Has anyone made a kerfing plane?

[BearTricks]

I need to resaw some serious boards with no bandsaw in sight and was wondering if anyone has made a kerfing plane as (apparently) invented by Tom Fidgen?

I'm struggling to find plans. It seems like the only ones that exist are in his book which I doubt they have at my local library. I could follow his video, but I imagine that it doesn't contain the full information in an effort to make people buy his book. For a homemade tool, it seems completely within the realms of possibility for someone with limited resources like myself, but I wouldn't want to miss anything.

Does anyone have any experience and/or thoughts?

 

[marcros]

i havent made one. I have looked at the videos a few times,and like the idea.

If you look at the fixed fence ones http://www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com/the ... t-one.html there doesnt seem to be a great deal to them- it is a comfortable handle shape with a rebate, holding a blade in a slot.

i think that you could knock up a prototype quite quickly and give it a go. you could possibly even modify a woodie!

 

[BearTricks]

I think I'll probably give it a go at some point next week. I have a piece of beech that looks the perfect size.

I was considering an adjustable fence, but I might go for a fixed fence for the current project to avoid any hassle and maybe make and adjustable one if it ends up being something I'll use a lot.

 

[AndyT]

I haven't made one and don't intend to. I've done a few experiments at deep ripping by hand and am not convinced that a ploughed groove is worth the effort. A nice clear line from a marking gauge is enough.

However, if you do want to try the idea, why not just put the narrowest blade into your plough or combi plane and use that?

 

[D_W]

However, if you do want to try the idea, why not just put the narrowest blade into your plough or combi plane and use that?

Unless the blade is tapered along its length, it's problematic, especially in a long go on a board.

You want the kerf to be just a touch wider than the saw kerf of the saw making the cut.

That said, you can make the kerf with a long hand saw with large teeth. Clearance of waste from the cut is a huge problem, no matter what is used.

I fiddled with this last year and made a frame saw and found that in order for the cut to not wander, you either need to have someone on the opposite side of the saw, or you need kerfs about half an inch deep on a wide board. I ended up cutting a rip saw in half and removing every other tooth. It's so rough cutting that it's easier to start the groove with another rip saw and then use that saw with the deep gullets to finish the cut and on a long board, but the time you get everything marked up and cut to depth, it's between 5 and 10 minutes.

I had to dull the first few teeth to keep the "kerf" saw from digging in. You get influence from grain direction using it, too, just as you would a plow plane.

On a small board, it's faster just to use a hand saw and flip the board over back and forth in the vise.

Making the kerf saw will take a considerable amount of time, too (unless you buy it) and that should be factored in - it's not really that often that you resaw something that large by hand (I have only had occasion to use the frame saw once, the rest of the cuts on boards that are only 5 inches wide or so are better done with a hand saw and flipping.

(it helps to have a hand saw that's about 2 teeth per inch at the back).

 

[bugbear]

I need to resaw some serious boards with no bandsaw in sight and was wondering if anyone has made a kerfing plane as (apparently) invented by Tom Fidgen?

I'm struggling to find plans. It seems like the only ones that exist are in his book which I doubt they have at my local library. I could follow his video, but I imagine that it doesn't contain the full information in an effort to make people buy his book. For a homemade tool, it seems completely within the realms of possibility for someone with limited resources like myself, but I wouldn't want to miss anything.

Does anyone have any experience and/or thoughts?

There's any number of videos by his fans/followers that give enough information to make one, if you want to. In truth, it's not complex.

I made a small gadget, not much more than a piece of scrap with some clamps, that would hold short sections of saw blade for very precisely placed kerfs, ages ago, although mine needed a clamped fence to run along.

BugBear

 

[toitoi]

From the stand point of making a tool, as an exercise, I really like T. F. kerfing plane. I am going to make one fairly soon, as I have recently purchased threading tools for 1" dowel material.
I made a simple "Moxon" style bench vice last weekend and made my own wooden screws for it. I have recently received some "Oak" off cuts from a construction site (Boards were used as shoring timbers and had been cut up into firewood afterward) and want to use that for the saw body. Also a saw blade from a gentlemen's saw has recently shown up to be the donor blade. As Bugbear stated there are enough follow up videos on YouTube to get the project done. I feel plans aren't absolutely necessary in this case.
If it turns out I may posts a few pictures, if it doesn't well, you will never know!

So give it a go Beartricks, at worst case you will have a fancy cut piece of firewood when you are done! (hammer)

John

 

[bugbear]

As Bugbear stated there are enough follow up videos on YouTube to get the project done. I feel plans aren't absolutely necessary in this case.

Blackburn tools, who provides parts to make such a plane, also provide plans and instruction, free.

http://www.blackburntools.com/new-tools ... index.html

BugBear

 

[Bod]

How effective are these planes?
I have a resaw job coming up, which is really beyond my small bandsaw, but I have a large (4tpi) ripsaw, and a small (1/8th) plough plane.
Would going as deep as the plane allows, all the way round, inc ends, be enough guidance for a 1200mm cut in 20x110 board?
Or would it be too wide and allow excess wandering?

Bod

 

[toitoi]

As Bugbear stated there are enough follow up videos on YouTube to get the project done. I feel plans aren't absolutely necessary in this case.

Blackburn tools, who provides parts to make such a plane, also provide plans and instruction, free.

http://www.blackburntools.com/new-tools ... index.html

BugBear

Thank you for the link!
I will look at their version and decide if I really need plans to do this. :idea:

John

 

[toitoi]

How effective are these planes?
I have a resaw job coming up, which is really beyond my small bandsaw, but I have a large (4tpi) ripsaw, and a small (1/8th) plough plane.
Would going as deep as the plane allows, all the way round, inc ends, be enough guidance for a 1200mm cut in 20x110 board?
Or would it be too wide and allow excess wandering?

Bod

I personally have zero experience with these tools. But since I want to re-saw my Oak off cuts to make a Kerfing saw, I want to try to use one to re-saw my Oak off-cuts.
So paradoxically, I want the tool in question, to make the tool in question!
This always seems the case with me. I needed a bench to build my bench.......etc.

John

 

[BearTricks]

How effective are these planes?
I have a resaw job coming up, which is really beyond my small bandsaw, but I have a large (4tpi) ripsaw, and a small (1/8th) plough plane.
Would going as deep as the plane allows, all the way round, inc ends, be enough guidance for a 1200mm cut in 20x110 board?
Or would it be too wide and allow excess wandering?

Bod

I personally have zero experience with these tools. But since I want to re-saw my Oak off cuts to make a Kerfing saw, I want to try to use one to re-saw my Oak off-cuts.
So paradoxically, I want the tool in question, to make the tool in question!
This always seems the case with me. I needed a bench to build my bench.......etc.

John

I'm tempted to make a rebate plane like Paul Sellers' example, just so I can make this kerfing plane. It's turtles all the way down.

 

[bugbear]

So paradoxically, I want the tool in question, to make the tool in question!
This always seems the case with me. I needed a bench to build my bench.......etc.

A bow saw would be ideal for cutting the vertical pieces of a bow saw.

BugBear

 

[Jacob]

Never heard of them. Had to look it up - this geezer claims to have invented them http://www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com/the ... t-one.html

I've often done a similar thing but with a TS . Either a bandsaw, or if too deep a rip saw, will follow the slots if they are deep, but difficult to get back in line if it goes off.
Not sure if this plane would do a deep enough slot to be much use except on small stuff.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I haven't, but I know a man who has. Oi, Jimi, where are you ?

http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib2/Hen ... ane-01.asp

 

[Jacob]

Strewth 13 pages of tom toolery :roll:
Don't think that little cut would be any use to our OP. Handy for making mouldings though. I suppose.

 

[G S Haydon]

I was just about to post a link to that Tony . He's got the frame saw coming along now as well. D_W also has his experiences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1GHQwYoux0

 

[D_W]

I was just about to post a link to that Tony . He's got the frame saw coming along now as well. D_W also has his experiences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1GHQwYoux0

if i used the frame saw more, it would have a greater disparity vs. the handsaw. It's tough on the hands to bear down on the handsaw like that, and probably worth nothing that with just more than 2 teeth per inch, it (the handsaw that I'm using) rips a lot faster on wide wood than something like a typical 5 point rip saw, at least twice as fast.

 

[BearTricks]

I was just looking for this thread to ask about teeth per inch. I was about to buy a 5tpi saw by Disston but thought that it can't be night and day between that and the 7tpi that I have.

I'm after a 3tpi, but anything below a 7 seems hard to come by these days.

 

[D_W]

I was just looking for this thread to ask about teeth per inch. I was about to buy a 5tpi saw by Disston but thought that it can't be night and day between that and the 7tpi that I have.

I'm after a 3tpi, but anything below a 7 seems hard to come by these days.

I don't remember what my saw is stamped - but a saw with a 3 stamped on it from disston would have two teeth per inch. One with 4 would be 3. Mine's somewhere between those, but the teeth may have been recut to be like that.

A saw in good shape with teeth that coarse isn't something you see too often. Mangled saws with teeth that big aren't that hard to come by.

I'll measure the plate of my saw if I can remember - I don't know if it's any thicker than the average 5 1/2 point saw. if it's not, it clues you in that you can find a 6 point saw with teeth that aren't set too much and file out every other tooth and reset it and have 2 1/2 teeth per inch.

All of that said, such a saw is nice in medium hardwoods, but if you want to resaw something like a very hard stick 3 inches thick, it'll be too aggressive - it has a narrow window of use. Ripping really thick wood and resawing boards.