plane, I'd buy a new one. A wanted post returned no fruit, so yesterday I went to order it from an Australian retailer who lists them at an affordable price. Over a phone call it became evident that not only did he not have stock, but the likelihood of getting more in is slim to none. The alternative is Carbatec, who's price puts it out of my reach. Time to make another plan.

I've have a bunch of drawer parts which I'd prepared several weeks ago waiting on something to make the groves with, other than doing a double pass with a 3 mm router bit. With plan A and B out of the picture, and wanting to do something in the workshop yesterday evening, I thought I'd have a crack at making a plane, which I could use with chisels.

We have some left over Tasmanian Blackwood from the vanity my wife made, so figured it would make a good base. The long and short of it is that I made the plane and it worked. It's designed to cut a 6 mm groove, 6 mm in from the edge.

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I have not added a fence yet, so planed against a guide, and the wedge needs to be trimmed down.

Unfortunately there was a problem. I noticed after ploughing several grooves that when I have the wedge hammered all the way in, the body is starting to split.

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Where does that leave me? I signed and dated "Hand plane by Lance #1", and it will be retired to my office as a display piece.

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I'll make another attempt, but this time move the hole up a little, so that there is a connecting bridge along the base, which should offer significantly improved resistance to the tension forces exerted by the wedge.It was a fun project though, and was rather impressed that using only had tools, with the exception of the drill press, it only took a couple of hours of contemplation and work.

Oh, and I'll go and buy the 6 mm router bit, as well as start looking for a used older Stanley/Record plough plane. At the lower cost, I can manage it as a "want".

Lance

Give in to your desires & dive right into the deep end, our local antique store has this Stanley No. 55 at the moment for $350, no box though.

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If that's not in your budget, how about these?
Rapier England #3 Plough Plane In Original Box. - The Tool Exchange
Record England No 040 small plough plane, IOB - The Tool Exchange

I saw your wanted ad but you specifically said you wanted a Veritas so I stayed schtum.

However, I have a surplus Marples 044 if that interests you. Way better than an 040 and for less money than Tool Exchange want for the 040.

I bought a Record 050 recently. That's why it is surplus.

For what’s it is worth
I’ve never build a wooden body plane.
But would originating the grain by 90 degrees help.
Similar to the principle of handle making an using a wedge.
Or a wedged mortise an tenon joint.

Failing that I have on good grounds that Roofing nails make excellent repairs in wooden body tools.
You could drill a hole perpetually too the crack an insert the roofing nail.[emoji854]



Hopefully that helps.

Cheers Matt

Lance - first I commend your effort - using a bit of imagination & a bit of scrap to solve an immediate problem is my style, too. If it's any consolation, my first couple of attempts at specialty plane making (well any sort of plane making, to be honest!) had very mixed results. But as in your case, a valuable lesson or two was learnt every time, so nothing was lost. It's something you might wish to re-visit down the track.

In the meantime, if you can get your hands on something like Mark's 044, you'll be sailing before the wind.

I must shamefully confess that I only plough drawer sides if repairing a genuine antique. That's when I drag out this old Rosewood beauty that fell into my hands many years ago, and do my Roy Underhill impersonation: Attachment 463575

When making new drawers, I just run the grooves on the tablesaw - quick, accurate & fairly quiet (unlike 'lectric routers), but still terribly industrial..... :B

Cheers,

woollybugger,
Noooo, I have somewhere between 0 and no interest in the 45 and 55 combination planes. I won't say never, but certainly not at this juncture.

markharrison,
Thanks, I'll keep it in mind.

Matt,
I don't think the timber orientation was wrong. It would be a right pain in the neck to profile the base were it all end grain. Wooden moulding planes of yore all had the grain running along the length. They did have much more height though. As I look at my attempt (it's on the window sill in the office now), there is more hole then plane in front of the blade... but wow does it look nice :) . There was a thread a little while ago about suitable axe handles, and how long fibre woods were better. I wonder if it would have helped in this circumstance too.

And as for resolving it with a roofing nail, I'm currently waiting on delivery of just such a nail, but the supplier is taking his sweet time, so it may be a while.

Ian, I had used my table saw for grooves in the past, but all my blades have bevelled teeth (even my rip blade has a slight bevel) which doesn't leave a nice flat base. While it wouldn't be seen, it still fails on the eloquence scale. To be honest though, I had forgotten all about using the table saw, and you're right, it is far more pleasant than the router. Perhaps I should try again, and just think of the triangle base as a feature.

Good timing thread.

Local auction just sent me through latest list. Going down to check out a pizza oven, but noticed a load of Mahogany and Brass tools including marking gauge, tooth plane and several plough planes.....might have to have a closer look ;)

I found a Record 043 on Gumtree the day after I started this thread. It was one of those "too good to be true" affairs, so thought I'd wait to see if it actually arrived before mentioning it here. It was complete with three cutters, in what looked to be fantastic condition. I rang the seller up, paid his asking price, and a week later it arrived!

Unpacking it eagerly, all parts were accounted for, and as per the photos, it really was in outstanding condition. It even came with instructions!

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My intention is to use the ¼ ” most of the time, so took it out of the plane, ran it over my 1000 grit diamond plate and my new 12,000 grit Shapton stone (which only arrived the day before), and with much anticipation ran some grooves.

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Well, that was an experience. Note to self: “square your stock first”. I was so excited I grabbed an off-cut of rough sawn Myrtle, which was anything but. Out of square, with a bow. It was also a little hard to keep the fence against the side, which I put down to the bow. For good measure I ran a second groove against the grain, which had been a concern for me. I was pleased to see while there was tear-out in the base of the groove, the walls were perfectly acceptable, and would clean up nicely with a smoothing plane run over the top.

You may notice that I set the fence rails up as per Derek’s suggestion to make it more comfortable to hold. With the rails protruding out of the far side, it’s easier to cradle the fence. While this necessitates a screwdriver to make adjustments, I figure it’s a once per job operation, so of little consequence. Naturally I can still fine tune the fence with the knurled knobs (it’s not often you get to use two words with a silent “k” one after another; the simple pleasures of life brought to you by the English language).

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We had guests staying with us at the time, so couldn’t spend too much time in the workshop, so that was the end of my playing for the day.

Later in the week I got up early whilst the guests were still sleeping, and took to opportunity to give the plane some spit and polish (or a rub against the buffing wheel). Oh how it shone! I also got around to making up a larger fence plate. In hindsight, I will need to cut it down, as it’s simply too deep to be practical on narrower boards, such as draw parts, which it what I anticipate its main use to be.

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And naturally I put it to use and ran some more test grooves. It was so much easier with the larger fence, but noted that I really need to make an effort to keep the plane vertical, and not rely on the registration of the fence to do that for me.

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All in all I’m really chuffed with my new plane, and eagerly await the coming weekend to run a bunch of grooves in my waiting drawer stock... unless a package arrives with a very special roofing nail first, in which case I may have to flip a coin.

Kind regards,
Lance

Lance, you can use the Veritas blades in the #043. This opens the door to beading as well (just add a back bevel to increase the cutting angle).

Regards from Perth

Derek

Nah man, do not give up. Go full bore and keep at it, you'll get there. Try, try, try again, fanatics are what keeps old tools living.