Request for advice on timber prep for moulding planes.

[Berncarpenter]

I would like to make some moulding planes for myself . I have managed to source some quarter sawn beech , its air dried 7''x3'' and 6' long .

Planning on leaving the beech in the workshop to dry further ,its roughly 20% mc now . Should i resaw nearer to the width of the planes form 3/4'' - 2'' now to aid the drying ?

Also ive never made any planes so looking for advice on finding the best info on the subject.

Cheers Bern

 

[Paul Chapman]

Why not have a word with Phil Edwards http://www.phillyplanes.co.uk/ I'm sure he would be happy to help.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Berncarpenter]

Why not have a word with Phil Edwards http://www.phillyplanes.co.uk/ I'm sure he would be happy to help.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

Hi Paul
Spoke with one of Phills good friends Alex Primmer from Classic hand tools a few months back . Alex asked Phill if there where any good books he could recommend and his reply was -'' There are only a few really good books on the subject and they are sadly out of print '' So Alex was unable to get them for me . I will probably get the irons from Phill so i suppose he could advise me on the timber prep. Trouble is I am not good at asking for help , been on the forum for over a year now and this is the first time .

Thanks for your reply Paul

Cheers Bern

 

[Rhossydd]

'' There are only a few really good books on the subject and they are sadly out of print '' So Alex was unable to get them for me

No excuse these days. There's a thriving market in OOP books via Amazon, Abe books and eBay, most things can be bought secondhand.
You can also find a huge number of older works available as PDFs, just get the titles and get Googling.

How about these three to get you started;
"Making and Mastering wooden planes" by David Finck is well regarded and may even be still available direct from the author.
"The Handplane book" by Garrett hack is still available from Amazon in paperback.
"Making traditional wooden planes" by John Whelan, expensive s/h, but maybe there's some PDFs around of dubious copyright status.

 

[Berncarpenter]

Hi Rhossydd
Ive got Garret Hack hand plane book its a lovely book but it doesnt have any info on the making of planes. I will take a look on Amazon and see whats available . Cant remember now what the two books were that Phill recommended , John Whelan may have been one of them .

Thanks for your help

Cheers Bern

 

[Racers]

You need this video https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/DVD ... ?node=4071 by Larry Williams who used to visit this site.

Pete

 

[Rhossydd]

John Whelan may have been one of them .

Whelan certainly has some chapters on making moulding planes. Go Google ;-)

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I gather from reading a couple of the American forums that John Whelan's books 'The Wooden Plane' and 'Making Traditional Wooden Planes' are in the process of being republished, though I'm not sure when they'll be available; probably sometime in the first half of 2015. The latter volume is reckoned the best book written on planemaking, so well worth keeping an eye out for.

 

[Trafalgar]

Plenty of used copies available, though a bit pricey:

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Traditiona ... den+planes

 

[Trafalgar]

Or perhaps just download it from Scribd for free (?):

http://www.scribd.com/doc/180945557/Mak ... lan#scribd

 

[Silverbirch]

I recently bought a copy of "Wooden Planes and How To Make Them" from Axminster for just a few pounds. It has a fair bit of information on making moulding planes, among others, but only gives the briefest details on choice of timber. It`s not showing on their site now, as far as I can see, but that might just be down to their rubbish search facility. It might be worth looking for elsewhere.

Ian

 

[condeesteso]

This looks interesting! Would you be planning a set of hollows and rounds by any chance??, Well, a half set maybe #-o
I'm no planemaker, but you have quartersawn there (top pic anyway) so likely to be nicely stable drying from 20 down to say 8-10.
It would be safe surely to reduce this stock to smaller lumps given the intended use, maybe to short billets a little over-length and say 10 - 15mm over in thickness. Plenty of wax over ends extending an inch or so along end grain. This way it will drop in m/c far quicker whilst taking care to avoid shock-drying at all.
I've tried various stuff for end sealing but the old wax still seems the best - I just melt it in a jam jar in water then brush it on quickly. I have a load of hornbeam done that way at the moment and it's behaving very well (a new bench on the way some day soonish!).
You'll appreciate the air-dried beech - it works and handles beautifully in every direction, miles nicer than kiln-dried.
ALSO, get in touch with AndyTnT (toolsntat), he has a set of plane makers planes intended for making woodie moulding planes - he may lend them out if you ask nicely. I've seen them and they are incredible, basically a set of woodies with profiles the negative of the plane to be made, plus a specialist plane for making wedge profiles en masse... fab stuff he has!!
Keep us all posted, a fascinating exercise no doubt requiring much patience but the result would be quite something.

 

[toolsntat]

Very informative section on moulding planes here......
http://www.handplane.com/33/practical-plane-making-2/

Andy

 

[deema]

Depending on where you store it, 20% moisture content is fairly normal for externally air dried timber in the UK. You need Kiln dried which changes the cell structure for ultimate stability.

Keep it in one piece and place in the airing cupboard as a substitute. This will allow any warping to be planed out when starting the project.

 

[condeesteso]

Depending on where you store it, 20% moisture content is fairly normal for externally air dried timber in the UK. You need Kiln dried which changes the cell structure for ultimate stability.

Dont get this at all. The great old woodies were air-dried and of course at a stage the wood goes into an internal environment to bring it down to workshop-normalised. How does kilning change cell structure, and if so how for the better. Air-dried is far superior in my own experience, and will behave excellently over decades or centuries, as our old tools testify.

p.s. no to airing cupboard also. Far too fast, aggressive. Get it into a dry workshop, patience pays dividends.

 

[Corneel]

These books from Whelan and from Lee about plane making aren't very detailed about the moulding planes. The DVD from Larry Williams is much better and a lot more detailed. Also available from classic handtools.

I haven't made moulding planes myself, but it was a great help in restoring my vintage ones.

Be carefull with drying beech too fast. It likes to split a bit too eagerly.

 

[Berncarpenter]

Thanks for all your helpful replies .

You need this video https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/DVD ... ?node=4071 by Larry Williams who used to visit this site.

Pete

Pete i have had trouble with buying stuff from the USA in the past , with import duty the post office admin charge and having to collect the stuff from the sorting office the cost almost doubles. I will try to get this DVD from the Uk and also the Whelan Books first .I have plenty of time to gather info while waiting for the timber to dry.
Got to say love those marking gauges you made for the SS cracking job 8)
Thanks Bern

John Whelan may have been one of them .

Whelan certainly has some chapters on making moulding planes. Go Google ;-)

Cheers Rhossydd Googleing for hours last night tend to get side tracked and spend time looking all sorts stuff.

I gather from reading a couple of the American forums that John Whelan's books 'The Wooden Plane' and 'Making Traditional Wooden Planes' are in the process of being republished, though I'm not sure when they'll be available; probably sometime in the first half of 2015. The latter volume is reckoned the best book written on planemaking, so well worth keeping an eye out for.

Alex did mention that these books are due to be republished , but said they have been promising this for quite some time and i could be in for rather long wait .

Or perhaps just download it from Scribd for free (?):

http://www.scribd.com/doc/180945557/Mak ... lan#scribd

Tempting but , well you know :evil:

Going to post this up now just incase i loose it and then carry on.

 

[Rhossydd]

I gather from reading a couple of the American forums that John Whelan's books 'The Wooden Plane' and 'Making Traditional Wooden Planes' are in the process of being republished, though I'm not sure when they'll be available;

In stock now according to the publisher. http://www.astragalpress.com/John_Whelan_Books.htm
I don't think duty or VAT is payable on books and most USA>UK book postage rates are pretty reasonable, so not expensive to get directly from the publisher.

 

[Trafalgar]

So, so lucky to have this supplier of air-dried lumber in my state of Tennessee:

http://www.stonesriverhardwoods.com/

And look at what one of the principals in the firm builds with it:

http://alfredsharp.com/index.php

He's a Cartouche award winner from the Society of American Period Furnituremakers - about as good as it gets over here.

 

[Trafalgar]

Thanks for all your helpful replies .

You need this video https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/DVD ... ?node=4071 by Larry Williams who used to visit this site.

Pete

Pete i have had trouble with buying stuff from the USA in the past , with import duty the post office admin charge and having to collect the stuff from the sorting office the cost almost doubles. I will try to get this DVD from the Uk and also the Whelan Books first .I have plenty of time to gather info while waiting for the timber to dry.
Got to say love those marking gauges you made for the SS cracking job 8)
Thanks Bern

John Whelan may have been one of them .

Whelan certainly has some chapters on making moulding planes. Go Google ;-)

Cheers Rhossydd Googleing for hours last night tend to get side tracked and spend time looking all sorts stuff.

I gather from reading a couple of the American forums that John Whelan's books 'The Wooden Plane' and 'Making Traditional Wooden Planes' are in the process of being republished, though I'm not sure when they'll be available; probably sometime in the first half of 2015. The latter volume is reckoned the best book written on planemaking, so well worth keeping an eye out for.

Alex did mention that these books are due to be republished , but said they have been promising this for quite some time and i could be in for rather long wait .

Or perhaps just download it from Scribd for free (?):

http://www.scribd.com/doc/180945557/Mak ... lan#scribd

Tempting but , well you know :evil:

Going to post this up now just incase i loose it and then carry on.

It's perfectly legit -- I do see that you'll have to buy a one-day pass for $9 in order to download the book. Beats $80 for a used one.