First wooden plane!

[Trizza]

I'm new here, be gentle I've been lurking for a long time, however!

Apologies to those of you that are on the Sawmill Creek forums, I've already posted a thread about this on there. I felt like expanding my gloat to here, though, as I'm well chuffed

Bit of background: I'm an apartment woodworker, making do with what I can on my glassed-in balcony here in chilly Finland. That restricts things a bit for me, so I'm very nearly a full Neander. My only two weaknesses are my cordless drill and jigsaw.

Anyway, over a year ago I bought David Finck's book on making wooden planes. Ever since then I've been threatening to build a few. You see, I recently moved here from the UK so I'm low on tools. I've been making do with just a cheap far east number 5 clone until now. So finally last week I got the guts up to try building my first plane.
As a first attempt I decided to do it on the cheap, just to practice the techniques and see if I liked wood planes - so down to my local big box store I went, and came back with a 1m plank of 15m*70mm beech "hobby wood", some 8mm brass rod, and a new 45mm Stanley blade (no cap iron). I cut the beech up into correctly shaped laminations for the front and back blocks and the cheeks with a miter saw, and laminated those up. I trued the blocks and the sole with sandpaper. The brass rod became the cross pin.

The result? Fantastic! First shavings showed potential, and with some further wedge tuning it is now a great user. I've taken cottony shavings so far from pine, alder and aspen, and got a nice glassy finish on all three. I had a quick swipe on some oak this evening and it performed brilliantly, too It excels at heavier cuts though, so I might open the mouth a bit and use it as a scrub plane.

Heres a picture:

Its only roughly shaped so far, but now that its been tuned up a bit I'll have to make it a bit more shapely I guess!

I really like how these planes handle. And I love being able to use all sorts of different grips on them.

So now I'm going to have to stock up on blades and wood and build myself a whole kit of planes

 

[Trizza]

Hmm, is anyone else seeing "REPORT TO MODERATOR" instead of a picture? In the preview and the "Topic review" panel below I see the picture I've linked just fine..

 

[Vann]

Hmm, is anyone else seeing "REPORT TO MODERATOR" instead of a picture? In the preview and the "Topic review" panel below I see the picture I've linked just fine..

I'm on a work computer (which is VERY low spec.) No picture, but no "REPORT TO MODERATOR" either. Apparently you'll have problems with the first few pictures, then it come right (I've never posted any myself - my one attempt failed - computer illiterate I'm afraid).

There's a thread on woodworkforums.com (Aussie forum) for M2 steel irons for woodies at reasonable prices. But considering the distance, Ray Isles may be easier (or make you own - refer a current thread on this forum).

Cheers, Vann

 

[Paul Chapman]

Looks good, Trizza. Welcome to the forum.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Vann]

I'm on a work computer (which is VERY low spec.) No picture, but no "REPORT TO MODERATOR" either.

I'm on my home computer now and your picture is fine.

Nice shavings.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[Trizza]

There's a thread on woodworkforums.com (Aussie forum) for M2 steel irons for woodies at reasonable prices. But considering the distance, Ray Isles may be easier (or make you own - refer a current thread on this forum).

Thanks for the tip, I've missed out on the previous chances to get my hands on those! I'm actually an Australian so I could have my family ship them for me no doubt

 

[Trizza]

Nice shavings.

Cheers mate - although those were kinda staged for the picture - I just scooped a few likely suspects off the floor after taking a few swipes and put them in for effect That was before the extra fettling also. I should take some pictures of nice ribbony shavings instead...

 

[MikeG.]

Trizza, Vann........

the pictures were missing because of the forum spam trap, not because of your computers. You have to post 3 or 4 times before your pictures show up.

As to the plane........well done, particularly given the circumstances. It seems to me that the balde is about twice as long as it needs to be, though.......maybe you could cut it in half, grind the other end, and get cut two planes rather than one from it!!!

Mike

 

[Trizza]

Thanks for the explanation Mike!

I agree about the long blade - I will likely replace the it with something a bit better in the future. Or maybe not - it works nicely as-is. I plan to cut the wedge down much closer to the body when I do the final shaping, so the blade will look even sillier then.
What can I use to cut a hardened blade like this? It might be due to a poor blade, but my hacksaw seemed to just skip across this iron when I tried it last - although filing it worked fine.

 

[heimlaga]

Welcome aboard!

Making wooden planes is interresting. Suddenly you can get all those speciality planes you just dream about.
This was a good first prototype you made. Far better than my first prototype I made a few before I really got the hang of it. I could maybe teach you a few tricks if you happen to pass by my area sometimes.

I prefer thicker blades in wooden planes. I find them secondhand at flea markets or make them from worn out flat files.

 

[Alf]

Proper job, Tizza. =D> You're on a slippery slope now, and no mistake...

Cheers, Alf

 

[Trizza]

Welcome aboard!

Thanks

I could maybe teach you a few tricks if you happen to pass by my area sometimes.

Where abouts are you located? Every once in a while I have an excuse to go up to Pori, we have some friends there. I'm one of those city slickers down in Espoo..

I prefer thicker blades in wooden planes. I find them secondhand at flea markets or make them from worn out flat files.

I'm joining in on the M2 blade order from that aussie forum, for nice thick 6mm blades. Should perform well

Any tips on places to get hardwoods around here, actually? I've been looking for a while but haven't found anything closer than Turku yet. I don't mind ordering online, but shipping gets pricy real fast... I've been tempted to swipe some of the birch logs I've seen piled up around after the city cuts some down.

 

[bugbear]

Proper job, Tizza. =D>

You goin' native down there, Alf?

BugBear

 

[Dave S]

I'm joining in on the M2 blade order from that aussie forum, for nice thick 6mm blades. Should perform well

I also have David Finck's book, although I have yet to make a plane. Looks like a great start you've made there.

re you aware that David sells blades from his website? Around $55 - not sure about p&p. He also has a couple of videos on youtube - links from his website.

cheers
Dave

 

[Trizza]

I also have David Finck's book, although I have yet to make a plane. Looks like a great start you've made there.

Hop to it, then! It was very easy, only a few hours work, and the results are most satisfying

re you aware that David sells blades from his website?

Yep, I thought about getting a few, but even with P&P these HSS blades work out cheaper. And I've heard HSS makes a brilliant plane blade. So we'll see...

 

[Kalimna]

I too have had Mr Finck's book, and took the plunge earlier this year to have a shot at building a wooden plane.
Once I have made a couple of posts here, I'll fire up some photo's.
I made a couple of 'design alterations' along the way, but the end result takes silky smooth shavings, just like yours

Adam S

 

[dannykaye]

If you are happy to get blades from the US Ron Hock is worth looking at, and there is a lot of info to read on his site as well The blades come wrapped in a useful article too

http://www.hocktools.com/

I have a couple of blades from Ray at the old toolshop too, one in a beat up old Stanley 5 1/2 and one in the prototype of his A6 straight sided smoother that he let me have. They perform really well too. The only problem is that he is so helpful, I end up spending hours on the phone and spending a fortune...

Danny

 

[Philly]

If you're making a wooden plane I can supply custom made irons at a reasonable price - just PM your requirements.
Cheers
Philly

 

[Trizza]

Most tempting Philly - I have gone in on that group order from the Aussie forum, but it'll be a while, so I might like a blade or two to play with in the meantime. I've had an itchy buying finger looking at your plane adjusting mallets.. PM sent!

 

[Trizza]

You're an evil man Phil! Now look what you made me do...

Thats maple and beech there, should be perfect for those lovely irons of yours
I sawed up some of the maple into oversized plane blanks, those are stacked at the far end of the beech board. Shame I don't have a moisture meter, I'll have to use guesswork to decide when they're dry enough to do any more on! Its all been kilned at least, no idea of the current moisture content...