planemaking

[JGP]

Below are some images of a plane that I made last year, a near identical copy of a plane that I have in my collection. As I am not a fan of using very old and fragile tools in a workshop the only alternative I had for trying out such a plane was to make my own. This example is made from lime, not a typical wood used for making planes, but a good one for carving. The plane works well, although I have some slight chattering of the cutting iron to sort out, and the 'Roman' style handle is surprisingly comfortable to use. The carved, serpent type creature, at the front offers plenty of grip for the other hand too.
It has been a rewarding project to have done and I would encourage others to have a go at something similar.

The other image is from Goodman's book on the history of woodworking tools and shows some 17th century planes, the top example being the one I more or less copied.

 

[MickCheese]

An interesting project.

Well done.

Mick

 

[AndyT]

Wow!

Do you have any more pictures of work in progress on this? Did you make the functional part first, then start the carving?

 

[RappScallion]

Beautiful work

 

[condeesteso]

An interesting plane, I haven't seen a carved plane before! I tried rxh's Silchester plane a while ago and agree the back handle design is surprisingly good to use. I'd also like to see any w.i.p pics, and what length is it, what cutter, double iron?

 

[rileytoolworks]

Amazing crafstmanship.
Looking forward to more pictures of your work.
Welcome to the forum.

All the best.
Adam.

 

[tobytools]

really nice work,
lime like you say is goof for carving but would wear fast as the sole of the plane. laminating a harder wood for a sole would be a historical inaccuracy, but makes sense as its a working tool i assume and docent sit on a shelf...

you said "Below are some images of a plane that I made last year, a near identical copy of a plane that I have in my collection".

id be very interested to see some nice clear pics of the original and of you other works.

thanks
TT

 

[Harbo]

Superb workmanship and welcome to the Forum

Rod

 

[JGP]

Thank you for your responses. Unfortunately I don't have any work-in-progress images of this plane, however I did do all the functional stuff first to make sure that it was useable to start with. The carved details took longer to complete that the rest of the functional stuff, as I had anticipated.
The images of the similar antique plane that is in my collection is on my website, if you wish to look further it can be found under the title of Early European Decorated Tools.
This is the only plane I have made to date, the other work I have done with tools is restoration based.

 

[richarnold]

That looks beautiful Jonathan.
I like the fact that you can see all the individual tool marks on the surfaces.
Are these still visible on the original Jonathan?
For those of you that have not been lucky enough to see a copy of Jonathans book, I can thoroughly recommend it.
My personal favorite is a jointer plane (PAGE 28) . I just love the repairs that have been done to it to keep it going!