Has anyone tried to make the dove tailed shoulder plane that is on the back of the current issue of Shopnotes? I am interested in making a metal plane and wondering if this article is good for a beginners project.
My gut reaction is that the blade adjustment mechanism is somewhat coarse.
Replies
I bought the magazine for those plans, but am hesitant to launch into it for the reason you stated. It seems like a huge amount of work to hinge upon a Chinese- made lamp finial and threaded rod. Another thing that put me off was a comment made in an interview with the founder of Bridge City Tools. He said that the brass that is available commonly in this country does not peen well, and tends to work- harden very easily. This means you could go through all of the hand filing and have the project fail in the assembly process due to cracks in the brass. Perhaps other posters can enlighten us both. Besides that, I already have an excellent shoulder plane!
Thanks for the inputs. I had not see the comment concerning the brass work hardening.
Maybe others have worked out the problems with the adjuster and brass raw material.
Haven't seen shopnotes piece so I can't comment on that. As for the brass you can always use a little bit of it to test how "volatile" it is. Make a small thumb plane or something - or just drill a few holes through a piece of brass, countersink one side of each hole and peen a bit of rod through each hole like a rivet. You'll soon get used to however "crumbly" it might be.If you have a blow torch or small forge you can always anneal the brass back throughout the stages of working it.
Handplane Central
I have not seen the article mentioned, but I did read J. Econo's interview, and noticed his remarks about brass-which I thought were a bit mis-leading . I believe he was commenting as a mass producer whose requirements re brass characteristics would be different to those of a one-off plane maker.
I have found that the more yellow brass, such as C26000 aka Cartridge brass is very good to use for dovetails . However I have also found that alloy 380 and 385, used for extruded flat bar, can also be peined-even though the brass manufacturer states in his catalogue that it is "not recommended for peining and rivetting". The 380 is much harder than cartridge brass and work hardens-but for peining you can get away with it-it requires more clobbering....
Sorry to be long winded, but there is much to the subject. The manufacturers catalogue I have here specifies a total of 19 brass alloys all with various characteristics.I am sure that in America there will be even more available, so if I were you I would try to get "yellow" brass rather than the more pink type which tends to be less amenable to peining-but not impossible- see the picture-here I used the pink stuff ostensibly not good for peining. No problems- I would say it was similar to peining O1 tool steel-and the pink kind does look nice too.
Just go for it- a consultant is only a click away if you get nervous.Philip Marcou
Thank you for the detailed information and effort in posting the plane photos. You certainly are the right source for answers to my questions. If I go forward with this first plane making project, it will be with most of my doubts removed. I am grateful.
Your planes are exquisite. Perhaps some day I may own one.
... and if you're worried about 'peenability', keep it to a minimum. Make the joints as snug as possible, leave just enough overhang to fill any gaps, and work slowly, pushing out from the centre rather than rounding over or expanding from the edges.
Easy said, but actually not that hard to learn, and enormously rewarding. Good luck. Keep us posted.
Malcolm
Dovetailing advice here:http://www.xmission.com/~jry/ww/tools/schueller/schueller-practice-dovetails-v2.htmlLotsa stuff linked here:
http://www.galootcentral.com/modules.php?name=Web_Links&l_op=viewlink&cid=53 BugBear
Also, for more tips on dovetailing check out http://www.handplane.com/archives/30 andhttp://www.handplane.com/archives/31
Edited 8/12/2006 4:16 am ET by C.R. Miller
Metod, thanks for taking the time to send your response.
I have previously admired Phillip's work and will certainly heed his advice.
Your point about leaning how to 'tap' is well taken. My first plane was a 9 inch Kreonov style. It is still teaching me how to tap.
Best regards, Steve Pippins
Hi,
I just finished work on some new additions to the Philip's website. There is a demonstration done by him on building one of his planes. This might be helpful.
Here is the link
http://www.marcouplanes.com/build/M12/M12-building1.asp
This is about building miter plane.
wiktor, thanks for forwarding the link.
Steve Pippins
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