Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Nov 20, 2005 08:34am | #1

   An archery bow or a musical instrument bow?

   John W.

2. 
   Patto | Nov 21, 2005 04:27am | #2

   James

   There is a thing called a plane float used in planemaking. Sort of a rasp except that in profile it looks like a saw and the 'teeth' go all the way across. The closest modern tool I have found is a body rasp for shaping bog in panel beating.

   dave

1. 
   JamesF | Nov 22, 2005 04:20am | #3

   It was an archery making toolI have found one reference. Sent for detailshttp://www.comteck.com/~therrli/

1. 
   AlanWS | Nov 22, 2005 04:48am | #4

   Your link is referring to a planemaker's float. This is what it looks like: http://www.norsewoodsmith.com/img/float/Floats.htm
   That link also shows how to make them.

1. 
   JamesF | Nov 22, 2005 05:17am | #5

   Thanks , I can see how to modify them for making bows. A very interesting tool. Wonder how well it works.

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Nov 22, 2005 05:55am | #6

   I think  Clark and Williams-- http://www.planemaker.com -- made some plane floats for sale.  I don't know whether that is accurate, or ancient history, but it might be worth contacting them. 

2. 
   Patto | Nov 22, 2005 07:34am | #7

   James,

   Thats the beast I was talking about, just couldn't remember where I had seen them.

   In cross section, they are very similar to a tool used in the panel beating trade for gross shaping of body filler. If you were careful about heat, there is no reson you couldnt shape one to the desired plan.

3. 
   forestgirl | Nov 25, 2005 05:16am | #8

   Tom ("tms") makes long-bows, I'll bet he knows.  I'll send him an email with link to your post.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
   Another proud member of the  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) 

4. 
   jazzdogg | Nov 27, 2005 08:26pm | #9

   Hi James,

   I bought my planemaker's floats from St. James Bay. A set of two, unhandled, cost $65.00. They are well made, but cut slowly and aren't nearly as sharp as I hoped they would be.

   There are times when they are the only tool that will do the job. However, when truing the throats of wood-bodied planes, I found Vixxen files more useful a lot of the time because their additional length made them easier to use.

   St James Bay also has a great video that takes you through the entire process of making a pair of hollows and rounds; on the video, there is a brief presentation on making your own plane floats.

   Good luck,

    

   -Jazzdogg-

   "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie

1. 
   JamesF | Nov 29, 2005 05:30am | #10

   All this information is more than I hoped for. Thanks to everyone.

1. 
   pqken | Nov 30, 2005 12:27am | #11

   One more bit of info. What about a scraper? Way back when during desert survival training we used a piece of obsidian (volcanic glass), flint, or other hard dense smooth stonesto shape the bow...primitive bow that is. Took a lot of time but we had a lot of time.