Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
planemakers floats
Steve Kubien
>Hi everyone,
One of my co-workers was about to throw away a 10" smooth-cut file today because he was frustrated (he gets like that). I snagged it with the intention of making a float. Do I need to 'blue' the steel with a torch before I set out to shape it and cut the teeth?
Thanks in advance,
Steve Kubien
Re: planemakers floats *LINK*
L. Hanson - N. Idaho
>From what I've learned... you should probably anneal (sp?) the steel in the file to soften it so it is workable. Heat it to red hot, then stick it into a pile of ash (such as from a fireplace) to let it cool slowly. When it has finished cooling that way, the steel should be soft enough to work.
To harden the steel again, heat it to red hot (the point where it loses its magnetism) then quench the iron in oil to cool it quickly - hardening it. Probably too hard - you'll then need to temper it by placing it in a 350-400 degree oven for an hour or so...
More info on link below:
L. Hanson
norsewoodsmith.com
Anvil Fire - faqs on heat treating
No hard
jim_reed@marietta
>I have read that most floats are not hardened so that they can be resharpened like a saw.
Re: planemakers floats
Jim in Burlington Ontario
>I made a attempt at one and annealed it by heating it up with a map torch and then burried it in wood ash. Read it somewhere that was the best method. The filing is really teadous work. I bought a few dozen files off of e-bay cheap just for jobs like that.
Re: planemakers floats
Todd Hughes
>I've made more then a couple floats and it is very easy to do and not very time consuming either should be able to file one out in less then 15 min. or so. One of the things you want to do is to get your File as soft as possiable, often when you heat up something like this to aneal it it still cools too fast to become dead soft.Wood ashes work but better is Vermiculite which you can get at a garden store.Better to heat the file up till orange but also heat up another piece of steel at the same time and put them both in together to aneal.The second piece will help the file to cool even slower making it even softer.
While I have used Files to make floats I think in most cases an old no name Chisel is a better place to start......Todd
If you have trouble making floats
Bob Hackett
>Why not try a scraper chisel?Just take an old chisel and grind the end to between 80 and 90 degrees and then hone to a fine edge.It may not be as fast as a float but it sure is a whole lot less work and time.Leaves a nicer finish too.
Mainely,Bob
Re: If you have trouble making floats
Steve Kubien
>Would you make two them? One for the bed and one for the part which hold the wedge (are they called ears?) like I see with floats?
I'm liking this idea so far....
Steve Kubien
Ajax, Ontario
remove the _9 to email
Re: If you have trouble making floats *LINK*
L. Hanson - N. Idaho
>I think Bob is referring to a hardened chisel, such as suggested by planemaker Bill Carter in an interview I'll link to at the bottom
QUOTE
"On truing beds:
Although I don't use floats, I have a wonderful tip that i've never,ever seen mentioned in any book or magazine. Get a normal woodworking chisel - any width - and heat it up to cherry red, then quench it. The chisel then becomes exceptionally hard and it will even cut steel. If you then grind the end of it to make it ninety degrees it will scrape timber like nothing else. It won't dig in, but it will remove high spots like they weren't even there - it's fantastic.It's much easier to use than both a chisel or a float, and even though I have several floats I don't use them because I find these modified scraping chisels so useful."
If you haven't seen Bill Carter's work, it is outstanding - there are some photos of it at
http://homepage.mac.com/davewe/PhotoAlbum2.html
Leif
norsewoodsmith.com
Bill Carter Interview
I learned it closer to home
Bob Hackett
>Cecil Pierce showed me how to fit planes with scraper chisels.He used an old shipwright`s chisel(like a firmer only longer) but I`ve since found that the old CS skew chisels that turners pass up work great and cost alot less.If you chose wisely on the width,you only need one chisel for both the bed and final fit of the cheek to accept the wedge.Doing it that way also ensures that it`s square and true to the bed.
Mainely,Bob
Re: planemakers floats
steve knight
>I have used a scraper chisel it works pretty well. dulls pretty fast though faster then a plane blade. I have thought of making plane floats and having Boggs sharpen them so they can be hardened.