Ash as wood for plane making.

[graween]

Hi all,

Do you think that ash is good to make wooden handplanes ?

Also is oak suitable ?

I'm wondering because of the reaction of steel on these woods.

Thank you for your comments.

 

[matthewwh]

Philly would be your man for this but in my limited experience I believe beech is the most common.

Oak contains a lot of tannin so it may turn your blade black, I can't see a problem with ash though.

 

[Philly]

Thanks Matthew!
I have seen user-made planes from Ash and Oak - they're certainly tough enough to use. But it is usually fine grained timbers like Beech that are used - they have very small (or virtually invisible) pores. This is a good thing - the open pores of woods like Oak fill with dirt as they are used.
So yes, they can be used, but if you are going to take the time to make a plane you may as well use a timber that is most suited.
Hope this helps
Philly

 

[wizer]

and other than Beech? Cherry? All of the Exotics?

 

[Digit]

The purists may disagree but in my experience any wood that's hard.
The suggestion that Oak rusts the iron is one that I've heard before, but mine are soaked in Linseed oil and that seems to prevent any problems. If you check with Phil he's used some pretty exotic materials from time to time and to good effect.

Roy.

 

[Ironballs]

Cherry is a bit soft, maple would be okay

 

[Pekka Huhta]

As long as the plane is stored dry, oak does not stain the iron or get stained itself.

I have made two planes from oak

http://www.sihistin.fi/en/tools/oak_plane.html

and

http://www.sihistin.fi/en/tools/infill.html

The problem with oak is that the mouth does not wear smoothly as on an beech plane, but the softer parts of oak wear more, so that the mouth looks a bit ragged after a while. The smoother I made has been my favorite smoothing plane along with an old Spiers.

I have great prejudice against ash, as it's even less homogenous than oak, it would wear unevenly at th mouth.

Most planes over here are made of birch or maple. They make good planes as the wood is pretty homogenous. I think that it is a more important feature in planemaking than just hardness.

Pekka