Two More Planes Done

A while ago I wrote a blog about my various wooden planes and the plans I had for them.  I repaired and cleaned up a couple already and recently took on two more.

  The one plane was a small smoothing plane for which I did not have a blade.  After much consideration I choose to abandon plans for saving the plane.  It was not worth buying a new blade for the plane given that I have several good metal body planes that size as well as the other wooden body plane I recently cleaned up. This plane was not worth the trouble at this time.  No fear, it didn't get thrown away!!

I am using the plane body as a large sized sanding block. It has three flat sides which will give plenty of use before the 120 grit sand paper will have to be replaced.  I could one day fit a blade and wedge if I wanted. Since there is no blade or wedge I suspect I paid little or nothing for the plane body.

  The shoulder plane I choose to revive.  It lacked a blade and a wedge but the base was still very flat and the sides were true.  Where and when I acquired the plane body, I do not remember. Not wanting to spend money to buy a blade I decided to reshape  a 3/4 inch chisel.  I cut the handle off with my 4 1/2 inch grinder and proceeded to grind the chisel blade to shape.  The tang of the chisel was round with a small shoulder where it fit into the handle.  The only thing to remember while grinding is to keep it from getting too hot and burning the steel. The effort would be wasted if the steel lost its temper. Once the shape was roughed out I switched to files for the final shaping.  Quality medal files are easy to use can remove plenty of material.  You are also not likely to over heat the blade as you hand file. When hand filing metal I have found that you really need a metal working good vise, hand clamps and wood working vises just don't work .

 The wooden body had been well used as it was dirty, greasy and a bit pitted.  I sanded it down, and gave the body a quick coat of spray varnish. The wedge is waxed elm.

  When  the blade was shaped to fit the plane body I found that it was slightly too wide.  I guess the plane was a metric width.  I filed the chisel blade down a few millimetres for it to fit the plane body. 

  I don't make videos so you will have to take my word that the plane ploughs a serviceable 3/4 shoulder.  I now have a 1/2 and an almost 3/4 shoulder plane in my shop. 

   I have four or five more chisels of this vintage in a drawer in my shop.  I have test sharpened them all and they are adequate to need. I kept them for just this sort of thing. In a wood working shop you never know when you my need to customise  a cutting edge.  It is easy to find chisels, files and rasps for cheap at flea markets for your shop.

It only remains for me to decide on the fate of the last two wooden planes sitting on my bench taunting me.

cheers  ianw

spring is sprung.

hooray 

Wednesday in the Shop

 Sometimes I spend time in my wood shop and don't really do much, but all 'shop time' is 'good time'. Today was a good time.

  First thing I did today was clean up a cabinet that I picked up on the side of the road.

  This is a upper unit from someone's kitchen and all it needed was a shelf. To cut a shelf I used my framing square and a jig saw. I know this is not much of a woodworking project but....it was time well spent.

 Another thing I did was finish sand and varnish my bagel slicer.

    Kieran is my reason for making this bagel holder. Kieran likes to have a bagel with cheese for breakfast, he will be six this summer and I want him to be able to safely make his own breakfast. Again not a big job, but one that I felt needed to be done. Sanding blocks make getting maple glassy smooth easy.

two brooches and a tie tack

  I have been working away on small things.  These three pieces have three coats of varnish. These pieces are sort of silly, but style is often silly.

  The rest of my woodworking day was spent mowing the lawn and fixing a couple of small things from 10,000 Villages. Repairs always take more time than you imagine.  When I have repairs to do for 10,000 Villages I end up digging around in jars and drawers looking for hardware, and again I found just what I needed.  This sort of task is fun, when it doesn't need to be cost effective.

a bird condo?

    Finally the weather is good, the yard looks good and it is time to get outside.

  Do woodwork in the back yard in the fresh air.

Re-Use, Re-cycle and save money

  

Some of friends laughingly note that I am cheap. I would rather think of myself as thrifty but either way you slice it, I hate to throw things away if they have any use or value left.


  Most wood shop folks send time sanding, maybe not as much as we should, but it still seems like sanding takes more time than building.  A common aid to hand sanding is a sanding block, blocks are available for sale or just as often are a scrap of wood more or less the correct shape.


  A while ago I made a sanding block that was a five inch disk and glued Velcro on it so that I could stick hook and loop sanding disks onto it.


  Recently I had to change the sanding pad on my random orbital sander, not because it lost its grip but because... well I'll show you.

  Something I was sanding, (an edge of something) caught and gouged the Velcro pad enough that it was tearing the sanding sheets to pieces.  I went and bought a replacement pad, installed it and was about to toss the damaged pad away when I got an idea.

  The scrap of wood is now screwed onto the back of the damaged pad and shazam, it makes a very flat, perfectly good sanding block. It is not cost effective to buy a new pad for this job, but as long as the old pads has grip, it is perfect.

Travelling Tool Box Part 2

One of the tools that goes into my tool box is a chisel knife from Sweden made by Frost of Mora Sweden.  It is a fabulous knife made my a heavy duty maker and since it has chisel tip it is very versatile.  I use it for marking, for heavy scoring and on one occasion for digging dandelions. When I am not pretending it is a utility chisel it is a very sharp knife for trimming and forming dowels and sharpening pencils etc. Nothing seems to phase it and the stainless steel is of such high quality that it is as good as new with a quick honing.

 I have a couple other Mora/Frost knives in my shop and love them all.

     Next on the list is the Rabot Kid plane:

   This plane is made in France and uses a utility knife blade. It is great for rough work and with a brand new blade will do a pretty good job on trim.  You can also move the blade forward and make it into a scraper.  I've cleaned up lots of over spray and paint drips with this little tool.

    The saw is not as exotic now as when I bought 30 years ago.

 

   I am on the second or third blade in the Japanese pattern plywood saw.  I like it because it cuts quickly and can be used for rough work or if handled carefully will do trim too.  I have even cut landscape timber with it, ultra versitile.  Also the blade comes out of the handle and I hold it inside the tool box wall with a rare earth magnet on a narrow shelf.  I take it with me so that I have a saw that is rasor sharp when I need it.

   Sweden, France and Japan are exotic and in the case of the plane and the knife I have actually been there. The last tool is home made.                                      

   

    A couple of jobs ago I needed a sanding block to clean up a couple of pieces of trim, that is when I had my ureka moment.  I buy 5 inch 8 whole sand paper by the 50 or 100 sheet package.  I have it in at least 5 grades but when I needed a sanding block I usually turned to a rectangular block of wood and a section of 8x11 sheet sand paper.  It meant that I had to have sheet sand paper in various grits too.  Two things so similiar in purpose that one thing would do the job with a little ingenuity.


   So I went to the fabric store and bought some hook and loop material.  It came by the yard and was about 1 1/2 inches wide.( and cheap) Then I cut out a 5 inch disk and used contact cement to glue the hook and loop to the disk.  I thought about the handle and decided on one that was square instead of round.  The square handle fits tightly and easily into my bench vise for the times when I want the wood to move not the sand paper.  When the sand paper disk gets clogged I clean it with my cleaning block just as if it were on the random orbital sander.  It works great, I use it on the lathe too.


   Having the right tool at hand makes any job easier.

Rabot Kid 24 Boss hand plane 
http://www.moraofsweden.se