No 10 small smoother plane. Metal component parts
peining the dovetails showing the forming tools
Showing various infills
The finished No 10 smoother plane
April 17, 2020
No 10 smoothing plane revisited
No 10 smoothing plane. I have chosen this plane for its simplicity as an insight for the amount of work and effort that goes into this plane. I will tell its story over the next few postings.
Starting with the blade drilling and facet forming
Integral rivets being milled in situ on a bar strip to be cut up into individual sneck pieces
Sneck pieces shown after being cut into individual pieces
September 20, 2019
Workshop blog no 33
Looks like I have started a new family here, there are all limited editions only
May 8, 2019
Workshop blog no 23 – No 985
Looking back on the last posting and it has been a whole month – I have been away for a while and life just seems to get in the way of work sometimes. Was having a look at what retirement could be like, but I can’t afford it!
A quick photo of work on the upper blade bed. The amount of work here was greatly underestimated in my planning. It is always difficult to estimate in the first place and then I keep tweaking and tuning as I go along. Why spoil the ship for a ha’porth of tar. I don’t think I will ever be rich but I can aim to be the best.
I will retain radio silence for a little bit longer until I have something more interesting to show.
April 8, 2019
Workshop blog no 22 – No 985
I wish this stainless stuff would cut as easy as the plastic. The plastic is very useful for setting up.
This is quite a heavy cut for my machine and she it is getting quite old. So it always nice to put these jobs behind me.
With the recesses now cut I am still not out of the woods as the drilling for the custom made screws makes me worried about tool breakage – set up is critical. The drilling stage is three different tools.
The tapping is the most dangerous part of this stage and I always take a sigh of relief if I finish without incident. One tap breakage means I am minus a plane – that is a lot of work gone down the toilet! It is not like a production line and every plane is relied on to show a profit.
Every stage of this work has to be a well planned operation to avoid any casualties.
March 18, 2019
Workshop Blog no 17 – No 985
After a lot of deliberation I have made a decision to screw the front bun directly to the sole which allows me to achieve the design aspect I was looking for.
You will notice that the profile has been cut showing recesses for the handle tenons. Still a lot of work here as everything is complex just to achieve a simple line. The handle will be secured by one 6mm screw. All my dimensions are critical so precision is the key word. I am longing to get this bottom finished and get on with the rest of the plane. On all my planes the bottom is the mainstay of my work.
March 12, 2019
Workshop blog no 16 – No 985
Lots of work and very boring but worth showing. Here are the No 985 bottoms after milling from stock, they go on to be precision surface ground on four sides. This is to maintain sectional precision. The rest of the work to follow is on my CNC mill.
All the parts are clamped together after milling the edges so they can be rotated for the opposite side without any disturbance.
I think I am the only person on record to work to this standard. It might be over the top for some but the achievements speak for themselves.
Now over to the CNC for the next processes.
February 23, 2019
Workshop blog 12 – No 985
The last side of the No 985 plane. The fixture screws (custom made of course) are also going to be used in the fabrication of the plane. They will be bedded in a locking compound.
I have flitted backwards and forwards between this system and the in-situ riveting – they both have their plus points. Same quantity of work with either system. But working with this system puts less stress in the construction.
As you can see from these jig screws they have a precision shank for true alignment.
December 14, 2018
New Workshop 5
I have decided to put my blade chamfering onto the No 98 blade, it does set off a low angle plane – ergonomic and aesthetically. It is a lot of work, especially finding 30 deg chamfering tools (a 45 deg just doesn’t look right). The polishing is very time consuming. I have to do the polishing before I send them off to heat treatment, then I only need to buff the edges and surface grind when they come back.
December 7, 2018
New Workshop 4
Just a few more pictures as I get near to finishing these new No 98 planes
