a couple wooden hand planes

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  • adamarthurryan
    Senior Member
    • Apr 2016
    • 157

    a couple wooden hand planes

    Here are a couple wooden hand planes that I built this spring: a block plane and a scrub plane. Both from the John Wilson book and both are getting lots of use already.

    _DSF2209.jpg_DSF2216.jpg

    I built them with only manual hand tools, since that's what I have right now. It was a fun challenge, I've been learning a lot refurbishing and using old tools.

    The metal work was the hardest part. I had a hard time getting the steel hardened properly, and then I had a lot of decarburization I needed to grind off before the blades were usable.

    Next up I want to build a bow saw.
  • goodbasil
    Basil
    • Feb 2005
    • 5537

    #2
    Re: a couple wooden hand planes

    Lookin' good.
    Nice work.
    basil

    Comment

    • nedL
      Senior Member #1976
      • Jul 2000
      • 7544

      #3
      Re: a couple wooden hand planes

      Very nice!!!!

      Comment

      • Mike-in-Suffolk
        Senior Member
        • Jun 2021
        • 181

        #4
        Re: a couple wooden hand planes

        Nice looking planes. The proof of the pudding, though, is in the using. How well do they work?

        Having spent many a long hour wielding scrub planes, can I respectfully suggest chamfering the edges of the front portion, otherwise the arris will leave an impression of itself in the fleshy bit of your hand for rather longer than you'd like.

        Comment

        • jpatrick
          Measures twice/Cuts twice
          • Jun 2010
          • 4015

          #5
          Re: a couple wooden hand planes

          Nice work! Compared to the planes, a bow saw will be a piece of cake.

          Jeff

          Comment

          • adamarthurryan
            Senior Member
            • Apr 2016
            • 157

            #6
            Re: a couple wooden hand planes

            Originally posted by Mike-in-Suffolk
            Nice looking planes. The proof of the pudding, though, is in the using. How well do they work?

            Having spent many a long hour wielding scrub planes, can I respectfully suggest chamfering the edges of the front portion, otherwise the arris will leave an impression of itself in the fleshy bit of your hand for rather longer than you'd like.
            Arris: I learned a new word today, thanks. Actually, yeah, I noticed it does dig in a bit there. I'll round it down some and try and make a more comfortable grip.

            For the scrub plane, I'd say it works pretty well. It can zip out an 1/8 inch furrow in pine smoothly. I don't have much to compare it to though, I only used a scrub plane once briefly before. Anyway, this one was a huge time-saver when I made my last kayak paddle. It worked for white oak too, but skewed and with a shallower bite of course. Definitely a user.

            The block plane I'm not sure about yet. It's much lighter than the metal planes I'm used to, so that's a bit of an adjustment. Also I made the throat opening too big, which is making it a bit hard to register, eg. when trimming end grain or chamfering a short bit at the end of a work piece. So, maybe not a great success so far, though I think I'll get to know how to use it better with time. I might try closing up the throat a bit with a piece let into the sole.

            Making the blades was very frustrating but rewarding too. It took a few rounds of heat treatment to get them to the point where they weren't too soft or too brittle. And it took a lot of work with the sandpaper to remove the decarburized layer. The blades feel like an unqualified success to me.

            Comment

            • Mike-in-Suffolk
              Senior Member
              • Jun 2021
              • 181

              #7
              Re: a couple wooden hand planes

              Originally posted by jpatrick
              Nice work! Compared to the planes, a bow saw will be a piece of cake.

              Jeff
              Yep. Two or three hours work went into this:







              I've since turned up proper handles in place of those old door knobs.

              Comment

              • Peerie Maa
                Old Grey Inquisitive One
                • Oct 2008
                • 62481

                #8
                Re: a couple wooden hand planes

                Originally posted by adamarthurryan
                Here are a couple wooden hand planes that I built this spring: a block plane and a scrub plane. Both from the John Wilson book and both are getting lots of use already.

                [ATTACH=CONFIG]89378[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]89379[/ATTACH]

                I built them with only manual hand tools, since that's what I have right now. It was a fun challenge, I've been learning a lot refurbishing and using old tools.

                The metal work was the hardest part. I had a hard time getting the steel hardened properly, and then I had a lot of decarburization I needed to grind off before the blades were usable.

                Next up I want to build a bow saw.
                Round here, old woodies are easy to come by, so I reshape rather than make.
                Spar plane heel.jpg
                It really is quite difficult to build an ugly wooden boat.

                The power of the web: Anyone can post anything on the web
                The weakness of the web: Anyone can post anything on the web.

                Comment

                • Bill Mercer
                  Senior Member
                  • Aug 2004
                  • 661

                  #9
                  Re: a couple wooden hand planes

                  The curved shoulders on the tenons are delightful.

                  Originally posted by Mike-in-Suffolk
                  Yep. Two or three hours work went into this:







                  I've since turned up proper handles in place of those old door knobs.

                  Comment

                  • Mike-in-Suffolk
                    Senior Member
                    • Jun 2021
                    • 181

                    #10
                    Re: a couple wooden hand planes

                    Originally posted by Bill Mercer
                    The curved shoulders on the tenons are delightful.
                    Thanks Bill, but they really are pretty easy to do.

                    On a recent trip to Spain I picked up my son-in-law's inherited frame saw because I had a cut to make which was too deep for a tenon saw and needed too narrow a kerf for a handsaw. One revolution of the tensioner and it cut perfectly.........and it hadn't been used in over 50 years.

                    Comment

                    • L'Ankou
                      Senior Member
                      • Sep 2018
                      • 135

                      #11
                      Re: a couple wooden hand planes

                      Very nice planes and saw

                      Maybe you already know the trick, but rubbing a candle on the sole of the plane is magical!!

                      And after you need to built a very small plane setting hammer

                      Comment

                      • Sandlapper
                        Senior Member
                        • Mar 2021
                        • 550

                        #12
                        Re: a couple wooden hand planes

                        Making hand planes is the first critical job that a woodworker should take on. The resulting tool can be as good as the best store bought ones and a heck of a lot more satisfying to a woodbutcher. I agree with the comments about soft edges on hand planes.

                        A plane with Krenov style guts is much easier to make than the traditional ones and yours looks good to me. Do you know what grade steel the McMaster blank is? Heat treating an unknown grade of steel can be a crap shoot. I prefer 1080 or 1084 steel as that is the easiest and most reliable to harden or temper. I use fire brick from the local building supply and a pair of Maap/Propane torches that provide plenty of heat. Tempering in an old counter top toaster/heater is hot enough and a digital wand thermometer is reliable to give the correct hardness of 58 - 60. I often buy normalized steel plate for plane blades & knives from https://newjerseysteelbaron.com/ but there are others just as good. Working with steel is just as satisfying as wood but far more messy although, unlike wood mistakes can often be done over in metal without penalty.

                        I made the gap too wide on a small plane some years ago that works only if it's set just right. I plan to fit an insert in a hollowed out spot to widen the gap that should correct it if done right. Worth the work of doing that.

                        Comment

                        • Paul Pless
                          pinko commie tree hugger
                          • Oct 2003
                          • 124858

                          #13
                          Re: a couple wooden hand planes

                          i like your saw

                          Simpler is better, except when complicated looks really cool.

                          Comment

                          • StevenBauer
                            LPBC member
                            • Jan 2000
                            • 23286

                            #14
                            Re: a couple wooden hand planes

                            Not to mention the workbench.

                            Comment

                            • L'Ankou
                              Senior Member
                              • Sep 2018
                              • 135

                              #15
                              Re: a couple wooden hand planes

                              and the marking gauge

                              Comment

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