I enjoy incorporating frame and panel construction using hand tools, into my furniture projects. Typically I create the raised/fielded panel with a plow plane to establish the initial inside edge and then use a combination of fenced and un-fenced rabbit planes to create the sloping, beveled shoulders of the panel.
A couple of the problems I've had with this technique are that I'm not exactly sure how to create a flat edge on the outside of the panel that will fit neatly into the groove plowed in the surrounding frame, and also using the rabbit planes to create the shoulder can only produce a "straight" fielded section of the panel. I've tried using some Hollow and round molding planes to add some curves to this surface. However I struggle with my old, bargain-basement H&R's and until I finally get around to heat treating, grinding and fitting the irons to three pairs of H&R's I've been trying to build for quite a while now, I've had mixed results trying to use my existing molding planes.
As a potential solution I built this pair of panel raising planes, one with a straight blade for the "fielded" shoulder and another with a curving profile that I prefer. I didn't take any pictures of building the planes as it was kind of an on-again/off-again project. They are straightforward laminated, three-piece construction which makes it easier to shape the sole of the plane to the profile I'm looking for. The blades are set at a skewed angle to the long axis of the planes. I thought I was making this angle 45°, but it turned out to be more like 35°.
The geometry for creating the angled abutments and corresponding wedges was super confusing for me so I ended up kind of eyeballing that in a sort of iterative, step-by-step process using chisels, some plane floats (super helpful!) and files. I didn't get a great fit for the bedding of the blades, the wedges and ended up with much larger mouths than I'd planned on.
By far the hardest part for me was grinding/honing the angles on the blades that correspond to the shape of the plane soles.I used a couple extra plane blades I had hanging around. Bummer was the iron I spent hours trying to shape to the curved profile I prefer turned out to be relatively poor steel that doesn't seem to hold a very good edge.
Despite the challenges, they seem to work okay for a first effort. I think I will need to get out some kind of dremel tool to better shape/hone the curved edges of the blade. My selection of slip stones is limited and trying to shape/hone the curved blade was a real chore. I'm hopeful that with little more effort these might become useful tools. In hindsight I wish I would have spent more time picking a good blade for the curved plane, but now that I have so much time and effort sunk into this one, I think I'm just going to have to live with it. Probably means it won't work very well on harder woods, but at least it's a start.
I like using shop made tools, but don't have near the talent or patience of others here in the cave who make beautiful tools (yes Derek I'm thinking of you). Having made a number of shop built back saws and wooden body planes, I'm happy to leave that to the professionals. I struggle enough with my furniture projects as is, so don't need to make it any more difficult by using questionable tools I built myself. I'm counting the days until I get my Jack plane from Steve V.
Best, Mike
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Originally Posted by Mike Allen1010
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