Beech Jointer Build

[David Weaver]

Might look into a front knob screw from a transistional plane?

Steven...wash your mouth out with soap!! A plane like this one doesn't get a knob.

Looking very good so far, by the way..

I hope so, because it's as done!

Wasn't there a dovetail like joint at the front of the totes? You had to slide the tote into the socket to allow the rear of the tote to drop into the mortise...

Other way around, you have to insert the back of the handle and the front slides down a ramp. You can see it in the step where I showed the rough cut mortise, though the final ramp is a lot more subtle (it's steeper/less taper). It has to be just a bit steeper than the angle of the handle working under the curved mortise in the back so that the handle can be inserted.

[David Weaver]

I think you might just get a bunch of people to start building these.

I hope so. Like we discussed here or another thread, it doesn't take much time to make these planes in the grand scheme of things (though the floats and such do cost some real money - but someone looking just to build their own planes and then sell the floats could do so and not be out much).

When the double iron is mastered with these planes, the riddle of the "difficult to use" old planes with open mouths and tricky adjustment is solved. It's a plane that should last a lifetime, and should the iron ever be worn out, fitting another iron and making another wedge if needed is quick.

Did I tip you over the edge into looking for some wide dry stock?

[Matthew N. Masail]

I hope so. Like we discussed here or another thread, it doesn't take much time to make these planes in the grand scheme of things (though the floats and such do cost some real money - but someone looking just to build their own planes and then sell the floats could do so and not be out much).

When the double iron is mastered with these planes, the riddle of the "difficult to use" old planes with open mouths and tricky adjustment is solved. It's a plane that should last a lifetime, and should the iron ever be worn out, fitting another iron and making another wedge if needed is quick.

Did I tip you over the edge into looking for some wide dry stock?

well... emm em... maybe.. I mean, yes. yes you did! are you happy now ?!


I really do think what your doing and showing is fantastic, it's amazing to think that you cannot buy a traditional double iron plane new, even from those who are making them because they all make them with a 50degree bed and a single iron. yet it seems that the benefits of a double iron and the knowledge of how to make the planes was once a fairly common thing. that's amazing to me.


I doubt I will make one very soon, but I have a laminated try plane in the works with a 2 1\8" I. Sorby iron and I think I will give the abutments a try instead of a notched metal cross pin. will have to practice on some wood first to make all the mistakes and get an understanding of what I'm doing first, but thanks to you and Steve I think I already have a fairly good picture of what I'm aiming for, just need to see how it comes into practice.


Thanks again for all the generosity!

[David Weaver]

Looks good! and more importantly, works well.
Any thoughts of adding a strike?

I feel like a dunce now. I just looked back at my first picture of the jointer planes I have in tow (which included the JT brown and the unknown double iron plane that I didn't identify - it's got a maker's mark, I was just too lazy to read it, and it's not a common mark).

Anyway - it has a strike button right in the center on the middle. Apologies for being such a flippant idiot with "none of my planes have them" stuff!! I never noticed it was there.

I gotta start dumping some of these excess planes- i don't even know what's on them!

[george wilson]

Just get on the stick,Weaver,and get your eyes open!! My giant jointer has a square ebony striking knob inlaid on the diagonal,so it looks like a diamond shape. I could send you a piece if you need it. I think I have a piece of ebony about 1 1/4" square laying around. Could be wrong.

Or,it would look cool if you mounted a brass door knob there!

[steven c newman]

Leave the knob behind, but check out the screw that held it in place? Say, like the front knob on a Liberty Bell? Those were wood screws. Maybe you could even find one that never had a point on it? IMAG0001.jpgor just the steel one in the middle?

[David Weaver]

Ahh, I see, you mean for the screw that's in the handle on the back of my plane? That's a good idea. I thought you meant put a knob in the middle of my plane on the front, but now I see what you were saying.

Over the weekend, I located some large slotted brass screws and inserted one in the front of the handle. Cost me $15 for 10 of them!!

The things we'll do for what we like, I guess.

The JT jointer was $25 off of ebay - with an unused iron or nearly unused. This particular plane cost me about $100 to build. It doesn't necessarily make money sense to do this if you can find good old ones, but one wouldn't find something the quality of my JT jointer for $25 very often. I'm not sure that I'd sell it for $300 (actually, I'm sure I wouldn't)

[David Weaver]

Next plane will be a try plane of the same design, 24" long, and then a closed handle jack/fore 16-18" long. I'll post them at the end of this post when I finish them, along with their measurements if anyone wants to use them, but otherwise no need to show any parts of a build on here - they are going to be identical in setup to this jointer in everything except length.

[Pat Barry]

Just get on the stick,Weaver,and get your eyes open!! My giant jointer has a square ebony striking knob inlaid on the diagonal,so it looks like a diamond shape. I could send you a piece if you need it. I think I have a piece of ebony about 1 1/4" square laying around. Could be wrong.

Or,it would look cool if you mounted a brass door knob there!

I suspect that the location of the strike button is important. You want to be on the sweet spot of the body of the plane (or maybe far away from it). Somebody must understand the mechanics of it.

[steven c newman]

There is a shop about three blocks from my house. On the second floor, there is a display of seven all wood bodied Jointers/Try planes.....$20 each.

One of which is solid BLACK, and weighs about twice what any of the others weigh. Double iron, Enclosed handle. About 28" long.

[David Weaver]

I suspect that the location of the strike button is important. You want to be on the sweet spot of the body of the plane (or maybe far away from it). Somebody must understand the mechanics of it.

The safe thing to do would be to look at 3 or 4 old planes and locate it where it is on the old planes. The ideal place for it appears to be halfway between the front and the escapement. On bigger planes like these, especially if a coarse cut is in order, I just advance the iron by tapping it. It's nice to advance the iron and make a lateral adjustment at the same time when using the plane if the cut is to be light.

it's the retraction of some cutting length that takes learning the plane. In the video, I tried a light tap and then one too heavy. I don't usually retract an iron in use in a jointer plane once it's set, so this isn't a big issue to me, but it'd be nice to do it. Unfortunately, the tap on the back of the plane is more precise with something harder than a urethane mallet, but that will mark the back of the plane. I'll have to come up with something. Sooner or later it's going to get a little beat up, anyway.

[David Weaver]

There is a shop about three blocks from my house. On the second floor, there is a display of seven all wood bodied Jointers/Try planes.....$20 each.

One of which is solid BLACK, and weighs about twice what any of the others weigh. Double iron, Enclosed handle. About 28" long.

Steven, have a look at it. If it's cracked and hte handle is loose with a bad wedge and mouth patched, etc, it might not be worth the trouble. If the iron is clean and long, the eyes elegant, the handle good and unbroken and the wood not cracked, you'd do well to take it from them.

As I apply oil to this plane, it's creeping up in weight, now to a few ounces over 9 pounds. Unless a vintage jointer is really dry, you're going to find it in the 9 or 10 pound range, and the ones that are dry will readily accept enough oil to get up to that weight (they're 8 pounds or a few ounces more already if they are planes with a 2.5 inch iron).

[Steve Voigt]

OK, a couple thoughts about strike buttons since people are talking about them.
You don't have to have one. On many old planes, the only cracks you see are clearly caused by the strike. I noticed Dave had one of those big round (urethane?) mallets on the bench, presumably for loosening the iron. That's what I do also. I use the plane hammer for advancing the iron (or sideways adjustment), and a deadblow mallet for loosening the iron. That saves a lot of wear on the plane body.
The one thing a strike is kind of nice for is when you want to retract the iron just a hair. The big mallet is too coarse, so hitting the strike with your plane hammer avoids ugly marks on the softer plane body.
Something I don't get at all are steel strikes. They're ugly, and since they won't expand/contract they are even more likely to crack the stock.
I like the kind of strike George described, rectangular but turned 45°. The Old Street site has lots of nice pictures of these. I put one of cocobolo on my jointer plane (can't seem to upload photos today, for some reason).

Edit: I see I'm repeating a number of things Dave already said…oh well, I'll read more carefully next time.

[Steve Voigt]

Oh, one other thing on strikes & adjustment. The longer the plane is, the less effective it is to hit the back end. I hit the back on my smoothers but on big planes I just hit the strike or in front of the mouth. I suppose it is a matter of the energy of the blow being dispersed or absorbed before it gets to the mortise. On Larry's planes, it looks like the strike is only a couple inches in fron of the mouth, maybe a little more on a really big plane. I've tried that and it seems to work well.

[David Weaver]

I hope you get your pictures up, I'd like to see it. I like the diamond shaped strikes, too, more so than the round. Round suggests machine made to me, though it may not necessarily be so.

I strike the back of the planes with either the urethane mallet or a dead blow hammer, also. Even a rubber hammer works OK if the strike is dead flush. i'm thinking about making a cherry mallet to strike the back of my planes, though. Retraction of the iron is a lot more precise on the big planes if the hammer is hard enough to have a little bit of snap, or clank instead of slap when it hits the plane. With the urethane and such, when the wedge has a good fit and grip as this one does right now, it's all or none, and it can take several flush whacks to get an iron loose. But a wooden hammer or a steel hammer can get the iron to retract much more precisely.

I like the method the japanese planemakers use, which is to keep a block that is stationary or close near their work area, and when they want to get the iron out, instead of hitting the plane with something, they hit the block with the plane.