Woodplane done--distraction from Infill
ray k.
>Having to wait a week until my next machine shop class really makes me a bit antsy--I know some of you may think it a bit cheesy of me, but I even had dreams of how my plane would turn out. :) I guess it's always good to be excited about making something for the first time.
Well, to take my mind off making the infill, I decided I should finally bite the bullet and make myself a wooden plane. I always put it off and always thought it would be a little to finicky for me to accomplish successfully. Then I thought, I'm trying my hand at an infill, so that's not a good excuse at all. So I scrounged around in my shop and found a pretty thick plane iron/chipbreaker I had purchased from LV a few years ago for a metal body plane. I know the blade is a bit long, but I didn't want to buy a shorter blade or try to fabricate it out of tool steel. So after making some mistakes (I drilled the hole for the cross-pin in the wrong location--I plugged it with ebony to draw attention to my mistake--but will call it my artistic touch). For finger indents, I decided to continue on with the circle theme and used two different diameter forstner bits to make concentric circles.
Sides are jatoba, center is walnut, throat plate insert is macassar ebony, cross-pin is oak, and wedge is of european beech. I know, weird mix (probably not a good idea to mix such differing woods), but I figured this is my first plane and I'm planning on it turning out less than ideal.
After taking a few shavings, all I can say is wow! Talk about this project speeding me down that WD-40'ed slope. I planed cocobolo and birdseye maple with absolutely no tearout. I bedded my iron at 55 degrees, because I figured I don't have have one that steep and why the heck not. I'm glad I did. Oh yeah, checked the shaving with a digital caliper and I couldn't believe it--consistently 0.001"!!! I think I'd better go buy a lottery ticket. I can't believe my beginner's luck. I'm too afraid of making another for fear of being unable to match this good luck on my first try.
Oh yeah, I finished it with T&T Oil and Beeswax. I love that smell and no need for lotion for my wood dry hands.
I can see why neanderthals are the way they are. I think I'm de-evolving as we speak.
