Sandal Woods - Fine Woodworking & Cabinetry

On June 1 I announced that Brese Plane, my new blog sponsor, was offering a new project plane iron as a giveaway:

I drew a name at random, and I am happy to announce that the winner of the plane iron is Michael Dove, of Cedar Rapids, IA. Congratulations, Michael! You will love this iron; I used the little brother to this one, when I made my first-ever Krenov-style hand plane.

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Although I had never made a Krenov-style hand plane, nor a little hammer, I am pleased, as things worked out well: The plane does a nice job, taking shavings as thin as 1-2 mils thick (0.001″ to 0.002″). And this little hammer works much better when I have to make minor adjustments to the iron; all the other hammers in the shop were too big, or too heavy. I even used an old, beat-up spoke shave eons old, with chips on both mouths, but it did its job getting all edges rounded and fairly smooth.

In making the hammer (red oak, no finish, ebony wedge in the kerf), I used the procedure described in detail by David Finck in his book, Making & Mastering Hand Planes. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is the book I used as a reference to make the hand plane, too.The brass head is solid brass, 5/8-inch diameter, 2-1/2 inches long; the handle is 11-1/2 inches long. Thanks, David, for a terrific book!

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Following the glue-up, I clamped the plane for several hours. But I could not wait longer - if you have ever been in the maternity waiting room at the hospital, waiting for your first child to be born, you know what I mean.

I removed the clamps, cleaned up the glue on the bottom, inserted a temporary wedge to tension the plane, and squared the bottom to the best side on the jointer. After that I sanded the bottom using 150 grit paper on the cast iron table on the table saw; this is the first time I actually brushed off the fine dust after every two strokes of the plane on the sandpaper. Finally, I drew some outlines, freehand, on one of the cheeks, and cut to the lines on the band saw. A little shaping with rasps, and I ran out of patience - I had to try it out!

The first trial, on one edge of a walnut scrap:

This shaving looks good, but is it thick, or thin? I wondered, as I looked at it:

The shaving was just under two thousands of an inch (0.002″) thick:

Then I had to tinker with the shape a little more, until time to go to the house:

The mouth is still not quite right, as sometimes shavings will jam. I shaped the mouth opening to run almost parallel to the surface of the iron:

As you can see, I got careless with the file, and chewed up part of the cheek during two misplaced strokes (the unsafe edge…). I can barely see a little light between the tip of the iron and the front of the mouth, so I still have some room to refine the shape. I will keep playing with this new hand plane, and will use it in one of the projects I am working on. I’ve got to work out the kinks in the mouth!

The Brese Plane iron is great - I did not even touch the sharp edge prior to this trial run!

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In yesterday’s blog entry I mentioned that I had rounded the surface of the front ramp, to provide better clearance for the shavings. Some discussion on Saw Mill Creek raised the point that the inside angle should be pretty much straight, to prevent the mouth from getting too large, too quickly, as I trued the sole of the plane. And I promised some photos - first, with the left cheek removed:

In this next photo I show the entire left-hand side, also with the left cheek removed. Notice that in the photo above, and also in the next photo, the tip of the iron is almost to the mid-point of the sole, or about 1/8-inch above the bottom edge:

The iron from Brese Plane has a knurled knob on the top side, to keep the iron from falling through the mouth opening when loosening the wedge. As a result, I had to machine a slot to accommodate the knob:

Finally, the glue-up. The board on the bottom is used to keep the front and back sections properly aligned:

I managed to keep squeeze out on the inside ramps to almost nil, by spreading the glue approximately ¼-inch from the ramp edges:

Now comes the hard part: Waiting for the glue to dry.  Stand by for more to come!

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In an earlier post I pondered a decision: Make the little hand plane using the walnut with the oak base, or use the Osage Orange blank. In the end I decided to use the walnut blank. As I have never made a wood plane, I needed something to guide me. Enter a great reference - I just bought David Finck’s Making & Mastering Wood Planes, Revised Edition, which came out a few weeks ago; the copy I received was signed by the author. Finck has also posted on YouTube a video supplement to the book!

First things first: On the top I marked the front, to make sure I would have the correct orientation in the end. And I carefully identified each cheek relative to the core parts. Now, the actual work follows.

I started by removing the cheeks at the band saw:

To keep the cheeks properly aligned with the rest of the body, I used alignment dowels. I drilled the holes and inserted slightly oversize dowels, then trimmed the dowels flush with the cheeks (the dowels are close to the edge, as they will be removed when the body is shaped):

Careful layout is required for the pin - I elected to go with a wooden pin to hold the wedge that holds the iron:

At this stage the basic things are done, and I can do a dry fit:

This pin is planed by hand, but with a block plane upside down in a vise; the hand guides the pin along the base of the block plane, one thin sliver at a time, until suitably round:

A peek at the front end of the hand plane structure; notice I have rounded the surface, to provide better chip clearance:

A temporary wedge in place, as I wanted to have a better feel for the fit across the opening:

In the next photo I have all body components ready for glue-up:

Dinner time. To be continued…

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