Here are some pics of my first homemade plane. The body is from a scrap of mahogany that a friend gave me. I followed the basic design for making a Krenov style plane as outlined in FW #126. The main difference is the steel sole and the brass pins/rivets. The blade is homemade as well. I used 1095 steel. I did not achieve a full hardening (still tweaking my little forge and working on my quenching technique), but I got the very edge of the bevel hardened. I did a double temper in the kitchen oven at 350 deg F and then at 400 deg F.
The iron took a nice edge that easily shaves hair. After a trial run on some oak, maple, and then the walnut panel in the pics, I gave it a quick strop and it was shaving hair again. The blade is 1/4″ thick x 2″ wide x approx 4″ long. It is a single blade with no chip breaker. The throat is pretty small, but I didn’t get fanatical about it — probably .010″ to .020″ or so.
The blade cuts as well as anything I’ve used. It left and absolutely buttery smooth finish on the walnut when I went with the grain. Against the grain, there was tear out, which I fully expected since the bed angle is only 45 deg.
All in all I’m very encouraged. The thick iron is not at all prone to chatter, and with a hollow grind it is very easy to sharpen and hone free hand.
I have a Record Baily style #4 that I’m modifying for another blade of the same type. I’ll be heat treating and tempering it tonight (have to use the forge outside, and need dark or semi-dark conditions to see the colors well.) I’ll try and take some more pics of that process.
Replies
Nice looking plane!
Nice thin shavings, too. Looks like you have a winner here!
James
That's a neat plane, and it looks to work pretty well. I'm curious as to how you went about cutting the opening in the sole plate and getting it ground at the correct bed angle?
Ron
I cut the opening by drilling a line of holes and then filing out between them. I then filed further the establish the bed angle and a slight angle at the throat. However, the bed angle was unnecessary because the blade is so thick that the bevel goes back beyond the sole. I wanted to try to get the angle right in case the homemade blade didn't work out. Next time, I won't have to worry about it.
Didn't get the time to do any heat treating tonight. Hopefully tomorrow evening.
Nice tool.
Your iron looks very like an HNT Gordon. Similar dimensions. His retail is $AUS50 plus shipping, so you saved some money as well! I just bought 5 (ouch!).
4 by 2 by quarter inch is a lot of steel, and the fact that you're getting chatter-free shavings with the iron bedding only on the wood makes the point that it's the 'infill' that matters in infill planes, not the lever cap, or the backiron, or the additional metal some use behind the mouth.
Malcolm
Well, I finished another blade today and installed it in my modified Baily smoother (#4). I filed out the mouth to accomodate the thicker iron. I'm not using any adjuster, just the cap iron. The plane works very well. I'd estimate the throat to be about .010".
Here are some pics, including my little propane forge.
Did you make your forge from plans or is it your own design? And can you share any links to sites that sell components? I took a blacksmithing night school class in the late 70s taught by a Brit that had been through their apprenticing program. Always wanted to play with it again but a coal fired forge will probably PO the neighborhood. Not to mention the hammering.
I combined a couple of different designs that I've found on the web to make the forge. I then made some modifications, and I'm still tweaking it a bit.
Here's a link to the basic design:
http://www.jamesriser.com/Machinery/GasForge/PropaneForge.html
Here's a link to the burner design:
http://www.iforgeiron.com/Blueprints01/BP0191gasforge/BP0191burner.shtml
The hardest part to find is the high pressure regulator. A typical barbecue regulator won't cut it. Luckily for me, there is a used plumbing supply place here in Boulder, and I found one there that was perfect for this purpose. I'm running about 25 psi on the output side. A welding supply store may be the place to get the regulator. Oxy-acetelyne torches use the right kind of regulator, and the threads on the acetelyne tank that are the same as those on propane tanks.
I found that the side mounted burner did not work so well. It didn't draw air the way it should and it was hard to heat a 2 inch wide blade evenly with the flame coming in from the side. So I torched a hole in the bottom of the 1/4 inch plate that the forge is mounted on and welded the 3/4 inch pipe to the under side of the plate. I used a die grinder to flare the opening of the hole on the top side. Then I welded a short length of 1-1/2 inch pipe to the top side of the plate centered on the hole. With a hole saw in the drill press, I cut out a circle of 3/16 inch plate and drilled 9 holes approx 1/4 inch diameter. Then I welded it to the top of the 1-1/2 inch pipe. This helps spread the flame out a little. With the burner mounted vertically, it draws air much better.
However, the forge still needs some work. It is fine for heat treating since it can get the metal up to the 1600 deg F range. But for actual forging, a bit hotter would be better. I'm going to experiment with some sort of forced air system today, and I'll report on any changes I end up making.
Thank you for the information. I've bookmarked it for future reference.
What are the specs for the process of heat treating tool steel? And how do you go about accomplishing that in your forge?Ron
Ron,
Heat treating is quite a skill (perhaps an art even), and it requires practice. I'm very new to it all, so my suggestions may not be the best.
But anyway, start with these two websites. They both have a lot of info on heat treating.
http://www.iforgeiron.com/
http://www.anvilfire.com/
Also, here are the specs for the 1095 steel I bought from Admiral:
http://www.admiralsteel.com/reference/heattrt.html
Here's a brief description of my process:
The steel comes annealed, so first I shaped the blade to it's final dimensions. I bandsawed the bevel on my horizontal bandsaw using some clamps and trickery to hold the steel at the right angle in order to get a 25 deg bevel. Then I fine tuned the bevel on the bench grinder. Then I drilled a series of holes and filed out the waste to create the slot for the cap iron hold-down screw (on the modified Baily). On the Baily iron, I also ground a shallow hollow on the back of the blade to make sharpening easier.
Next, I normalized the steel, and then I hardened it. I used a water-oil quench -- several gallons of warm water (about 120 deg F) with a few inches of peanut oil floating on top. The oil eases the shock of the quench, making cracking less likely. The water helps achieve a full quench, which might be impossible in oil due to the thickness of the irons.
I tempered in the kitchen oven. First at 350 deg for a half hour, then let the steel cool to room temperature. Next at 400 deg for a half hour. This is called a double temper and it is supposed to be better than just one session in the oven. I have not tested the hardness, but supposedly this regiment gives a final hardness of about Rc 62.
By the way, if you decide to make a little forge for yourself, you'll of course want to make other stuff -- knives, chisels, etc. You'll need an anvil for this. I got a short length of railroad rail which makes an okay beginner anvil for simple work. Real anvils are very hard to find and expensive.
Also, You may not want to have any other pressing projects looming, because this can get addictive.
Edited 4/20/2006 10:42 am ET by Northboundtrain
I like your plane, I really enjoy using and making wooden handplanes. Hopefully I have attached a couple of pictures of one I made not so long ago, it is made of figured bubinga and ebony.
Have fun with yours, it looks comfortable and appears to work really well.
take care and good shavings.
I am going to try the attachments again, they were too small before, sorry.
Joker that may be one of the most pleasing wooden plane shapes that I've seen. Most look a bit clunky but yours has a nice balanced and flowing look.Ron
Thank you very much for the compliment, I appreciate it.
Me too - cool looking plane. Good example of what can best be done in wood, rather than metal or metal infill.
Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz
As I replied to Ronaway, thank you very much, and if your are the one who makes the beautiful metal planes, then I really thank you, as yours are exquisite.
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