Planemakers floats question -

[Leigh Betsch]

I made a set out of annealed O1, and left them soft so I could sharpen them with a file. They hold an edge fine, I suspect 4142 would be about the same. I cut the teeth on a metal shaper, which worked great but if I were to do it again I think I'd vary the pitch a bit. I think it would eliminate the slight chatter that I get. I'd guess if you are going to create the teeth by hand filing there will be enough pitch variability to take care of this issue.

[Steve Voigt]

Adam, I think it was your floats, and Leigh's, that I had in mind when I posted. I think I'll give it a whirl. Now, if I can just dream up some Rube Goldberg contraption for hacksawing the teeth before filing…

[Adam Maxwell]

Adam, I think it was your floats, and Leigh's, that I had in mind when I posted. I think I'll give it a whirl. Now, if I can just dream up some Rube Goldberg contraption for hacksawing the teeth before filing…

Not sure I've mentioned it here, but they're pretty easy to make by hand. I eyeballed the spacing (so definitely have that varied pitch that Leigh mentioned!), and marked lines in layout dye with a scribe and square. Next, I hacksawed to nearly full depth of each tooth along those lines, then removed most of the gullet with the three-square file. The saw kerf is mainly a guide for straightness and depth. Once that's done, you can do a final jointing and filing with an appropriately sized saw file. The final spacing ended up being about 11 teeth per inch, if I recall correctly.

[Steve Voigt]

… then removed most of the gullet with the three-square file ... Once that's done, you can do a final jointing and filing with an appropriately sized saw file.

Hi Adam,
Just curious, what is the benefit of using the 3 square file, as opposed to just using a saw file for the whole job?

[Adam Maxwell]

Hi Adam,
Just curious, what is the benefit of using the 3 square file, as opposed to just using a saw file for the whole job?

The 3 square comes in a bastard cut, so it cuts faster and has fewer problems with pinning. However, it doesn't have as sharp a corner, so you end up with a more rounded gullet. I use soapstone (welder's marker from the hardware store) or chalk on my files, but pinning is still a nuisance with soft steel; it caused me some grief on the infill mitre plane I built recently.

[Steve Voigt]

The 3 square comes in a bastard cut, so it cuts faster and has fewer problems with pinning. However, it doesn't have as sharp a corner, so you end up with a more rounded gullet. I use soapstone (welder's marker from the hardware store) or chalk on my files, but pinning is still a nuisance with soft steel; it caused me some grief on the infill mitre plane I built recently.

Cool, thanks for the tips, Adam.

[Trevor Walsh]

The one's I've used and made have been irregular enough that they don't chatter like that. I never had an issue with chatter in the 6 or so mortises I cut.

[Roderick Gentry]

In my earlier post I mis-spoke. The bed float is 3/16" thick.

I followed the instructions and sharpened the float immediately after receiving it. I've had that float a while.

I make mine out of 3/16", but I thought in the catalog that it suggest the 1/8 for planes and the 3/16 for joints. The reason being that a 3/16" won't get all the way to the bottom on some planes that have a mouth for thinner blade stock. 3/16" works for me with the blades I use and the relief I grind.

[Roderick Gentry]

I've been making wooden planes for 35 years, and never owned a float until I made one a few years back. I don't think they are necessary for plane making, I wish I had had them, however. To my way of thinking planes fall into 4 categories:

- Planes where the surfaces are all machined, notably glued up planes.
- Planes were the interior surfaces are simple or for the most part hidden. Japanese bench planes for example.
- Planes that use other means than floats to work internal surfaces, like chisels, scrapers, files, power tools
- Planes that need floats, mainly the abutment type planes which have odd nooks, and some sculptural detailing, that can be hard to get done without specialized tools. You can easily machine abutment planes if that appeals to anyone.

I found that filing O1 floats went quickly but that the bed floats where hard to keep the teeth straight on. I think I am good with files, and I recognized the problems with starting and finishing low, I tired to use manipulations that would hollow the teeth out, but they still came out imperfectly. So I need more practice it seems...

Six things:

- I'm not looking for harder steel, you can by the way harden mild steel.
- Looking into machine tools a little, I have them and tried them, but they weren't all that easy to get these cuts with either. There are many cuts, and setting them all up accurately is a lot more time consuming on my machines than filing. Often the tools I have require me to orient the long side of the tool on the short axis of the machine, which isn't long enough. And in some cases the stock is hard to fixture, at least for one off production. So don't think you would be so much worse off if all you had was a sharp file.
- even if you don't have machine tools I would consider deep scoring with a sharp hacksaw, to get the straight line in
- Making the small one is pretty easy, if you want to save money, buy the bed float and make the rest.
- When spending money, getting the larger sized floats makes the whole thing seem at least a little better value, but you could get by with a smaller tool in many cases. The bed on a Japanese plane is in the 2-3 inch range. So that might be a thought for those who want to make their own, look at the actual planes you will be making. Unfortunately, the molding planes need a lot of blade.
- Even when they are badly made, in what would seem like a tool that would profit from being accurately made, I found they gave good service and accurate results. Maybe starting with very accurate stock means that while you don't get all your teeth perfectly formed, the high points are all in some kind of line.

While we are lucky for the current crop of floats... Many will think them too expensive, not to suggest they aren't a good value. I picked up, for a few dollars, a hardened file that cuts like a float, it was quite thin about an inch wide, had teeth that were cut with some kind of circular fly cutter device. Not sure what the tool was intended for, maybe hoofs. I think it was designed to be attached to a wooden handle. Anyway, just an example of what these ought to cost, particularly given that they have uses beyond plane making. The current pricing is only attractive to people with very deep pockets, who are into the experience of making their own stuff at any cost, and so forth. Not attractive to people who want to save money, or are interested mainly in getting stuff made. Which is too bad.

[Ryan Baker]

It's easy to get the teeth even. Just joint them and touch up the teeth, the same as for sharpening a saw.