Challenge 20-21 Tony A - Krenov smoother

A bit late to this party but here we go.
Whilst I am keen to make a brass dovetail smoothing plane, I would like to improve my knowledge of planes before I do. And to that end I have chosen to build a high angle Krenov smoother. There are many build descriptions for this type of plane on the internet, construction is relatively simple and they are, if well made, a good user (apparently). My original idea was to build three with progressively steeper bed angles of 50, 55 and 60 degrees as a means of learning some of the subtleties of managing tear out.
Having seen the excellent and, in some cases, complex builds already shown here, I’m not entering this challenge with the intention of winning it. However, I do want to be in the draw for Ian W’s excellent marking out tools. As a novice in the art of plane making, I’m taking a contrarian approach to some others by building the simplest usable smoothing plane I can find.
Starting point was a Hock blade 45 mm wide with chip breaker. The back needed a little work on a diamond plate for some minor flattening and to remove the grinding marks then work through the grits (to 12000) to remove the scratches then a final polish with Autosol on a piece of pine. On the cutting edge I’ll work up to 2000grit at 30 degrees then polish the scratches off the cutting tip using Autosol at a bevel angle of 40 degrees. This removes the scratches from the stone on the very tip of the blade. A couple of the posts on this forum by DW in particular, have helped me take my sharpening to a new level.
Attachment 493312
There, pretty happy with that.

Next, choosing a piece of wood. Considering this is a utilitarian tool and a first build I wasn’t gong to waste any exotic timbers on it so I went for the next best thing.
This piece of wood ticked most of the boxes, it was well dried, showed minimal cracking and thus stable, straight grained and quarter saw although it revealed a bit of water stain when dressed.
Attachment 493313

With a 45mm blade I wanted the bed of the plane to be 47mm wide plus two 8mm cheeks for lamination on each side. Length of the plane was to be 240mm.
Wood cut and dressed.
Attachment 493314

The bed of the plane was cut to 55 degrees on the table saw, trimmed up with a finely set plane and the slot for the chip breaker screw cut with a router. I clamped a wooden fence to my bench as a guide for the router.
Attachment 493315

Attachment 493316

A defining feature of a Krenov plane, compared to other laminated planes, is the shape of the wedge bar. So I’ve read, this shape gives better holding power on the wedge than a simple round dowel.
To make this I mounted a 20mm square length of wood in the lathe about 5mm off center and turned the 8mm spigots on each end leaving 46mm in the middle untouched. The shaping of the wedge bar was completed with a hand plane.
Attachment 493318

The cheeks were drilled to take the wedge bar, 32mm above the base of the plane and 20mm perpendicular to the bed. The plane can be clamped together at this point and the wedge thickness roughly measured. The wedge should be about 8mm thick where it meets the wedge bar.
Attachment 493319

Wedge was then cut and shaped roughly. It will need some fine fettling when the plane is glued up.
Attachment 493320

The positioning of the wedge bar was carefully checked such that the wedge held the blade nicely with the cheeks being adjusted to get everything square. The front bed was set so the blade wouldn’t quite protrude through the mouth. Blade was hitting about half a mm above the base of the plane. The mouth would be opened up later.
Attachment 493321

Being happy with the trial assembly it was time for glue up. While clamped together I drilled a couple of holes for dowels (in areas that would later be cut off) to make sure it all went back together accurately when glued. Masked up the joints and don’t forget to put the wedge bar in when gluing. The wedge bar isn’t glued, its free to turn, but can’t be inserted after the body has been glued.
Attachment 493322

Good stuff Tony :2tsup:
You might have turned up later than most, but you certainly have made a good start. Well done.

Awesome! Welcome to the race. It's never too late.

Looks already very good. I did not get that but what is the wood you are using?

Let's see what nickname your plane is going to get. [emoji6]

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Thanks CK

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Originally Posted by Cklett

I did not get that but what is the wood you are using?

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An old piece of firewood.

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Originally Posted by Ironwood

Good stuff Tony :2tsup:
You might have turned up later than most, but you certainly have made a good start. Well done.

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Thanks Brad, it's definitely simpler than most though.

Great start Tony. Good to see another wooden plane getting made :D. Any idea of the species of old firewood?

Yes, happy to see another entry. With your pace of work, you won't have to worry about the deadline.

Steve

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Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Great start Tony. Good to see another wooden plane getting made :D. Any idea of the species of old firewood?

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Must be "pre-ash" :)

Nice, late start Tony. Welcome.

Thanks MA.

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Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

. Any idea of the species of old firewood?

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Not Mountain Ash, another of our lowland species, E. obliqua.

Very Nice work Tony, being hear is more important than what time you arrived, your up against some stiff competition, but don’t think that will be to much of an issue for you.

Cheers Matt.

How about "Fire Woodie" for a nickname?

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Originally Posted by Cklett

How about "Fire Woodie" for a nickname?

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That could work, if the plane is no good, that's where it will end up

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Originally Posted by tony_A

That could work, if the plane is no good, that's where it will end up

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We certainly do not hope so. Knock on fire wood. Good luck. Hopefully we see the next stage soon.

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Originally Posted by Cklett

We certainly do not hope so. Knock on fire wood. Good luck. Hopefully we see the next stage soon.

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I'm expecting it will work CK and hope to get some time to finish it off in a few days . Had a busy weekend pursuing one of my other interests, riding a mountain bike around the trails at Derby.