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The walnut hand plane: Part 2, the glue-up

June 20, 2009 By Al Navas

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:

plane-9

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:

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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:

plane-11

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

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

plane-glue-up-2

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

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Filed Under: Blog, Krenov Tagged With: Brese iron, hand plane, Krenov, plane

Made a decision: Use the walnut blank for the wood plane

June 19, 2009 By Al Navas

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:

plane-1

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):

plane-2

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

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

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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:

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

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

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

plane-8

Dinner time. To be continued…

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Filed Under: Blog, Krenov Tagged With: Brese iron, hand plane, Krenov, walnut hand plane

Graduation day: Hand-cut dovetails 101

December 10, 2008 By Al Navas

I started my hand-cut dovetail journey this past September. In this post I share my graduation from Hand-Cut Dovetails-101. What a terrific day!

As I have mentioned in those previous posts, I have been hand-cutting dovetails every chance I get. I prepared sycamore stock so that it would be at the ready when I have a little (or a lot…) of time to practice. Today I cut dovetails in three little practice boxes, with minimal paring on the pins. Oh – I almost forgot. I made these pins first, a first for me. And it worked great! In addition, I did not mark angles; I learned from Frank Klausz that I can simply start cutting, and lay out the pin pattern by eye.

You can view the entire session given by Klausz right on this blog. Simply click on this link; I split the session into three episodes, for easier viewing, and for ease of downloading.

In the following photo you can see some of the boards, ready to go, on the left of the stack of little boxes I made:

My purpose in learning to hand-cut dovetails: I must make some tiny drawers for a Krenov cabinet waiting in the wings. The drawers in that cabinet will be quite small. These little boxes are close in size to the drawers that will go in the Krenov-inspired cabinet: 2-1/2 inches tall, 6 inches wide, and 4 inches deep.

Today I got a little adventuresome, and added walnut to the mix – and skinny pins on the sycamore boards. I was able to get this one done with a bare minimum of paring the pins. I have not planed nor glued these yet:

I have also been making even smaller boxes, such as the one below, with one large tail on the side boards:

As you may have noticed in the second photo above, I overshot the depth when cutting the tails. The walnut is dark, and I found it difficult stopping at the proper depth – a problem that continues to plague me. So I tried a little chalk on the line, and now the line pops out beautifully:

Here is how I went about making the line stand out we well. First, I mark the thickness of the pins boards on the tails boards with something suitable, preferably a marker with a nice, sharp cutting edge:

Next, I apply chalk to the line marked earlier:

I then wipe off the excess chalk with a shop towel:

NOW I can see the line much better – AND I was able to cut to depth much more reliably:

Maybe it is time to buy a powdered wig, and wear it in the shop during my sessions cutting dovetails by hand. Edit to add: You also will get a kick out of the technique used by Christopher Schwarz. He bought some pantyhose, and stuffed it with whiting and French chalk to mark the pins from the tails. You can read about it at this Woodworking Magazine blog post.

As a big bonus, today I also received my dovetail chisels from Blue Spruce Toolworks – they are terrific! I ordered them from David Jeske at the Woodworking in America conference in Berea a few weeks ago. These helped me pare the pins perfectly, in no time:

Thanks, David Jeske!

I have enjoyed this journey. I hope you get a sense that, no matter your age, you, too, can learn to hand-cut dovetails. I am sure you will be able to do it quicker, and better than I have learned. But I am glad I have learned how to do it. However, I know I must continue practicing, so I am ready for that little cabinet waiting in the wings. It is all about muscle memory.

How do you think I did?

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A group of related posts: Hand-cut dovetails, from my blog.

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Filed Under: Blog, Box making, Cabinetmaking, Dovetails, Hand tools, Krenov, Layout, Shop tools