Creating a scrub plane

Re: Creating a scrub plane *LINK*

Steve Kubien

>Hi Mark,

You will get some conflicting views on this but if it was me (and it was, so I did), I would build my own scrub. You can do it in an afternoon. Follow the 'Krenov' approach and laminate together a body, buy an aftermarket iron (Lee Valley sells the ECE blade) and you are in business. I like my homemade scrubber because it is so light, it doesn't tire me out. Give it a try.

Kind regards,

Steve Kubien

Ajax, Ontario


link to Krenov-style planemaking

Re: Creating a scrub plane

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>You can use a #4 for a scrub plane. Do whatever you want with it; they are common as dirt. But once you use a #40 or 40-1/2, you will get a better understanding of the difference. There are other scrub planes available as well. You don't need a scrub plane, but if the opportunity presents itself, sooner or later you will have two or three.

Re: Creating a scrub plane

dave caudill

>I agree with Moses using an old Stanley #40 or the LN scrub plane is an absolute joy. And you are right making one out of a #4 is doable but the weight difference is significant and that is one of the joys of using the #40 or #40 1/2. They are pretty common and not too expensive to buy. I see them quite often at my local tool club meetings and they usually run about $65 to $75. By the time you buy a blade which is going to be 1/3 to half the price of a used one and then your time. I'd pony up and start scrubbing, wood that is.

Dave

Re: Creating a scrub plane *LINK*

Greg B�tit, Crown Point NY

>I think that if you could compare a plane designed as a scrub plane with a converted #4 you'd pick the real thing, hands down. That said, the scrub planes seem to be in demand on eBay, and the internet in general. If you go the route of making one, you'll want to build it around a real scrub plane blade- which is made of thicker stock, and is narrower than, say, the #4 blade. Hock sells them, and you can get ECE scrub plane replacement blades.

Greg


Dieter Schmid's ECE replacement blade page

Yes, make a light scrub... cheap #3.

Dave Thompson - Champaign IL

>Absolutely. To me, Scrub, Jack, jointer, smoother, are terms of usage and general characteristics.

Back when I had alot more time (pre-kids), I surface and edge jointed my boards by hand all of the time.

I can say that I never neeeded my #40 for that though. It's way too aggresive, and wood too expensive to be waisted with a scrub vs resaw (IMHO).

More aggressive than my jack plane, but nothing like a true scrub, I have what I call my light scrub plane, which is nothing more than a #3 Dunlap plane. I did use this quite often for surface jointing. FWIW, I think Dunlap #3's are probably the best bargain on the market for a light scrub. They have virtually no resale value, so you can get them for mimum price ( ~$10 or less on e-bay), and for that price, don't settle for one less than excellent (nearly new) condition. They're decently made for this purpose... ( I forget Miller Falls??).

To make it a light scrub, I just set the frog back, opening the mouth, have an aggressive depth. The Dunlap already has a pretty good size mouth. You can camber the edges if you like.

enjoy,

Dave

Re: Yes, make a light scrub... cheap #3.

Dale Stansbery

>I made one out of a dunlap #3 and it works fine. I like the extra weight over my 40-1/2 when scrubbing an especially rough surface, and the regular thickness blade doesn't seem to be a problem. I used a 3" diameter funnel to scribe the blade for the arc and used a dremel to open the mouth.

For another approach

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Go to the articles section here and track down my article on building a butt hinge mortise plane, actually a kind of specialized scrub plane. Making your own of this particular type of tool is dirt simple.

I picked up a No. 40 some years back ($6 - beep-beep), and have been using it increasingly lately. I haven't compared it to an adapted No. 4, but find it a quite useful tool.

Still, what you've got is what you should use, so, if you've got an extra, not too pristine, No. 4, gopherit, and see how it works.

Re: the scrub plane I made...

paul womack

>...from a jack - saved a lot of work.

converting a woodie jack into a scrub

BugBear

Re: it works too!

paul womack

>I was asked how well my scrub works, so I put this together; the start point was a split log from my firewood pile.

demonstration

BugBear

#3 vs #4

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>Once you have used a #40, you will understand why you need one. That said, a good substitute is the #3 as suggested. I think the #4 is too wide.

Re: Creating a scrub plane

Mark Workman

>Thanks for the response.

I know I will get a scrub plane in the future but I just spent $80+ on a #8, so my wife will not understand another quick purchase.

You mentioned the weight difference, I assume the scrub weighs more than a #4.

Weight

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>The #40 weighs much less than a #4. This helps because scrubbing even with the lighweight #40 bestows Popeye arms on the user in short order.

Re: #3 vs #4

Dave Thompson - Champaign IL

>Hey Jim, While I think my LN#40 performs beautifully, over the last ~5 years or so I have owned it, I never wanted to use it for surface jointing a board. It's just way too aggressive for the average warped boards I see.

In my mind it's place is a thickness planer, i.e. for thinning thick stock. The amounts we're talking about, I usually prefer resaw the boad and save the excess... I'll admit... power resaw... I don't think I'd have the stamina to neander resaw.

I do think using a #40 is way more fun than waisting the stock through a power thickness planer... and in some circumstances, quicker too.

Attributes of the ideal scrub plane *LINK*

Derek Cohen (in Perth Australia)

>Mark

It is possible to make a scrub plane out of just about anything, since they are very basic planes. However this should not detract from the fact that some work much better than others.

As a basic rule of thumb, a light scrub plane is sufficient for soft timber, but as soon as you move to hard- and brittle timber you had better increase the heft of the plane.

I know a lot of woodworkers will argue the merits of their light scrub (such as a Stanley #40), but there is actually a world of difference in performance when you increase the weight (to, say, the LV Scrub plane). I know that MikeW has gone further and built his around a Stanley #5-1/4 (because the blade is as narrow as a #3). I have even used a #5-1/2 (with a blade radiused as narrow as a #40). The extra momentum through hardwoods more than compensates for the extra effort of lifting the heavier plane (the lighter plane needs to be pushed harder).

"Proof" of the above is in my review of the LV Scrub Plane, which is in the WoodCentral Articles & Review section of this website.

Included in this article is a discussion of all the ideal attributes of a scrub plane. Have a read.

Regards from Perth

Derek


LV Scrub Plane Review

Re: #3 vs #4

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>And sometimes, bookmatching that "offcut" can give you something really special, even inspirational. (ref. Chico's post on the Old Guy in the Box.) Sometimes, the Bandsaurus neanderbuddy rewards you many times over for killing a few electrons. Even disregarding the work involved, I'm not good enough with any muscle-powered saw I've tried to get the precision resaw results possible with a well tuned bandsaw.

Re: Creating a scrub plane

Dan Clermont in Burnaby

>Hi Mark,

I have an ECE woodie scrub alond with a transtional jack plane I have cambered the blade on.

I prefer the transitional cause of the extra length and also cause the blade is not curved as much as a true scrub which allows me to sneak up.

Don't know about buying a heavier scrub plane as I hear they can be fatiguing but have no experience with them.

I work mainly with Maple and figured woods and don't find weight to be an issue, matter of fact I prefer a wooden sole for scrubbing

Dan Clermont

Re: Creating a scrub plane

ThomD

>I totaly agree with Steve Kubien. When I was working on my second bench, the pieces where too large to run over my 8" jointer, so I built a Krenov style scrub plane. I would not have thought the K style would work well in a scrub, for one thing it has a pretty closed escapement. But, this ended up being one of my most effective planes. I think I built it to 45 degrees, I used an ECE blade I had had kicking around for some time. I gave it a really fat mouth, and I bevelled the facing ramp really low with about 1/4" of vertical at the mouth. This thing will take ropes off hard maple end grain.

Scrubing is work, and the light weight of wood body combined with it's zero friction makes the work much easier.

I later did a seminar on planes, and used this one as a model. I made the iron out of a file, and I made the plane body. I still have the time log, and it took 45 minutes for each.