Shepard tool company planes

[John Edwards]

Curious if anyoone has has any experiance with these tools ??

[Jim Shaver, Oakville Ont]

Hi,

I posted this on BP some time ago, I built one of their kits and wrote a story about it..

http://www.shepherdtool.com/Building...20Smoother.htm

Take care,
Jim

[Howard Ruttan]

A friend of mine was sent one of their earliest kits to test out. It took him quite a long time to build but he was very happy with the results. Apparently since then they have made many modifications and the kits are easier and take far less time to build.

The bottom line is that it has become his favorite plane, and he has lots to choose from.

He wrote an article about it here:
http://www.conoverworkshops.com/ww/news/050202.htm

[John Edwards]

Thanks for the input. Beautfil tools you have made.
Spoke with Ben today. A very pleasent, patient man. Hopefully soon I to will be a Shepard owner.

[Paul Barnard]

Hey Jim, is your plane still looking that pretty? Mine are getting a little 'used' in their apearance. I actually made a little time for the shop this week and almost have the panel plane finished. The infills are in and I am working on flattening the sole and sides. It's taking a lot longer than the smoother did! This is my 5th plane now from Shepherd. Hand lapping is brgining to get boring. Marks machinery just down the road from me have a 48" King belt sander for $200. It's almost cheap enough to tempt me out of my handtools only existance.

I've ordered a shoulder plane kit. I'm hoping it will be here for my birthday. Did you get to see one of them yet?

[Doug Evans]

Shortly (a couple of weeks), there will be some small planes to allow folks to test the waters with building infill planes. They will include a wedged chariot, an infill bullnose, and a thumbplane.

Here is a picture of the new mitre plane under construction.

Cheers,

Doug Evans, of The Shepherd Tool Co. Inc. (completely immersed, associated, and affiliated)

[Ben Knebel]

Sounds like you're not taking care of your planes---they should always be pretty--oh the shame of it---I am bereft.

Let us know how the panel performs when you're done.
Regards
Ben

[Paul Barnard]

Ben,

When I say my planes are getting a little worse for wear you need to remember where they started from. A 1500 grit mirror finish does show the marks a little

The panel is together but I'm not sure when I'm going to get the time to 'finish' and tune it. I am seriously tempted to buy a belt sander as hand lapping the panel plane is quite frankly not a lot of fun. At least the shoulder should be easier.

[Ben Knebel]

You're right Paul--I did the first five panels by hand and lapping on a plate etc and it's a major pain--go on get the belt sander--get rid of the motor and put a treadle on it--then all your work is still neander in character.

Regards
Ben

[Paul Barnard]

I've not posted any picture here before so here are some of the planes I have made

This is the first one I made. This dates from very early days for Shepherd. This was before machined infills, this one is hand cut from the solid. As I have no machine tools in my shop at all this was quite a challenge. You will see that the rear infill didn't quite fit perfectly. A screw up on the sizes listed for the infil material resulted in me trashing the cocobolo that I had bought. Consequently this one uses a chunk of mapel that I had in my shop which even then had to be laminated to get the right size. This is my 'go to' smoother as it performs incredibly.

[Paul Barnard]

This is a 47 1/2 degree that I built up for Doug. It looks pretty good despite being built up from 'reject' parts. The coco had a knot hole in the rear infil which you can still make out in the picture. I didn't have much time to play with this one or tune it beyond the initial get it working state.

[Paul Barnard]

I had a decimal point issue and the files were too big. I'll resize them and post a little later. Sorry

[Paul Barnard]

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[Paul Barnard]

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[Doug Evans]

Ben had an opportunity this afternoon to finish the improved mitre. Tomorrow, we play!

Doug