Skew irons for wooden planes

[Oskar Sedell]

For my first woodie, a smoother with 2 inch Hock blade I chopped and pared the mouth and the abutments with chisels only. Finished my second plane yesterday (block plane in applewood), this time with the aid of an edge float and a small flush cut saw (I put a handle on a blade from an electric sabre saw).

I think I'll manage with chisels, and with a kiridashi kogatana and a skew chisel for the acute angles. Do you have anything else in mind, or maybe some advice?

I've seen that Phil also offers a skew float, but I felt like spending the money on the blade, and save some for the ever growing wish list.

[Stewie Simpson]

Oscar. I have also found the side float handy to have (push version); https://www.lie-nielsen.com/nodes/40...emakers-floats

The bed floats being sold within the attach I am not a big fan of; they lack adequate bite for their intended purpose, especially noticeable on hardwoods that I have a preference to work with. I ended up ordering a Sapphire coated Logier Luthier Rasp to replace my bed float. On receiving the rasp, the hand stitched teeth on both sides of the rasp felt like they had excellent bite. I need to return to some plane making work before I can properly access its real benefits. http://www.hand-stitched-rasp-riffle...s/luthier.html

Bill Carters method also uses a ground chisel to create a smooth finish; it does appear to be a worthwhile technique. http://www.billcarterwoodworkingplan....co.uk/12.html

Stewie;

[Oskar Sedell]

Stewie, thanks for the input.

I'm sure both bed and side floats are handy. But I'm hesitant to spend the money for them, and I really enjoy the slow paring work with sharp chisels.

The ground-off chisel is something I want to try. I've seen David Weavers videos and it really seems like a nice tool, and a one with less risk of paring off to much in a moment of distraction. Next time I come over a beater chisel at the flea market I'm gonna try.

[Oskar Sedell]

finally I got around to make a plane for the Phil Edwards skew iron and I thought I'll post the result here.

Plane body: Pear wood
Wedge: 9 degrees, applewood.
Iron: Phil Edwards, 6 mm thick O1.

The bedding angle (B) is 38 degrees measured parallell to the side of the plane. The skew grind (G) of the iron is 75.5 degrees, measured against the side of the iron. The resulting skew angle (S) across the sole is 71.5 degrees, measured against the side of the plane. This amounts to or 90-71.5 = 18.5 degrees skew measured perpendicular to the side.

( For the interested, wanting to make a build with different angles the relation is cos(B)*cos(S) = cos(G), which assumes the sides are perpendicular to the sole i.e a trued blank )

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First try worked out nice. Now to building a shooting board for some more testing and using. I'm curious to see how the edge holds up.

[Steve Voigt]

That looks fantastic, Oskar! Great job! I am very jealous of the beautiful pear and apple.

I'll be curious to see how the edge holds up. I made a plane a couple years ago with virtually the same geometry. I had bad luck with the edge on two vintage blades I tried. I suspect you may have better luck with the O1.

If I may make one small cosmetic suggestion: you should finish off the stopped chamfers with some gouge cuts, as is traditionally done. Pretty much any outcannel gouge with a medium sweep will work fine.

[Kees Heiden]

Indeed, that looks fantastic. Very tidy and tight mouth also. Great work!

[Stewie Simpson]

Wonderful work Oscar.

[Frederick Skelly]

Very nice work!

[James Waldron]

Very nice work. I hope it works as well as it looks and is as durable as the discussion here.

As for me, there got to be so many angels dancing on the tip of that pin that I lost count and instead made up a ramped shooting board. (It's my third one; they don't last.) It works pretty well too. Took a couple of hours to make. I use it with a Stanley 5 1/2, sharpened and honed as well as I can manage and set to cut 0.001-0.0015 inches. I get really nice shavings. I also get dead nuts square ends quick as a flash.

I hope your plane does as well. I look forward to hearing your progress with using it.

Fair winds and following seas,

Jim

[Oskar Sedell]

thanks for the nice words gentlemen! I'll report on the shooting board progress and on the edge stability if any problems show up.

Steve: I will consider tuning up the stopped chamfers. Now i carved a slight curve to the end of the chamfers (doesnt show very well on the pics, because they are so small... ). You are probably right that a more defined and bold gauge cut will look nicer. Do you have pictures of your plane? Did you solve your edge problem? steeper grind of the iron?

going on holiday now and will be back toolmaking in a week or so

[Steve Voigt]

thanks for the nice words gentlemen! I'll report on the shooting board progress and on the edge stability if any problems show up.

Steve: I will consider tuning up the stopped chamfers. Now i carved a slight curve to the end of the chamfers (doesnt show very well on the pics, because they are so small... ). You are probably right that a more defined and bold gauge cut will look nicer. Do you have pictures of your plane? Did you solve your edge problem? steeper grind of the iron?

going on holiday now and will be back toolmaking in a week or so

Oskar,

I don't have pictures…I solved the edge problem only by back-beveling the iron, which sort of defeated the whole purpose of the plane, so I never got around to adding chamfers and finishing touches. The experience led me to prefer the simpler design of an unskewed, 40° strike block plane.
Regarding the gouge cuts, I think I'll start another thread devoted to that topic. It'll be there when you get back from holiday.

[Oskar Sedell]

Steve,

thanks for your reply. Back from some days in the sun, hopefully I can put a shooting board together soon.

Thanks for starting a new thread on the stopped chamfers.

Best regards,

Oskar