Making Hand Planes

Say more, Stephen

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>How do these differ from the English pattern?

Re: Say more, Stephen

Stephen Shepherd in the State of Deseret

>The English pattern has the opening for the blade and wedge chopped through the body of the plane. The French pattern has the opening on the side so it can be cut with a saw. Roubo's book has illustrations of this pattern, that is why I called it French.

Instead of drilling, chopping and floating the opening (throat) mortice that is required in the English style, the throat is open to one side and the blade held with a wedge.

An advantage to this is that rebate, filletster and other joint planes have the blade on one side of the plane to start with. A disadvantage is that it doesn't lend itself to bench planes.

Stephen

Re: Say more, Stephen

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>So far I've only made Japanese dai; but I've found no problems in chopping the blade mortise. If I'm in form, it normally takes about an hour from blank dai to tuned plane.

Pam

Design Flaw

Paul in NJ

>Stephen,

I see the open mortice of the French planes as a shortcoming. I would think the planes would tend to warp over time especially if you don't loosen the wedge when you are finished using the plane. You would probably have to make the body thicker to compensate. Surely a craftsman such as you can fabricate a few floats to make a proper plane.

Regards,

Paul Dzioba

Re: Design Flaw

BobStrawn

>The open side works better for a narrow blade than for a wider one in my own experience. I regularly make one shot planes just to try an idea out,so I have had ample opportunity to learn from my mistakes. The problem that I have experienced with the side cut, is having the blade skew and then cut a gouge. If you drive the wedge further, you risk cracking the opening or deforming the original shape. In any case where the wedge is forced from above, as the blade digs in the wedge loosens. With a side cut plane, the open edge is more prone to loosening than the inside edge. This is less of a problem with a narrow blade, especially when the edges are rounded.

Woodsmith has a plane kit using a Hock blade, that I have found very useful in rigging planes. Http://www.woodsmithstore.com/handplanekit.html The blade is clamped by the chipbreaker. The chipbreaker is held by a screw from below. This method causes the least distortion, or the most consistent distortion, that I have experienced, and makes the side cut work fairly well. Here is an image of a plane (not a side opening) using this method. In this case this wedge type allowed a low angle woodie to be stable.

Bob

Do you have a pic?

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>I'm a bit confused here (nothin' new). I'd realy like to see a picture of a french style plane.

Re: Do you have a pic?

BobStrawn

>Here is a poor example of the form. This is and OWT with a side cut. The wedge in this case is behind the blade, this is not typical, but not terribly original either. There should be a cutout to allow the chip to flow also. Since I use this tool mainly to clean out waste for hinges and the like the cutout is not required.

In this case, since it is a very high angle plane, the forces tend to push the blade backwards. This can loosen the wedge if the wedge is on top. By putting the wedge beneath, the blade compresses into the wedge, and actually holds the wedge position better. Also the wedge at the back lets me see what I am doing a touch better.

The downside of the wedge beneath the blade, is that setting up the depth of the blade with the wedge on top is a bit easier.

Still I like this plane as it is a simple and fairly artistic interpretation of the OWT.

Bob

Thanks Bob!

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Now I get it. Thanks for the picture. I think your right on, it's a great interpretation of the OWT.

Re: chopping a hole

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>Can you describe how the hole is made in the dai without spending too much of your time? What tools you use and the steps involved would be nice. Maybe I will just send for a book on plane making. I have this chunk of ebony that really needs to be a plane but I have no desire to slice it like Krenov.

Re: chopping a hole

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>First you chop part of the mouth from the sole, then start coming at the mouth from two directions from the top. You must be careful to accommodate the ura with some bed shaping. It's very simple. At the very beginning I layout the lines.

Tools? Ruler, straight edge and winding sticks, heavy duty mortising or atsu nomi chisel at a width to suit, small saw for cutting the abutments, 1/16 or 1/8 chisel (you could use a float) for tuning the abutments, a pencil for graphite at the tight spots, scraper plane for tuning the sole, and maybe a paring chisel for this and that. If you'll have a subblade, you'll need a drill or brace and a jig to guarantee drilling straight for the brass tube mounting. I think that's all.

I think western woodies are even easier because you don't have the ura to worry about. Also, check out Herrli's video. Although he doesn't chop his mortises it's easy to see how you'd do that.

Pam

Norse woodsmith

Jack Guzman from Maine

>I used Leif's website tutorial to make a woodie in the traditional method.It's very helpful. However,I can't seem to find it anymore.He also has sawmaking info in there. Anyone know the URL?---Jack

Does this do it for you?  *LINK*

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>


Norse Woodsmith woodie

Thanks *LINK*

Jack Guzman from Maine

>That's the website. That wasn't the tutorial I was referring to. This link leads to the one I used.


building a traditional coffin smoother