Infill panel plane debate

Re: This ain't be an answer...

Marc in Luxembourg

>Art,

But what's a Hutchinson plane? You have any link or pic? Sorry, I aren't from your continent ;-)

Marc

Here you go, Marc  *LINK*

Alice Frampton, UK

>


Classic Planes

Art, are you sure you...

Ted Owen, Pittsburgh

>want an infill to be your workhorse plane? The traditional infill, with very tight mouth, more often is used for final surfacing or, in the case of the more rare infill jointer, edge work. Instead, less expensive planes are the workhorses.

What kind of woodworking do you enjoy most?

Best, Ted

Sorry, workhorse isn't the right word.... *LINK*

Art Geiger

>Ted,

Adopting the teachings of the late Jim Kingshott's videos, I am using a wooden jack plane on timber initially, followed by a Bailey. To bring the wood to truth prior to smoothing, I am using a Spiers panel plane. I find this plane best of all but the mouth is just over 1mm when the blade is set, which isn't that good for difficult grain timber.

For Marc's benefit I hope nobody minds the URL link to the Classic planes site


http://www.classicplanes.com

Re: Thanks Alice.

Marc in Luxembourg

>

Site here, Marc *LINK*

Art Geiger

>Sorry, I posted the link in the wrong thread earlier.

You can deal directly with the maker himself, at the link below. Ask him about his Norris plane collection too!


http://www.classicplanes.com

Re: Sorry, workhorse isn't the right word....

Joel

>Why don't you just call up Ray Iles (or any blademker who will grind to thickness) and get him to make a blade of the right thickness for you? He doesn't charge a premium for custom thickness and it will solve your problem for about 50-60 bucks. I have a post war Norris 17 /12" that was working great but had a wide mouth. So I got a perfect blade for it. now it works even better than great.

joel

Re: Thanks Art.

Marc in Luxembourg

>

Been there and almost did that.....

Art Geiger

>Hey Joel,

Darryl H offered to do just that, but I had difficulty in calculating the thickness required. That aside, I find the Spiers troublesome to set anyway and made the decision to look for a plane with adjustment.

Re: Infill panel plane debate

John

>The easiest, least expensive, and the traditional way to close the throat on an infill (or a wooden plane) is to place a shim of veneer or dense card stock behind the blade. A thicker blade would also do the trick if one is available.

Re: Been there and almost did that.....

Joel

>Rays's 17 1/2" panel plane will be out one of these days soon. But What ray recommends is making a iron out of wood, planing it to the exact thickness you want and then measuring it - or sending him the wooden iron - rather than trying to calculate a size mathimatically.

joel

Re: Been there and almost did that.....

tonyr

>joel's suggestion sounds like an excellent one to me. (btw joel -- will ray pretty much make/copy any blade requested or only certain ones? I assume he typically does this using his D2?).

while i don't own any (yet...), i understand that konrad sauer also makes excellent panel planes, cutomized in just about any configuration you can imagine. holtey also makes a panel plane, but that's only an option if you're also interested in the second mortgage. i'm surprised that daryl wouldn't make one if you asked nicely enough, given that he makes the a13 and the jointer already.

Re: Been there and almost did that.....

Joel

>Ray has blanks in at least 2 1/8, 2/14", 2 1/2" in D2 and carbon. plus loads of other blades, and for almost every English plane you can think of. But what he does is custom grind the thickness - which is the way to go for infills - a stock iron of the right thickness is a wonderfull thing but chances are a custom thickness iron will work better and in Rays case he doesn't charge a premium.

Note: if you want Holtey A2 or S53 irons for infills we have them in stock - yes they are pricey - 2 1/4" and 2 1/2" - not on our website - ping me for pricing etc. Holtey A2 irons are the best irons I have ever used. Holtey S53 irons are worth the money if you routinely plane abrasive woods.

Re: Been there and almost did that.....

tonyr

>joel -- pinged you. -tony

They are not for me

Art Geiger

>Thanks Joel, but I have already seen the Iles planes and I'm not inclined to purchase. Nice guy though.

Asking nicely .... almost pleading

Art Geiger

>Hey Tony,

I asked Darryl nicely but it isn't yet on the list of offerings - something he plans to do a little later. Sure, I'm giving thought to a Sauer plane as one of the best of the others. I have had a Holtey in my hands and they are not that much nicer that they warrant anywhere near an extra 5000 bucks. If they were, I'd be looking for a previously owned one, which sell periodically at less than half list - and still haven't seen any use.

Re: Been there and almost did that.....

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>If you have metalhead tendencies and a couple of tools from a basic machinist's tool chest, you could measure the thickness needed by starting with your existing blade, installed in the plane, and probe the gap (from the top) with a set of feeler gauges. You'll have to install the blade without the cap iron.



Then, measure the total thickness of the blade and the subset of feeler gauges that just clear the mouth, using a micrometer.



Subtract a couple of thousandths, and Bob's your uncle. Granted, a smidgen of mathematics is needed. You have to be able to read the micrometer's scale and subtract 0.002".

Re: Asking nicely .... almost pleading

tonyr

>unfortunately, doesn't sound like you have too many reasonable options. i frankly can't think of anyone else that makes a panel infill. perhaps a wayne andersen, though probably not much less expensive than konrad and from what i am told (and have no first hand knowledge myself), not at all in konrad's league. perhaps bob baker, but don't know. good luck, let us know what you decide to do. tony.

ps: here's a though -- maybe your best bet is to purchase a jointer from daryl and just get the hacksaw out and chop off the leading and trailing 5 or so inches :)

Re: Infill panel plane debate

Bruce Branson

>In Paul N. Hasluck's The Handyman's Book there is a section on how to tighten or loosen the mouth of wooden planes.He suggests a leather slip which is easily reversible.I tried it on a Muji woodie and it works very well.

Re: Infill panel plane - dumbells

barryvabeach

>Art, I would think long and hard before getting anything bigger that a panel plane as an infill. I made mine from St James bay tool co. and use it quite often, but it sure is heavy. I can't dream of lifting a larger version. The good news is once you start it going, it keeps on going (thanks Newton) but picking it up off the face of the wood for the returne stroke is a workout and so I just drag it back ( though I have heard that dulls the blade) Before you buy one, ask the maker how much is wieghs then check out a dumbell of the same weight to give you an idea. Good Luck Barry

Or...

Christopher Schwarz

>Barry,

Dragging an infill jointer (or big panel) on the return is no fun.

But does that dragging dull the blade... or hone it instead?

Depends on who you ask.

I hate this question, by the way.

Chris

Re: Newton

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>BTW, Newton didn't invent the laws of motion and mass, he "merely" codified them, the actions were already there for all of us to enjoy. :)

Pam

Re: Sorry, workhorse isn't the right word....

paul womack

>Adopting the teachings of the late Jim Kingshott's videos,

He was a fine craftsman, but took a rather extreme view of what tools were needed (as opposed to wanted).

His video strongly implies that accurate edge jointing can't be done without an infill jointer, which will come as a great surprise to the people (myself included) managing just fine...

BugBear

Re: Sorry, workhorse isn't the right word....

Art Geiger

>Yes, but would your jointed 6Ft boards stand up to his 'candle' inspection? He would have to start again if he saw the candle flame through a hairline gap between the boards!

I agree with your comment, but much prefer his teaching to Charlesworth's. I don't have the time for such a pedantic and technical approach to working wood that the latter adopts.