I decided to make some molding planes after reading Matthew Bickford’s article in the winter 2019 issue of FWW. I bought two pieces of tool steel (A2) from McMaster-Carr that are 6″ long, 1/2″ wide, and 3/16″ thick. I ground a hollow and a round bevel and hack sawed half of the width about 4 and 1/8″ down from the top. I used an air dried cherry log to make the blanks about 3″ wide and 8″ long. The blanks are about 7/8 thick at the bottom and 5/8″ at the top. I used a 1/4″ drill bit, bench, and a mortise chisels to make the mortise. I decided to drill a 1″ diameter mortise for the shavings even though the planes in the article did not have that. I am sure after reading other blog entries that I will need to quench and temper the blades, but as you can see in the picture I was able to plane a profile with the hollow plane. I’m still working on the round. What do you think? Thanks for any helpful comments.
Replies
That's a great first plane!
You will definitely need to harden and temper your blades. Im not sure how that would be with your A2 steel -- I've only used O-1 and W-1. The irons will also work much better if they are tapered in length, working in conjunction with the tapered wedge. Fortunately, tapered O-1 irons for molding planes are available from Lie Nielsen. They will save you a tremendous amount of metal work.
The circular escapement you made will cause jamming issues. A side escapement will work better.
There is a great video from Larry Williams on making side escapement planes. Its actually where Matt first learned planemaking. That video is also available at Lie Nielsen.
Keep at it. Its exciting to see new planemakers!
Thank you John 2. I'll have to check out the video.
I think your planes are pretty awesome. If you can taper the circular mortises so that it's a little larger on the outside that will help if you have chip ejection issues. I too highly recommend the Larry Wilson video. Also, follow Matt and Red Rose Reproductions on Instagram. They both put out a lot of great tips on plane making.
Thanks for the comments user 3395150. I'll have to do more research before I dive into the building mode again.
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