A new jointer plane

The first plane I ever bought was a Stanley no.7. I laboriously lapped the sole and tuned the plane as well as I could, and for years it served me well. But it's a heavy plane to push for any length of time, and awkward to balance on the edges of boards.
When I moved to Virginia last year, the no.7 sat in storage for months. When I finally unpacked it, I was dismayed to discover that the sole had warped noticeably. I really couldn't face lapping it all over again, so building a nice wooden jointer has been on my list for a while.
And…here it is.

The plane is hard maple, with a soft maple handle and a cocobolo strike button. The iron is a vintage W.Butcher, 8" long and 2 1/2" wide.

I'm guessing the plane is only slightly lighter than the no.7, but the slick wooden sole makes it noticeably easier to push. One of the nicest features though, is how much more pleasant it is to use on the edges of boards. The natural position for the forward hand (I'm a lefty, so my right hand) when jointing is to place the thumb on top, with a couple fingers below the plane to "feel" the board that's being jointed. On a metal plane, this is pretty awkward, but it's very natural on a woodie.

A couple more pics:

 

 

A plane for a customer

Here's the first plane I've sold to a customer. A gentlemen recently contacted me through Sawmill Creek (a woodworking forum that I belong to). He liked the pictures of my mini-coffin smoother and wondered if I would make him one.
I was skeptical at first, but the guy was pretty cool; he didn't try to nickel and dime me, and left me a lot of latitude as far as design and wood choice were concerned.
I decided to make the plane out of jatoba, since I had it on hand. Never again! With one possible exception, I'm done using jatoba for planes--it is just too hard to work. The end result is great, but I'm going to stick to woods that are a bit easier.
Here's the plane:

The project gave me the chance to fine tune the design and really improve the ergonomics of the plane. I shortened it a bit, to 5 3/4", radiused the top of the iron, and curved the sides slightly in the vertical plane (along with the more obvious horizontal curve). These changes made a big  difference…the plane is more comfortable than the first version.  The only thing I regretted about the project was shipping the plane--it was painful to see it go! But I guess I can always make another.

Japanese marking gauge

For quite a while, my only marking gauge has been a Stanley 97, refurbished with some parts from Lee Valley. It's ok, but I need something better…even more than that, I need more marking gauges. It definitely makes marking out easier if you can set a couple different gauges at certain distances, then leave them at those settings until you're done marking the piece out. Saves a lot of back and forth.
Anyway, here is my first attempt, in the japanese style. White oak (scrap left over from the log I bought in the spring) with cocobolo wedges. The knife is made from a piece of old jointer blade, .095" thick.

In the pictures, the gauge is set up for right-handed use, but I've since reversed the beam so it can be used left-handed. This has the added benefit thatpushing on the fence tightens the wedge.
The gauge works very well, especially for a first try. It's definitely an improvement over the Stanley; it marks a much deeper line (when desired) and the big fences is easier to keep registered against the work. Some things that I'll improve on next time:
- Attach the blade to the end of the beam, perhaps using one of the snazzy replacement blades from Hamilton. It would be nice to be able to see the blade while I'm marking, not have it obscured by the beam.
- Scale the parts down. The gauge is a bit clunky; it could be more delicate and graceful, which would make it easier to use.
- I may opt for a knob adjuster, rather than the wedge. The wedge works fine, but it would be nice to compare the two approaches.

Making a rabbet plane

Well, the planemaking madness continues. Until now, all the planes I've made are bench planes. But joinery planes are really essential, too. Various writings by Larry Williams and Matt Bickford have convinced me that a square rabbet is the most desirable rabbet plane, but these are hard to find--most of the rabbets you find in the wild are skew rabbets. A skew rabbet tends to pull toward the board, so it's nice to use with some sort of fence or batten, but very hard to control freehand. Fillister planes are also skewed.
To get a sense of how useful a square rabbet can be, check out this video of Bickford.
Matt also did a nice tutorial that I followed pretty closely.
I decided to make the plane out of a piece of quartersawn jatoba I had. The sole of a rabbet takes a beating, so you either need to make the plane out of something hard, or box the sole.
Before starting the plane, I made a simple saw/chisel guide. These are extremely handy. This one is cut to 55° on one end and 65° on the other, with a groove down the middle that fits over the plane's body.

I started by making two cuts with a backsaw to define the throat, using the guide.

Then I drilled a 1" hole with a forstner bit, and knocked out the waste.

After that, I drilled a hole down from the top, then used chisels and vixen files to refine the wedge mortise. I carved the escapement with an incannel gouge, then refined it with a file and sandpaper.

Here's the finished plane:

I almost forgot: The plane is left-handed! When you live in a righty world, making something specifically for lefty use is always great.

A mini coffin smoother in cocobolo

Having finished my fore plane, I decided to build a small smoother, one that would be comfortable in one hand (but could still be used two-handed). A couple years ago, I built a laminated plane like this, but it came unglued. That was the decisive event that drove me to give up laminated planes and start mortising solid bodies.
Anyway, here is what I came up with:

I'm quite pleased with the look of this plane, but even more pleased with the performance! For one-handed work, I've always used a Stanley 60 1/2. It's very handy, but for any sort of long grain application, this plane has it beat hands down.

Making a single iron fore plane, part 3

Well, the fore plane is finished! I'm really happy with how it turned out.

The plane is capable of very aggressive work, more so than my Stanley jack plane. And the chip clearance is fantastic, better than any plane I have ever owned. Here are a couple of action shots. First some pine:

And some elm:

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: I got some air dried elm! Had to drive 2 1/2 hours up to PA to get it. It will make some really nice seats for those chairs.

Making a single iron fore plane, part 2

I made some more progress on the fore plane this week. I had a nice piece of quartersawn jatoba that I thought would make a nice handle. Jatoba is hard and heavy, quite coarse, but should hold up well. I cut a tenon on the blank, then traced out the pattern and drilled a couple large holes, with a forstner bit, to define the top and bottom of the cutout.

Then I cut to the lines with a coping saw, and refined the shape with a chisel, vixen files, rasps, and sandpaper.

Then I turned to the wedge and iron. The iron is a turn of the century "A.C. Bartlett" that I bought on Ebay. I have never seen another quite like it. Double irons are fairly common on the bay, but single irons are quite rare.  This one needed quite a lot of work, flattening the back, but it turned out nicely.
The  wedge is a piece of tropical mystery wood that looks a lot like jatoba, but is more fine grained.

All that's left for next week is to glue in the handle and apply some finish!