Anyone make their own plane handles?

[Mike Wischmann]

Glad you like em'
I would be really interested in some pictures of your customizations of the totes...toe to adjuster spacing. Always opportunities to re-evaluate a design
Looking forward to seeing them.

Mike

[Jeremy Dorn]

Mike, here are the shots after my modifications.

At this stage its seen a few coats of a BLO finish, but hasn't been lacquered.

Sorry I didn't take any pics of the tote pre-reshaping, but as you see I basically softened all edges into a more "oval" shaped tote, and then removed ~3/16"-1/4"ish material from both the heel and toe of the tote so that it fit over the nub better and allowed a little clearance in the front between it and the depth adjuster.

I also had to add 3 small washers under the rear brass piece so that it fit flush to the top of the handle.

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[Derek Cohen]

I have re-shaped the original tote so that it lowers the centre of gravity ...



But after a year of using it this way I returned to the original shape. It may take some time to get used to it, but it really does suit the heavier LV BU planes. They encourage one to simply push, rather than press down.

On the other hand I rather like the re-handling on my LAS ..



... oh, it is She-oak.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Paulson]

Derek,

That is an awesome wood for the handle. I am looking forward to using a LV BU Jack. I took a test drive at a recent woodworking show and it was sweet to use. I didn't have a problem with the tote at all.

Thanks for posting about the tote.

Jim

[Klaus Kretschmar]

There´s a possibility to lower the LV BU totes remarkably. The originals are rather upright what I felt to be not too comfortable. Some attempts to make lower replacements by using the original threaded rods weren´t satisfying. Then I got a hint from a fellow woodworker to lower the angle of the rods at first. Here a pic of the replacement rods. On the right the original rods, on the left the slightly bended replacements.

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By using those it´s possible to mount totes with remarkably lower hang angle. The following pic shows the BUJ and the BUS with replaced totes and -to compare the angle- the original tote.

CIMG0803.JPG

Both planes perform to my eyes very good with the lower totes.

CIMG0804.JPG

Klaus