A Great Woodie Build Off

[Chris Griggs]

Hey folks. I just ran across this nice 10 part series of videos where this guy goes through the process of making a jack plane. He uses a lamination method to make a traditional looking English jack plane with abutments (no cross pin) - its a similar construction style to Dereks jack plane tutorial.

In addition to showing a pretty simple method to make what seems to be a very nice wood plane, what makes the video cooler is that the dude has a very minimal setup - wobbly bench, in expensive vise, some pretty standard Japanese saws, a chisel, and low angle block plane and a flat Iwasaki file.

The videos probably won't be anything special to folks who have built planes before, but to plane making ignoramuses like myself its a pretty cool tutorial.

[David Weaver]

Has anyone else here other than george taken a crack at cutting out one of those planes from a piece of solid stock? I have a book describing the layout process, which is probably more important than anything else for function. It's kind of disheartening that everyone wants to glue two pieces of wood together.

I'm still on the fence about whether or not I want to jump in on this, mostly because I got stuck in the mud trying to make my first two coffin smoothers aesthetically acceptable, and because I don't have a specific example to copy on hand (i have coffin smoothers, just not one old enough and nice enough that I'd want to copy it dead on).

Plus I'd have to make the plane in cherry, or cocobolo, and I'm not going to waste my dry QS cocobolo on a "maybe" shot.

[Chris Griggs]

Has anyone else here other than george taken a crack at cutting out one of those planes from a piece of solid stock? I have a book describing the layout process, which is probably more important than anything else for function. It's kind of disheartening that everyone wants to glue two pieces of wood together.

I thought you had???

My guess would be that getting the right stock is holding people back (and time and skill/difficulty) - getting stock is definitely one of the reasons why laminates interest me. Funny enough, when Leigh first posted this I really wanted to do a traditional English jack or coffin smoother from a solid piece of wood. Then I decided not to "enter" because of time, and inability to get stock (although I do have a small and pathetic semi functional "entry" that I will post later).

Anyway,this thread has prompted me to a lot of online research into plane making and now I'm thinking I'd prefer a low slung krenov plan anyway when/if I dive whole heartily into plane making. Typically, I am drawn to traditional methods of doing things, but there is a perceived ergonomic appeal of krenov planes for me and a growing aesthetic appeal as well (which is odd because when it comes to saw handles I much prefer the looks of the old english handles)

[Zach Dillinger]

Has anyone else here other than george taken a crack at cutting out one of those planes from a piece of solid stock? I have a book describing the layout process, which is probably more important than anything else for function. It's kind of disheartening that everyone wants to glue two pieces of wood together.

I'm still on the fence about whether or not I want to jump in on this, mostly because I got stuck in the mud trying to make my first two coffin smoothers aesthetically acceptable, and because I don't have a specific example to copy on hand (i have coffin smoothers, just not one old enough and nice enough that I'd want to copy it dead on).

Plus I'd have to make the plane in cherry, or cocobolo, and I'm not going to waste my dry QS cocobolo on a "maybe" shot.

I have, several times. In addition to many early, total failures, I've made a wooden miter plane, in the traditional manner, out of beech. Also working on a 34" hard maple jointer plane (not done, its a project that is being finished in spurts). My biggest problem has always been the mouth opening. I usually mung them up pretty hard and have to patch the sole. I haven't patched the miter plane (works incredibly well even with a giant mouth) and it is quite ragged, almost to the point that I'm ashamed of it. But it works great.

Layout, in my opinion, is the easy part. Its cutting to the lines consistently through 3 or 4" of hard maple, or beech, thats tough.

I don't like the laminated plane style. I'd rather try something the hard, traditional way and fail, or minimally succeed, i.e. it works but looks terrible, and learn from it than do something the non-traditional way. My first planes were terrible (I literally burned them in a Bonfire of the Plane-ities), but I've learned each time. The plow I'm working on has actually been easier than the miter plane, although I suspect thats because I had the plow to copy, but no miter plane to reference.

As for stock availability, I've always been lucky, which helps me maintain my attitude about traditional planes. I got what is probably a plane-making lifetime supply (90bf) of 12/4 beech from a local sawmill (for free... gloat) about 3 years ago. Its finally getting dry enough to use. That, and I've got Johnson's Lumber about 6 blocks from my house. They have incredible supplies of any wood you can think of, in pretty much any thickness. Need 12/4 European beech? Not a problem. 16/4 cherry? How many BF?

[Trevor Walsh]

Chris, I do plan on posting process shots, maybe here in a dedicated thread, certainly on the blog. Stay tuned. I'm beginning the layout for the steel momentarily.

David, The old sweedish blades are "The Trust-X Brand" I have 32, 24 and 18 TPI, they have a wave set, but it's small, much smaller than most wavy set blades today. I use 18TPI in 1/8" and 18 or 24TPI in thinner stuff. I usually saw at a low angle, 20 degrees or so, so the length of cut is actually longer than 3/32 or 1/8. This way I don't break teeth much if ever. I've used Lenox, Starrett as well as Sandvik blades and haven't had problems. The Sandvik, Starrett and Trust-x have been the best, Lenox was miles ahead of HF or Buck, but not as good as the first three.

[Chris Griggs]

Norsewoodsmith did a nice little tutorial on making a one piece traditional coffin smoother. Has some great info on layout and the building process, but I definitely wouldn't want to do it without some proper floats. Wasting out the material seems time consuming but not exceptionally hard - its the final shaping of the interior that seems particularly difficult. As Zach said, seems like it would be easy to mistakenly open the mouth up into a mangled maw while tuning the bed.

[David Weaver]

I have, several times. In addition to many early, total failures, I've made a wooden miter plane, in the traditional manner, out of beech. Also working on a 34" hard maple jointer plane (not done, its a project that is being finished in spurts). My biggest problem has always been the mouth opening. I usually mung them up pretty hard and have to patch the sole. I haven't patched the miter plane (works incredibly well even with a giant mouth) and it is quite ragged, almost to the point that I'm ashamed of it. But it works great.

Layout, in my opinion, is the easy part. Its cutting to the lines consistently through 3 or 4" of hard maple, or beech, thats tough.

I don't like the laminated plane style. I'd rather try something the hard, traditional way and fail, or minimally succeed, i.e. it works but looks terrible, and learn from it than do something the non-traditional way. My first planes were terrible (I literally burned them in a Bonfire of the Plane-ities), but I've learned each time. The plow I'm working on has actually been easier than the miter plane, although I suspect thats because I had the plow to copy, but no miter plane to reference.

As for stock availability, I've always been lucky, which helps me maintain my attitude about traditional planes. I got what is probably a plane-making lifetime supply (90bf) of 12/4 beech from a local sawmill (for free... gloat) about 3 years ago. Its finally getting dry enough to use. That, and I've got Johnson's Lumber about 6 blocks from my house. They have incredible supplies of any wood you can think of, in pretty much any thickness. Need 12/4 European beech? Not a problem. 16/4 cherry? How many BF?

Zach, presume you're not working with floats? I didn't get as clean around the abutments as I wanted and had some breakout from being too aggresive on the first two I tried. I drilled the mouth out with a cordless drill on one and an auger on the other, and won't have any issue with that. It's, like you say, a matter of some repetition, i guess, making sure to not make the same error twice. It does require a little bit of visualization to cut the mortise and make sure you don't go in past the line on any part of the abutment.

I waffle on this stuff because, for example, I got a 28 or 30" jt brown jointer which is exactly what i'd want if I ordered a plane off a menu in terms of how it's put together and designed, for $25. It's hard to get the lumber for that. I don't think I have another woody plane that was more than $20. It makes it hard to justify buying wood when you need the build for entertainment more than you need the finished result.

[Bob Strawn]

Has anyone else here other than george taken a crack at cutting out one of those planes from a piece of solid stock?

I have made a couple of planes from a bit of solid stock. None of them are as nice as the Krenov Planes that I have made. The Krenov is a fairly forgiving form. I am working on another one now and taking my own sweet time on it. I am copying an old coffin smoother, but making it out of osage. It should hold up forever, but I could not choose a more difficult wood to make it with.

Bob

[David Weaver]

Norsewoodsmith did a nice little tutorial on making a one piece traditional coffin smoother. Has some great info on layout and the building process, but I definitely wouldn't want to do it without some proper floats. Wasting out the material seems time consuming but not exceptionally hard - its the final shaping of the interior that seems particularly difficult. As Zach said, seems like it would be easy to mistakenly open the mouth up into a mangled maw while tuning the bed.

Thanks, Chris. That's what I was looking for. That's basically how I went about my business, but I got in a hurry wanting to cut the mortise and do clean up and abutments in an hour. (I usually approach things the other way, taking an inordinate amount of time to do something instead).

[Zach Dillinger]

Zach, presume you're not working with floats? I didn't get as clean around the abutments as I wanted and had some breakout from being too aggresive on the first two I tried. I drilled the mouth out with a cordless drill on one and an auger on the other, and won't have any issue with that. It's, like you say, a matter of some repetition, i guess, making sure to not make the same error twice. It does require a little bit of visualization to cut the mortise and make sure you don't go in past the line on any part of the abutment.

I waffle on this stuff because, for example, I got a 28 or 30" jt brown jointer which is exactly what i'd want if I ordered a plane off a menu in terms of how it's put together and designed, for $25. It's hard to get the lumber for that. I don't think I have another woody plane that was more than $20. It makes it hard to justify buying wood when you need the build for entertainment more than you need the finished result.

David, my first examples were hacked out without floats. Since then, I've made a couple of floats for myself and I also find rifflers handy. I'm with you with regards to the easy availability of high quality wooden planes and their low cost. That's why I tend to make things that I wouldn't be able to easily find, or afford, like a miter plane or a huge jointer. I've got many wooden plows, but none that are exactly what I want, hence the sweet little walnut plow I'm making now.

I've got dozens, more than a hundred less than a 1,000, of wooden planes, but I still find types I don't have. For the kinds that I want, sometimes making them is the only way to go. I'm too cheap, like you $20 is about the limit for a wooden plane, unless its a plow or really special in some other way.

[Chris Griggs]

BTW - have you guys seen the video on FWWs site of George demonstrating the equipment he adapted for plane making (might need the online membership to access it). Not particularly useful for any of us, but it sure is brilliant. The videos not completely in real time but it looks like they could probably complete the mortising for a plane in about 10-15 minutes - its crazy!. I wonder how Old Street/C&W does it in mass.

[Trevor Walsh]

I'm working on a solid beech miter with endgrain mouth closer. I've also built a two part abutment plane. I like single piece planes better, and it's worth finding the stock for, but I think building a prototype plane out of poplar in the two-part abutment style would really help ones understanding of the geometry involved so you can reproduce it in the confined space of a body.

One thing that would be an interesting but even more arcane subject would be how planemakers were trained, not just how to make them.

Anywho...attached are pictures of the hacksaw blades I use, screws, zinc removal and some of the layout so far. Plus pictures of the miter with mouth closer in progress. I've made some floats and they are good tools to have, but I've also used Bill Carter's blunt chisel technique. He has a wonderfully descriptive site, check it out if you've never been, and bring a book if could take a while to get through it all.

David, I'd wait on the mill, I learned how to work on them a while ago, and we have one in the model shop I teach at so I use it with simple fixtures to do things a little faster. Unless you really start making planes I don't think it will be that beneficial and for those of us with more hobby than space or money $100 will buy you blades, files, steel and beer enough to work on a few.

[David Weaver]

Yeah, it was a broaching attachment or head or whatever the folks who work metal with mills call those things.

I know that OST uses machine tools and power tools for some steps, but that finishing is generally by hand.

I wonder how one of those air operated sculptors tools would work with a wood chisel in the end of it.

One of my biggest challenges in the first two mortises I hacked out was paying attention to the chips and making sure I didn't set the plane down on anything as I was turning it around and pounding it out in a hurry. I had several pocks from not noticing a chip was on the table.

I have a new timber chisel to try, and am starting to feel like maybe I might make a plane if I can find something nice to use in my plane wood pile.

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Trevor, I like to follow your posts since my approach in this build off also will be a mitre plane. Yours looks very good so far...

Klaus

[Trevor Walsh]

Klaus you're too kind, what sort of miter are you planning on? Do you have any progress pictures yet? or an example you're working from? Or are you keeping it under wraps for another few weeks?