Shop made shoulder plane

[Judson Green]

Howdy all

Just got done testing out my shop made shoulder plane and I’m over the moon. Took a lot longer than I was hoping but not only is it the first plane I’ve made but also the first wooden plane I’ve used and the first with a wedge. I used a not quite used up old Stanley (sweet heart) plane iron. The body is Crabapple that came from a local front yard some twenty years ago. The wedge is Maple. Its 9½ inches long, a scant wider than ¾” (the iron a bit wider), iron is bedded at 40° and the wedge is about 8°. The mouth was much tighter at first but is now opened up to about 0.017. I’ve only tested it for about half an hour (end grain White Oak, cross grain Poplar and long grain Cherry) but it seemed to handle all easily. Was a lot of fun to make and will hopefully receive a ton of use. I might have to make more wood planes and get some plane making floats.

I made the notch at the top of the plane so the drill bit would enter as squarely as possible and turned it into a design element.

Critique welcomed.

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There's only a bit of wax on it right now. I plan in a month or so to take it down just under ¾", I'll see if it warps or anything.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Very nicely done. It also looks like it would be comfortable to use.

[Tony Shea]

I'm not so sure I am a huge fan of the notch included into the design, although you really did a great job making it more pleasing. The only reason I'm even mentioning that is that I think you adding this little notch in the building process is incredibly smart. Not sure where you picked this idea up at but I am really impressed with it. Something I have never even considered when making planes.

All in all the plane is beautiful and my critique is really just aimed at pointing out how great an idea the notch is. You really have outdone yourself and I am glad to see this post as my first after a day of work. Thanks for the inspiration Judson.

[Tony Shea]

Ok, the more I look at the plane the more I start liking the notch in the design. Again, you've done very well with this plane and I'm impressed!

[Judson Green]

Thanks Dave and Tony.

I wasn't to keen on the notch ether but I didn't want the drill bit to wander when starting. I'm never really confident of drilling a hole through and having the drill bit exit where I want to, so figured I'd try to put the odds in my favor.

A bit of luck too

[Chris Griggs]

Real nice work there Judson! Thanks for showing it!

[Daniel Rode]

Wow. That's a really impressive plane. It will be a long time before I attempt anything like that but there's something amazing about creating your own tools by hand. I really liked the construction images.

[Jim Koepke]

Looks good to me.

One of these days my round tuit for plane building will get here.

jtk

[Judson Green]

Wow. That's a really impressive plane. It will be a long time before I attempt anything like that but there's something amazing about creating your own tools by hand. I really liked the construction images.

Thanks Chris and Jim

And Daniel, thanks for the complement. Funny I find the dovetailing your doing to be my Mount Everest.

[Kevin L. Pauba]

Wow, very nice! And to think I recently spent $200 on a Veritas shoulder plane -- had I waited, you would have inspired me to attempt to build one. I still may!

[Steve Voigt]

Very nice! Way better than my first attempt was. Once the plane-making bug bites you, there's no escape.
If you decide to make any more of this style, you should look at Caleb James' blog. He has a bunch of nice diagrams, including one for a rabbett plane.

[Judson Green]

Thanks Kevin, though it took me longer than expected and was quite fun, your 200 bucks is well spent.

Thanks Steve for the compliment and the tip.

[Chuck Nickerson]

When building some wooden planes I also notched to top to help the drill bit.
By using a chisel no wider than the bit, the notches existence was lost during build.

[Judson Green]

When building some wooden planes I also notched to top to help the drill bit.
By using a chisel no wider than the bit, the notches existence was lost during build.

Thanks Chuck, next time I'll probably do it that way.