wood for woodies

I'm no expert here...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>But, I think mahogany would be too light to use as a plane. Cherry would be a better choice but I'd still worry about wear to either wood. The oak would probably be your best bet here. Adding some wear resistant slippery wood would be a plus too. I don�t have clue about teak, never touched the stuff (yet).

What ya making? We all want to know...

I'm not either....

Tim of San Leandro

>But I concur. I'd save the mahogany (I'm assuming s. macro or at least african) for furniture and pick out something more dense for a plane.

Where'd you get your iron? Or did you fabricate your own from tool steel?

Tim

Re: wood for woodies *LINK*

Adam In Kingston

>Hi Steve,

I've made a few hand planes (krenov style). For your first one I would be tempted to use whatever scrap you have as a practice piece. I learned ALOT making my first 3 planes (none in use). My final two get quite a bit of use (one is for coopering doors)and work as well as my stanleys/LNs/LVs. I used sapele for mine (had thick stock on hand) and used verawood for the sole. Because the bodies aren't very big, you will need to use some really dense wood (cocobolo etc) to get the mass of the iron planes. For what I use my woodied for I don't miss/need the extra mass. Whichever wood you use I highly recommend using verawood/lignum vitae/ipe for the sole. If your interested I posted a plane making article on my website below.


http://www.adamkropinski.ca

Sounds reasonable so far....

Steve Kubien

>Ok, it sounds like the mahogany is out. Fair enough. As I said, I have some cherry and some teak and I'll look to those, or perhaps the oak.

Adam, I like the idea of making prototypes. I have some poplar from skid runners which would be perfect for that. I'll have a piece of that and see what comes out. I've long thought of going the "Krenov" route but I really want to try a more traditional one-piece plane, similar to what C&W produces.

As for what I am planning to make....The first thing will be a scrub outta some cherry I have put aside. I'm not too concerned about the sole on it. Let's face it, a scrub plane is hardly a precision instrument. I'll have a go at a smoother, some moulding planes (ultimately) and a low-angle, bevel-up mitre. That one is way down the list and some special wood will need to be procured for it.

Keep the thoughts and opinions coming. I need ideas and knowledge!

Steve Kubien

Ajax, Ontario

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Mahogany planes

Adam Cherubini, NJ

>Hi Steve!

The Hewlett chest contained 2 mahogany planes; a smoother and a jack plane. I think it would be an excellent choice.

Mahogany is easily to work and crisp to carve. Its perfect for a first plane made out of the solid.

Mahogany is more dimensionally stable than any of the woods mentioned thus far.

Sole wear is neither the only attribute, nor the most important attribute in a good wooden plane. Read C&W website to learn why Beech was chosen.

We often say there are many ways to skin a cat and that's true enough. But really smart people have tried those ways and decided on one way. It makes sense to at least understand the design you are redesigning. Here's a hint I hope you find as useful as I have: Assume nothing is arbitrary.

Adam

P.S. Steve: I think you're asking great questions. I'm learning along with you from the responses. You seem to be working pretty hard and I think that's great!

Re: wood for woodies

Bob Hackett

>If a stable wood that has good wear properties is what you`re after,mesquite would be a good choice.Besides being a very stable wood it looks really good as a finished product.

To give you an idea of the wear properties,it`s a favored wood for caulking mallet heads.Up here in Maine I`ve heard it refered to as "black screwbeam",it took alot of research to discover what they were talking about was Texas mesquite.

Mainely,Bob

Working hard?

Steve Kubien

>Don't say that too loud. Nobody will believe you. Oh well, I suppose since it's just us out here in the WWW, it'll be ok. I am actually accomplishing very little these days. I'm slowly painting the inside of the Kubien Estate (townhouse actually) and trying to organize my shop.

Last night I managed to dismantle my old triple-thick-MDF bench. I'm going to put all the screaming machines along one wall with my bench and lumber storage along the other. My shop is a 10'x20' garage with 7-1/2' ceilings so space is tight. To move any one thing requires the services and advice of 3 architects, a civil and mechanical engineer, a priest, shaman, and living sacrifice (species doesn't matter). I vowed to get my shop into a functional state before the Leaf's win Lord Stanley's Mug. I guess time is one my side.

Something whispered in my brain that mahogany would make a suitable wood for a plane. Probably its stability. I may try it before I get into harder wood like beech or maple. As for the iron, I will probably pick up a Hock or LV A2 iron for the first go-around. I already have an ECE scrub iron. I may try making my own someday or rust-hunt to find something.

Basically, I am gathering info and opinions for now and printing off threads as they come up. I am lousy at searching for stuff on the net and find it is easier for me print stuff and put them in a binder.

Thanks everyone.

Steve Kubien

Ajax, Ontario

remove the _9 to email

P.S. Mesquite eh? I'll keep that in mind after I have done a couple and worked out some bugs. Thanks.

Teak

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, Florida

>Teak would seem to have many of the desirable attributes (and you wrote that you have some):

Hard (enough)

Heavy

Dense

Slick (for sole)

I can not comment on the workability, though.

Re: Teak

William Duffield on the Cohansey

>You missed one very important characteristic of teak: Stability. With changes in moisture content, it expands and contracts less than half as much as the commonly discussed, viable alternatives. It is relatively easy to work. You just have to allow a little more time in your working schedule for honing your blades than you would with beech or maple, because the teak is loaded with silica. Also, you have to pay more attention to your choice of glue and glue joints if you are going to build a Cascades style laminated wooden plane, due to the oils in the teak.

OK, "Cascades" is not standard plane terminology. I just made it up, because Ft. Bragg and Portland are backed up by a range of volcanic mountains by that name.