ideas on adding weight to LV BU jointer ?

[Will Blick]

The plane is 22" long, and weighs 7.5 lbs... I like heavier planes, I feel the added weight increases inertia...

How best to add weight to the plane? 4 lbs would be a good start... any thoughts?

[Eric Brown]

Depending on what you primarily do with your joiner, if your shooting edges you could add a real heavy fence. St. James Bay has a nice looking one in bronze. You could even add more weight to it and it would also lower the center of gravity.

If no fence, then you could add some bronze plates as infill.

Another thing you could look for is weighted gloves.

Perhaps what you really need is the Sharpskate and get a sharper edge by side sharpening.

Good luck.
Eric

[Cliff Ober]

The plane is 22" long, and weighs 7.5 lbs... I like heavier planes, I feel the added weight increases inertia...

How best to add weight to the plane? 4 lbs would be a good start... any thoughts?

Little bit of lead infill might do the trick... . .



Cliff

[David Weaver]

Laugh if you want, but I would suggest getting wheel weights for cars and sticking/taping them on different parts of the plane to decide where you want them to go. That may even be a permanent solution if you don't show anal people a picture of your plane.

However, I think what you should aim for is getting a plane with the mass if you want that kind of mass.

As you use hand tools, unless you only work hard maple and harder and do it all by hand, you'll probably come to find that the weight they make the plane is just about right. You'd like lighter in softwoods and heavier in hardwoods, and it ends up in the middle to be a jack of all trades - especially if you use it to flatten panels and throw it back and forth across the panels. If you pretty much just whiz off saw marks and planer chatter, then there's really no plane that's going to feel too heavy.

The only thing heavier than a 10 pound LN #8 - that I know of - is infill jointers. My infill panel is 8 1/2-9 pounds, and it's not a particularly heavy one (spiers copy), I think a long jointer could probably go to 14 pounds or so pretty easily, but you'd find that a lot of the work you were putting in was just to move the plane, especially if you throw it back and forth. You sort of walk a big infill along rather than swiftly and briskly throwing it back and forth.

Anyway, stick on wheel weights, and maybe something more permanent once you have balance and weight where you want them. By then, you may change your mind.

[Jamie Buxton]

If you need more weight than you can get with wheel weights, lead shot in epoxy works well.

[John Schreiber]

I'm just thinking out loud and curious as to others' opinion. It seems to me that the way I use a jointer, I try to transfer as much as possible of my body mass into the momentum of the plane (that makes for a 250+ pound plane). The same is true for a scrub and usually a jack, depending on how it's used. A smoother or block operate on shoulder and wrist power, but the jointer especially is primarily leg powered.

I've been watching out for a longer lighter wood bodied jointer for that reason. The trick seems to me to be able to push without too much effort, but to be able to push through knots or tough spots without loss of momentum. Sounds like judo when I describe it like that.

You might try a scuba diving shop for weights that could be strapped temporarily to your plane.

[Will Blick]

thanks guys...so where does one get the lead infil...

Or even bronze plates to fit? I guess a custom metal shop?

Yes, it is about momentum, but your body weight is only part of the contribution... the weight of the plane holds nrg when moving...

Agreed about sharpness, but I have no problems with sharpness... I sharpen up to 30k shapton stones... I have noticed through the years, for me at least, the heavier the plane, the better it performs...of course the draw back is, for some, the weight is cumbersome, but that is not an issue for me...

So far, I like the idea of adding brass weight...as you can see, there is plenty of open areas to seat the weight.... maybe I will go search for some brass stock that can fit in the front and back trunk area :-)

[Dale Sautter]

I would try a local metal recycler as a first/cheaper option. OnlineMetals will cost you more but you can get the exact thickness/width that you want. As far as attaching it... I'd give velcro a shot before epoxy/JB-Weld, easier to remove if you decide to remove it later.

[Neil Zenuk]

The old golfers trick of lead tape is my pitch. A good golf/pro shop should have some. If not the online store golfsmith sells the stuff, 1/2" or 1" wide.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Go to any tire shop and barter for some wheel weights removed when they change tires for customers. Typically I get all I want for nothing as they're just glad to get rid of the lead (I use mine for casting bullets).

[Will Blick]

OK, I wanted to really weight this plane down....so I ordered two pieces of iron to ride atop in the front and back, 1.5" thick and 2" wide, will sit nice inside the front and back channels. The metal was dirt cheap, only $16 for both pieces including cut fee, so why mess around with scrap...this will fit nicely and I can paint it black. It will add 6.5 lbs to the plane, or 3.5 lbs more than the LN Jointer plane which is 10 lbs. Should be interesting, I will let you all know how it works out...

BTW, in addtion to a full line up of LV planes, I own a HEAVY Marcou Plane as well as a heavy BCT plane......but nonetheless, its these two planes I always use the most, mainly because they perform so well, which I attribute to the added weight vs. the LV brothers... I can understand why many people would find this weight obsessive...but the way I view it... the weight is most often on the wood, not in your hands... My Marcou plane almost weighs this much, and its much smaller.

So I will need to build the handles higher.... I recall someone that makes plane handles? Anyone have a link?

[Will Blick]

BTW, I ordered from the link Dale provided above....
Great web site, easy order, custom cuts and great prices...thanks Dale...