Photo from the Krenov web site

James Krenov passed away yesterday. He was 89.

I invite you to read FineWoodworking.com’s tribute to the man, the legend; the article includes links to Fine Woodworking interviews, articles and video. Also, I suggest you read the blog entry at Popular Woodworking. It is a sad day, but I will always remember James Krenov.

.

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!

.

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!

.