Well it has taken about 2 1/2 weekends to build this 30″ jointer, but it is finally complete and I am very happy with it. I cannot believe that a plane this length can be so comfortable to use (note that a HNT Gordon Trying Plane is 17″, a Stanley #7 is 22″ and a Stanley #8 is 24″ long). It turned out to be relatively light for laminated/solid Jarrah, just 2.25Kg (a tad under 5 lbs).
The iron is a 3/16″ Hock that I infilled the slot with brass so that I could use it as a single iron. The bed is 60 degrees. The lever cap is brass, nearly the last of the unusually pink stock I have. This is extremely hard metal. It is polished to direct shavings out of the mouth. The lever cap screw is capped with brass to match. I shaped the side screws out of brass bar.
The razee construction was inspired by some of Steve Knight’s work, but overall I see the dominant influence of Terry Gordon.
I often wondered what Terry’s (HNT Gordon) planes would be like with a tote, so I added one.
The mouth has a brass wear plate. It (the mouth) is very tight at present. I thought I would play with it like this first before opening it wider (as it is, I see this jointer taking fine shavings when truing edges of boards).
And, yes, it can make proper shavings. I only had a board of Karri Pine to hand, but it made light work with (in my impatience) a semi-sharp blade.
I plan to write up a few “how-tos” (would that make it “how three”?) on areas such as constructing a lever cap and cap screws without fancy shmancy equipment.
Hoping you enjoyed this as much as I …
Regards from Perth
Derek
Edited 3/26/2007 9:59 am ET by derekcohen
Replies
Very nice. I'd love to see a how to on the lever cap.
Well, that is excellent work! Do you adjust the blade with a hammer, like traditional wedged wood planes? I would really like to see how you made the metal fittings, as I have made a few planes with traditional wood wedges and I feel like this it the weakest link in their performance (wedge in too little or too far and the adjustment is very tricky... if I could just turn a screw to the desired tension I would prefer that approach. Thanks for sharing-
Vincent
Do you adjust the blade with a hammer, like traditional wedged wood planes? ..... wedge in too little or too far and the adjustment is very tricky... if I could just turn a screw to the desired tension I would prefer that approach.
Hi Vincent
While most of the woodies I have use a wedge, and I can adjust the iron quite comfortably with a hammer, the lever cap does make it all easier still (for the reasons you cite). I do still use a hammer for adjustment in the same way I do for the planes with a wedge.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Beautiful. I would also very much like to know how you do the metal work. Especially the brass infill in the plane iron slot. Rich
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