My Hand Planes
Re: My Hand Planes
I figured I would post this, but the original patternmaker's plane is finally at home on the display case, where it belongs, with all of my grandfather's planes.
Re: My Hand Planes
I keep saying that Im done making hand planes for the toolboxes, but I will probably make alot more to sell. I keep thinking of making the patterns up to make a T rabbet plane, but idk if I really want to do that one tbh. It looks cool and looks like it could be pretty comfortable, but yea. Then I keep thinking of just making a pipe plane style and saying screw it, lol. Im not sure why, but I really like the pipe plane style, and I can kinda see a rabbet plane in pipe plane style, but it is a bit of a challenge to say the least because of how they work, lol. There's an inherent weakness in those planes that I keep seeing, but not sure how to get around it really without making it taller, but that's not a viable option either.
Ive been thinking about it for a while, and I do have a 3/4" wide rabbet/shoulder plane that I use all the time and works really well, but I keep running into patterns and such where I need a step much wider than 3/4", so it keeps throwing that problem at me. I have an old stanley one that I have used, but I absolutely hate the thing and it really doesnt work very well at all, so I just keep putting it back in the milk crate to get rid of, then I get it out for those odd jobs and have to go over the workpieces to clean them up because of how badly a finish it gives.
I keep trying to go across the grain, and with such a wide mouth as the stanley has, it likes to give a horribly bad finish that is really rough, and rips the wood fibers out all the time. That and the blade is square across, which isnt too bad, but I think I would rather have it skewed so that it's acting as a shear cut in the work. The blade spans across multiple fibers and cuts multiple at once, which will also prevent the grains from tearing out and leaving a rough finish, so smoother finish and less cleanup afterwards.
I have a few ideas of what I want, but not sure the best way to do it really. At the same time, I kinda want that T rabbet plane also, so maybe I can just make it both?
Ive been thinking about it for a while, and I do have a 3/4" wide rabbet/shoulder plane that I use all the time and works really well, but I keep running into patterns and such where I need a step much wider than 3/4", so it keeps throwing that problem at me. I have an old stanley one that I have used, but I absolutely hate the thing and it really doesnt work very well at all, so I just keep putting it back in the milk crate to get rid of, then I get it out for those odd jobs and have to go over the workpieces to clean them up because of how badly a finish it gives.
I keep trying to go across the grain, and with such a wide mouth as the stanley has, it likes to give a horribly bad finish that is really rough, and rips the wood fibers out all the time. That and the blade is square across, which isnt too bad, but I think I would rather have it skewed so that it's acting as a shear cut in the work. The blade spans across multiple fibers and cuts multiple at once, which will also prevent the grains from tearing out and leaving a rough finish, so smoother finish and less cleanup afterwards.
I have a few ideas of what I want, but not sure the best way to do it really. At the same time, I kinda want that T rabbet plane also, so maybe I can just make it both?
Re: My Hand Planes
Well, I was struggling if I wanted to do the T rabbet plane, skewed iron rabbet plane, or a door check plane. They're virtually all the same, but some are better at some things than others, and Ive been struggling to decide which one to make, so I finally just said screw it and decided to make all 3, lol.
The skewed rabbet plane, Ive had the blade/iron for it for a while now and Im guessing it's from the 1820s-1840s at least, but it's very very old wrought iron with carbon steel cutting edge welded on, and it's pretty pronounced, which I thought was pretty cool and Ive wanted to make a body for it for a while to put it back into service, lol. I have a block of quartersawn cherry that Ive cut a tongue and groove in it and put a hedge apple/osage orange bottom onto it, so all that's left is to cut it out and lay it all out, then start drilling and chiseling everything to fit. The glue is drying between the body and sole right now, so maybe tomorrow Ill get onto laying that out.
T rabbet plane is all ready to go, just need to carve it and put a pocket in it for a fake split wedge to act as a core print. I have it sitting there so it's ready to go for something to carve on at carving group. It's a split pattern, but it'll be cast in bronze when I get it done. The door check plane, I traced a coffin plane shape on it and marked it half way to create a half coffin plane top and half square body plane, which would be pretty comfortable and the best of both worlds. I already cut the waste off, just need to carve/shape it, which once again, saving it for carving group, lol.
I kept seeing the door check plane in use in the videos of the one planemaker I watch, and wasnt sure what that plane was, but when I finally figured it out, I decided that I had to have one, lol.
Other than that, too much going on to really work on too much, lol. The roof and ceiling of the camper collapsed in again and I dealt with massive flooding all at once, and had around 30 gallons of water that I had to deal with on top of the roof that pooled, and around 4 gallons that rushed into the ceiling and flooded into here after the one recent storm, so it took a few days of building framing and everything to push the roof and ceiling back up to where it needed to be, and alot of fixing all of that. So yea, busy busy, lol.
T rabbet plane is all ready to go, just need to carve it and put a pocket in it for a fake split wedge to act as a core print. I have it sitting there so it's ready to go for something to carve on at carving group. It's a split pattern, but it'll be cast in bronze when I get it done. The door check plane, I traced a coffin plane shape on it and marked it half way to create a half coffin plane top and half square body plane, which would be pretty comfortable and the best of both worlds. I already cut the waste off, just need to carve/shape it, which once again, saving it for carving group, lol.
I kept seeing the door check plane in use in the videos of the one planemaker I watch, and wasnt sure what that plane was, but when I finally figured it out, I decided that I had to have one, lol.
Other than that, too much going on to really work on too much, lol. The roof and ceiling of the camper collapsed in again and I dealt with massive flooding all at once, and had around 30 gallons of water that I had to deal with on top of the roof that pooled, and around 4 gallons that rushed into the ceiling and flooded into here after the one recent storm, so it took a few days of building framing and everything to push the roof and ceiling back up to where it needed to be, and alot of fixing all of that. So yea, busy busy, lol.
Re: My Hand Planes
A little update:
T rabbet plane, I got all carved up, sanded, and shaped how I wanted it, cut a pocket in it for the wedge to go through before carving, which a dummy split wedge went in to act as a core print. I also made up the corebox for it from some higher grade plywood that I had that was exactly the right thickness, so it got cut up and shaped. I did go back and filled in the corner at the back of the escapement area there with some wax so it wouldnt form a cold shut in it.
Looks like it'll take around 4lbs of bronze to pour it, which when machined up should be a pretty stout plane, but pretty nice weight too. I have plenty of bronze sitting behind it to pour it, just need to wait on the shellac on it to fully dry/harden up, then a rub down with fine bronze wool and some paste wax, then it'll be ready to ram up and pour.
The door check plane, it got cut down and I started carving on it at the carving group, but ran out of time, so Ill work on it next time. Here it is partially cut out, just need to shape it into the conventional coffin shape for the top half, then radius all of the edges so it feels comfortable in the hands to use.
The skewed rabbet plane, I got a start on that, but it was defenitely not easy to drill and cut out for sure, lol. The body was cut up on the table saw to size/shape, a tongue and groove joint was cut into the bottom of it to put a hedge apple bottom/boxing in, and the mouth and escapement was cut out. I have since drilled out the mouth and removed a large bulk of the material for the wedge pocket, just need to sit down and start cutting it out to shape with my keyhole saw and get it chiseled out to shape.
Thats about all I have for now, not much progress, but lots of progress at the same time, lol. Things have been absolutely chaotic to say the least, so havnt made too much progress really.
T rabbet plane, I got all carved up, sanded, and shaped how I wanted it, cut a pocket in it for the wedge to go through before carving, which a dummy split wedge went in to act as a core print. I also made up the corebox for it from some higher grade plywood that I had that was exactly the right thickness, so it got cut up and shaped. I did go back and filled in the corner at the back of the escapement area there with some wax so it wouldnt form a cold shut in it.
The door check plane, it got cut down and I started carving on it at the carving group, but ran out of time, so Ill work on it next time. Here it is partially cut out, just need to shape it into the conventional coffin shape for the top half, then radius all of the edges so it feels comfortable in the hands to use.
Re: My Hand Planes
So you're going to cast the small one in Bronze? That will look sharp, well, either one will look sharp.
Re: My Hand Planes
Just plain beautiful work. Keep posting.
Richard
Richard
Re: My Hand Planes
Thanks guys, and that plane really is not a small one, lol. The skewed one hadnt been cut down yet, so it looked bigger, and that old one is just massive. Those planes will have 1 1/2" wide blade in them probably, maybe 1 5/8" on the T rabbet plane. That large one is massive compared to the others and has a 2 1/4" wide blade in it, so it's a pretty massive thing, lol. The T rabbet plane does look pretty small, but it is typical size for those, and equal to a standard #4 block plane for length, if not a little longer tbh.
It's all wiped down and waxed, just buffed it earlier and it's sitting at the molding bench ready to ram up. I want to try something a little different with this one to help improve surface finish since my last one (the chariot plane) was just raw sand core and surface finish was pretty terrible inside of the casting, lol. I cant honestly remember what I did ages ago with the steam cylinder castings I did, but I dont remember the surface finish being that bad, although it was in aluminum and not in bronze. I do remember it was a bit of a nightmare to get out afterwards tho because I added way too much sodium silicate.
We've had the stupid smoke from canada here and for some reason, it sets the allergies off really badly. I kept waking up choking, coughing for hours on end, and would end up with hives all across my back and everything, so I really havnt done much of anything because of being stuck indoors. Ill have to see how things look, but Im hoping to ram up some of the molds sometime soon, that way I can get that plane poured before winter gets here. I need to whip together another pattern real quick, but cant remember the dimensions for it atm, but once I do, it'll be super quick and easy to make, then Ill pour everything all at once. The worm gear in my dividing head has a bit of an issue, or the worm and gear in the dividing head is a bit of a disaster all together, so I need to remake that sometime soon. Once I do that up, it should be pretty easy to pour everything all at once and machine it up since I'd finally have the parts. There's a few other parts I wanted to do in bronze, but right now, Ill just settle for getting the immediate stuff done up, lol.
The other ones really havnt gotten any progress on them for the most part, things have been crazy here beyond crazy, lol.
It's all wiped down and waxed, just buffed it earlier and it's sitting at the molding bench ready to ram up. I want to try something a little different with this one to help improve surface finish since my last one (the chariot plane) was just raw sand core and surface finish was pretty terrible inside of the casting, lol. I cant honestly remember what I did ages ago with the steam cylinder castings I did, but I dont remember the surface finish being that bad, although it was in aluminum and not in bronze. I do remember it was a bit of a nightmare to get out afterwards tho because I added way too much sodium silicate.
We've had the stupid smoke from canada here and for some reason, it sets the allergies off really badly. I kept waking up choking, coughing for hours on end, and would end up with hives all across my back and everything, so I really havnt done much of anything because of being stuck indoors. Ill have to see how things look, but Im hoping to ram up some of the molds sometime soon, that way I can get that plane poured before winter gets here. I need to whip together another pattern real quick, but cant remember the dimensions for it atm, but once I do, it'll be super quick and easy to make, then Ill pour everything all at once. The worm gear in my dividing head has a bit of an issue, or the worm and gear in the dividing head is a bit of a disaster all together, so I need to remake that sometime soon. Once I do that up, it should be pretty easy to pour everything all at once and machine it up since I'd finally have the parts. There's a few other parts I wanted to do in bronze, but right now, Ill just settle for getting the immediate stuff done up, lol.
The other ones really havnt gotten any progress on them for the most part, things have been crazy here beyond crazy, lol.
Re: My Hand Planes
The smoke has been crazy this year. Just kind of gives me a sore throat. It really gets to my wife.
Re: My Hand Planes
Yea, it messes with my allergies something fierce, but a few weeks back, I was helping paint the deck on the porch and didnt even realize how bad the smoke was. I ended up with a sore throat and my chest was on fire, usually it's just hives and itching, sneezing, coughing, etc, but this time, it actually blistered and caused sores in my throat to the point that I wasnt able to eat for a few days, and wasnt able to even speak for close to a week. I was almost rushed to the hospital twice because of bad reactions to it. I have no idea why I have such bad reactions to it, but yea. Since then, until the air quality is decent, Im not doing too much outside because I just dont want to have a repeat of that.
Im just hoping that when I got back inside the house this winter and start taking of the woodburner again, that I dont end up with the reactions from that too, but we'll see. Im starting to wonder if that's partially what has caused me so many issues in the house during that time of the year. We found out it was dust mites and sawdust from a bunch of trees that Im really allergic to, and I also wonder if from making furniture as a kid with my dad, and the patterns so much over the years that Ive just gotten extremely sensitized to them, plus the smoke from the woodburner when I open it up to throw logs in.
When I was a kid, me and my dad made oak furniture and we delivered it all over the eastern side of the US. The garage was set up and he had jigs set up for the drill press and such, so after school, it was homework, then we went to the garage and I would be there for what felt like forever just drilling holes in the side pieces for the skirting for underneath tables or whatever parts needed done up while he was running the router or sander to finish up the tops. So Ive been exposed to this stuff pretty much my whole life since grade school and we've never had dust collection, so I think thats why Ive become so sensitive to the stuff. I cant even get around oak, and wont even touch it anymore out of raw dislike for the stuff, and how sensitive Ive gotten to it. I do handle it when throwing it into the woodburner, but I try not to get it on me and usually have welding gloves on since they're longer, and have to take the ashes out anyhow, lol.
Now I try to make the foundry patterns and have mostly completely gone to hand tools that dont create sawdust that would get breathed in, and Ive made my own tools to do the jobs up as quickly and effeciently as possible, so I spend the least amount of time handling the stuff. I do have a bad reaction to white pine, even tho I use it rarely for patterns. If I carve it, like at the carving group, as soon as Im done, I have to go to the bathroom and get scrubbed up to get any dust off of me. Cherry has been pretty good to me so far, so thats what I make alot of my patterns from as youve probably seen, and it's a common one from the patternmaking books because it's very dimensionally stable, and I can get it pretty easily around here, lol.
Well, that's the whole back story, lol.
Im just hoping that when I got back inside the house this winter and start taking of the woodburner again, that I dont end up with the reactions from that too, but we'll see. Im starting to wonder if that's partially what has caused me so many issues in the house during that time of the year. We found out it was dust mites and sawdust from a bunch of trees that Im really allergic to, and I also wonder if from making furniture as a kid with my dad, and the patterns so much over the years that Ive just gotten extremely sensitized to them, plus the smoke from the woodburner when I open it up to throw logs in.
When I was a kid, me and my dad made oak furniture and we delivered it all over the eastern side of the US. The garage was set up and he had jigs set up for the drill press and such, so after school, it was homework, then we went to the garage and I would be there for what felt like forever just drilling holes in the side pieces for the skirting for underneath tables or whatever parts needed done up while he was running the router or sander to finish up the tops. So Ive been exposed to this stuff pretty much my whole life since grade school and we've never had dust collection, so I think thats why Ive become so sensitive to the stuff. I cant even get around oak, and wont even touch it anymore out of raw dislike for the stuff, and how sensitive Ive gotten to it. I do handle it when throwing it into the woodburner, but I try not to get it on me and usually have welding gloves on since they're longer, and have to take the ashes out anyhow, lol.
Now I try to make the foundry patterns and have mostly completely gone to hand tools that dont create sawdust that would get breathed in, and Ive made my own tools to do the jobs up as quickly and effeciently as possible, so I spend the least amount of time handling the stuff. I do have a bad reaction to white pine, even tho I use it rarely for patterns. If I carve it, like at the carving group, as soon as Im done, I have to go to the bathroom and get scrubbed up to get any dust off of me. Cherry has been pretty good to me so far, so thats what I make alot of my patterns from as youve probably seen, and it's a common one from the patternmaking books because it's very dimensionally stable, and I can get it pretty easily around here, lol.
Well, that's the whole back story, lol.