wooden plane making

[richarnold]

Hi folks, I have been experimenting with some plane making this year, and thought you may like to see some of the results.
Here we have a trio of try, fore, and smoother. these are my interpretation of what I think early 18th century English bench planes may have looked like. They are all made of beech with English walnut totes. The try has a slight modern twist as in I added a boxwood mouth closer.
The totes are heavily offset, and just to let you know I'm a lefty.
these planes, and others will be on the bench at our upcoming open day.

 

[Bm101]

Beautiful. May I ask a couple of probably daft questions?
What is the 'button' on the front of the tri plane for, decorative or does it have another use? More importantly perhaps, what advantage does offsetting the handles confer? Is it personal preference? I've not seen it done in my limited experience and I'd be interested to know. It makes sense in my mind if you know what I mean. Thanks for sharing. Lovely tools.
Regards
Chris

 

[richarnold]

Beautiful. May I ask a couple of probably daft questions?
What is the 'button' on the front of the tri plane for, decorative or does it have another use? More importantly perhaps, what advantage does offsetting the handles confer? Is it personal preference? I've not seen it done in my limited experience and I'd be interested to know. It makes sense in my mind if you know what I mean. Thanks for sharing. Lovely tools.
Regards
Chris

Hi, it's a strike button. If you give it a gentle tap you can back the iron off, or release the wedge . This saves battering the heel ofthe plane.I have done the offset to find out if it has an advantage, and early results are promising. This is especially true for the fore plane . The tote is very small by modern standards, and I find it more cofortable to drop most of my fingers down the side of the stock, and the ofset makes this easy.

 

[Doug B]

Beautiful looking planes Richard

 

[Bm101]

Thanks Richard. Much appreciated. At least I had the right idea. I always thought strike buttons were on the front face. Learned something new. Be interested on updates on the off set handles. I'm just a beginner but without sounding daft I'm interested in the mechanics of plane use if that makes sense. I'll leave it there before someone picks a fight with me. Many regards and good luck with the open day. Wish I was closer.

 

[Ttrees]

Nice planes
Never seen a wedge on front of the mouth before, which wasn't a repair.
What kind of wood do you work ?
It would lead me to think, having the tight mouth is faster for dimentioning before smoothing .
So in essence you have two planes in one ...
I'm surprised you don't have this on the fore plane instead, which looks like a jack to me.
Interested on your thinking on this .
I cant see the cap iron from your pics, is this a history discussion, possibly in relation to a certain location ?
In other words is this a replica of sorts from a certain maker ?
Thanks
Tom

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Richard - thanks for posting these; as with all your plane making, they look superb!

I recall a discussion a couple of years ago on this forum, about a couple of similar planes you made, but with the handle offsets to the right. You said that you didn't really get on with them; so it's interesting that as a lefty you do find the left-hand offset more to your liking. It will be interesting to hear how right-handers get on with them!

Just a thought - those may be the first left-handed 18th century style bench planes ever made!

 

[richarnold]

Nice planes
Never seen a wedge on front of the mouth before, which wasn't a repair.
What kind of wood do you work ?
It would lead me to think, having the tight mouth is faster for dimentioning before smoothing .
So in essence you have two planes in one ...
I'm surprised you don't have this on the fore plane instead, which looks like a jack to me.
Interested on your thinking on this .
I cant see the cap iron from your pics, is this a history discussion, possibly in relation to a certain location ?
In other words is this a replica of sorts from a certain maker ?
Thanks
Tom

Hi tom. Thank you for your interest.
As a joiner, and furniture maker I work a wide variety of woods, and as such I tend to pitch my bench planes at around 47.5 degrees. this seems a good compromise for most woods, and I never really work with exotics that might require a higher pitch.
The secondary wedge as you describe it is a mouth closer which was developed in British wooden mitre planes sometime in the late 18th century. It has 2 functions in that it gives a hard wearing surface just in front of the cutter, this is always a danger area in wooden planes, but most importantly it allows the mouth to be closed up after any truing of the sole of the plane. the boxwood closer is lowered and then leveled again with the sole. This means the plane can loose up to about 3/8" off the sole in its lifetime. the form of this closer is a little unusual in that it is held in place with a captive nut and bolt. this idea was copied from a mitre plane in my collection by Griffiths of Norwich. The common form of mouth closer is wedge shaped, but this requires it to be removed from the plane, and reduced in width to lower it. Try planes are in essence finishing planes and require a tight mouth or a back iron to prevent tare out. I have gone a bit belt and braces with this one and have provided both!. The fore plane, or Jack as some folks know it does not have to produce a fine finish, so it has a well cambered single iron .

 

[richarnold]

Richard - thanks for posting these; as with all your plane making, they look superb!

I recall a discussion a couple of years ago on this forum, about a couple of similar planes you made, but with the handle offsets to the right. You said that you didn't really get on with them; so it's interesting that as a lefty you do find the left-hand offset more to your liking. It will be interesting to hear how right-handers get on with them!

Just a thought - those may be the first left-handed 18th century style bench planes ever made!

Hi, yes I decided to make something I could use this time!. Mind you I have made a right handed version of the try, and I'm currently making a right handed version of the fore plane. so you right handed folks will be able to experience them at any open days, or shows I do!
I have often wondered if anyone made left handed planes in the 18th century, or even if apprentices were allowed to use there left hand!
A year or so ago at the ken Hawley collection, I had the chance to hold an 18th century hand saw, and low and behold it had a heavy wear to the grip, and it fitted me!. the owner had been left handed!!!

 

[G S Haydon]

Lovely quality to your work Richard.

 

[ED65]

Your planes looks stunning Richard, superb work.

I don't think I'm the only one who would mind some gratuitous shavings pics!

 

[D_W]

Really nice clean work, Richard. I had the urge for the offset handles at one point and made two planes with the handle offset (one short and one taller). I didn't get on with them, but it's just a matter of preference, I guess.

 

[liamscanlan]

Thank you for sharing, Richard.
Beautiful work!

 

[Droogs]

Richard, with the enlarged area for the adjustable closer, do you think this made it easier to float the the frog and abutments. And have you tried making several adjusters in differing thickness' to act as swap-out adjustable mouths for use with soft/hardwood?

 

[richarnold]

Richard, with the enlarged area for the adjustable closer, do you think this made it easier to float the the frog and abutments. And have you tried making several adjusters in differing thickness' to act as swap-out adjustable mouths for use with soft/hardwood?

Hi , yes I do think it's easier to form the whole mouth area as there is moor room, and it's also easier to form a nice tight mouth.

 

[JohnPW]

Are there any "in progress" photos?

 

[richarnold]

Are there any "in progress" photos?

Yes, I will do my best to sort some out, but I'm finding photobucket slower than a geriatric snail at the moment.

 

[D_W]

postimage works well if you just want to post a few pictures and don't need to keep a permanent album.

And it's free with no registering or anything.

 

[ac445ab]

Hi,
I like your planes very much. Great design!
I tried to build a couple of planes with an offset handle (I am lefty as you), although not so offset as yours.
I found more confortable to use them when, in some circumstances, I plane the piece by keeping the plane with an angle. In this case, with an offset handle, the hands remain both in the direction of planing.

Ciao,
Giuliano