So, first let me say I hope all of you had a safe, healthy, and happy Christmas and offer my best wishes for the new year. I hope Santa was as good to you as he was to me! Of course, it helps to give your wife a list of Lee Valley tools with the item numbers and precise descriptions. In the tool department, I scored a Veritas Low angle smoother plane and a medium shoulder plane, a new Starrett 12 inch combo square, a Crown 8 inch gent's saw, some screwdrivers, and a couple of other things non woodworking oriented. Ahhh, fresh iron to play with........
Now, I realize it's a new year and all, but there is some old business to tend to. I really need to finalize the Used Hand Plane series. The problem is that some of the particulars of tuning a plane can be difficult to describe in writing. So, I will be broadcasting a live, online Used Hand Plane tune up Demo for the the finale. I will briefly recap what I've covered in the previous posts regarding iron bench plane design and selection of a used plane. Then we will cover all the steps to get your used plane shaving smoothly - and, if we're lucky, even wispy. So, please join me Saturday, January 17th (2009) at 12:00 noon in The Woodwhisperer chat room. To view my broadcast, choose the "muddlercam" from the pull down menu under the webcam box:
http://thewoodwhisperer.com/live/
You can also view the broadcast live or the recorded demo after the broadcast at my Ustream site:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/muddlercam
There are chat rooms at both sites, but keep in mind that it's difficult to follow two different chat rooms while trying to broadcast. If you would like to ask questions or make comments during the broadcast, I will be monitoring only the Wood Whisperer chat during that time. After the live demo, I will be posting the link to the recorded version here in the blog along with any other links I mention during the demo. If we have time, I will also cover the stock blade vs. the Hock blade comparison. If my primary goal subjects take too much time, then I will schedule another demo and post the recording link after.
I hope to see you there!
Mikey
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Used Hand Planes part 3.5: your arsenal continued
Bring on the weird looking specialty planes! The majority of these planes are designed to do detail work rather than board surfacing. Because of this, most of them have blades that butt up against or extend slightly past at least one edge of the plane body. this is so you can cut a specific area on the wood right up to an edge without disturbing the opposing edge. With that in mind, many of these planes can sub for each other in some situations. Keep in mind that a plane designed to go with the grain is probably going to have a standard bed angle and the ones designed to trim end grain will have a low bed angle. Most of these planes have obvious names that describe their use, as opposed to "jack" plane or "fore" plane, and so on.
Rabbet/Fillister plane: the use for this plane is to be able to cut a rabbet (or fillister) along the edge of a board. The most common version of this plane is the Stanley #78. The #78 has a blade that extends to it's edge. It has a side fence and a depth fence to allow you to set the rabbet dimensions. There is two blade beds so that you can use it in a bullnose fashion if you like. because this type of plane is designed to go with the grain, it usually has a standard bed angle.
Shoulder plane: A shoulder plane is designed to trim the shoulders of a tenon. For this reason, the bed angles are usually low because you'll be trimming end grain with this. Because shoulder planes tend to be narrow, they are often good for cleaning up dados. This can be one of the most useful planes in your shop.
Bullnose plane: these are very similar to a shoulder plane. However, the blade is bedded close to the front of the plane, allowing you to plane very close to the butt end of a dado or rabbet. Many of these planes allow you to remove the front nose altogether and turn it into a chisel plane to get right up to the butt end.
Router plane: The router plane is a funny looking contraption that is designed to make dados. It has a flat base with two knobs and a blade that extends below the base. The blade can be straight or wedge shaped. These excel at cleaning up dados that are made with a power router or dado blade. Some come with a fence to allow them to be used as a rabbet plane, although I would suspect it would be tough to get the kind of leverage you get with a Stanley #78.
Plow plane: A plow plane is similar to a rabbet plane but will allow you to make grooves parallel to the board edge. they have a set of blades in varying widths that will extend into the board to cut the groove. These also have a side fence and a top fence to set the groove's distance from the edge and the depth of the groove.
Molding planes and beading planes: these planes are similar in that they will cut
various patterns into the edges of the board like a router bit will. Most molding planes are usually made of wood and have a singular profile that they cut. Stanley had a pair of molding planes called #45 and #55. these planes were like a Rabbet plane, but had dozens of blades designed to cut a number of profiles, beads, rabbets, etc. Many woodworkers with a hand plane affection often consider finding a Stanley #55 with the complete blade sets to be a holy grail.
Scraper plane: This is simply a scraper set in a bench plane type frame. The advantage of this is that the scraper angle can be adjusted easily and you have a solid, flat base to scrape with.
Scrub plane: The only one of this list that isn't for specialty trim or f
inish work. This plane is used to take very thick shavings from a board for quick dimensioning of rough stock. You might say "but Mike, isn't that what jack and fore planes are for?" Well, yes, but a scrub plane takes a VERY thick shaving. The blade is at least twice as thick as a standard bench plane blade - so thick, in fact, that it doesn't need a chip breaker for support. These planes are about the same size as a #3. The blade is honed with a very pronounced camber on the end. You would use this plane on large, rough stock to "hog" off a whole lot of wood in a short time.
And there you have it. I'm sure there are some other planes that I didn't cover that you all can come up with, but I think this is a pretty comprehensive list that shows you the variety of hand planes out there.
In the modern powered shop, many of these planes would be unnecessary. a good router and bit set can do most of these jobs in short order. I know, not very galoot-ish but I'm being honest. throw in a decent power planer and jointer and most of the bench planes are out too. Still, you might come across a board that's too wide for your jointer and/or planer. And not all power tool cuts are perfect. So, maybe I can make a few suggestions for your arsenal:
In part 4, I will be cleaning and tuning up a used bench plane. Stay tuned.....
Myk
Rabbet/Fillister plane: the use for this plane is to be able to cut a rabbet (or fillister) along the edge of a board. The most common version of this plane is the Stanley #78. The #78 has a blade that extends to it's edge. It has a side fence and a depth fence to allow you to set the rabbet dimensions. There is two blade beds so that you can use it in a bullnose fashion if you like. because this type of plane is designed to go with the grain, it usually has a standard bed angle.
Shoulder plane: A shoulder plane is designed to trim the shoulders of a tenon. For this reason, the bed angles are usually low because you'll be trimming end grain with this. Because shoulder planes tend to be narrow, they are often good for cleaning up dados. This can be one of the most useful planes in your shop.
Bullnose plane: these are very similar to a shoulder plane. However, the blade is bedded close to the front of the plane, allowing you to plane very close to the butt end of a dado or rabbet. Many of these planes allow you to remove the front nose altogether and turn it into a chisel plane to get right up to the butt end.
Router plane: The router plane is a funny looking contraption that is designed to make dados. It has a flat base with two knobs and a blade that extends below the base. The blade can be straight or wedge shaped. These excel at cleaning up dados that are made with a power router or dado blade. Some come with a fence to allow them to be used as a rabbet plane, although I would suspect it would be tough to get the kind of leverage you get with a Stanley #78.
Plow plane: A plow plane is similar to a rabbet plane but will allow you to make grooves parallel to the board edge. they have a set of blades in varying widths that will extend into the board to cut the groove. These also have a side fence and a top fence to set the groove's distance from the edge and the depth of the groove.
Molding planes and beading planes: these planes are similar in that they will cut
various patterns into the edges of the board like a router bit will. Most molding planes are usually made of wood and have a singular profile that they cut. Stanley had a pair of molding planes called #45 and #55. these planes were like a Rabbet plane, but had dozens of blades designed to cut a number of profiles, beads, rabbets, etc. Many woodworkers with a hand plane affection often consider finding a Stanley #55 with the complete blade sets to be a holy grail.
Scraper plane: This is simply a scraper set in a bench plane type frame. The advantage of this is that the scraper angle can be adjusted easily and you have a solid, flat base to scrape with.
Scrub plane: The only one of this list that isn't for specialty trim or f
inish work. This plane is used to take very thick shavings from a board for quick dimensioning of rough stock. You might say "but Mike, isn't that what jack and fore planes are for?" Well, yes, but a scrub plane takes a VERY thick shaving. The blade is at least twice as thick as a standard bench plane blade - so thick, in fact, that it doesn't need a chip breaker for support. These planes are about the same size as a #3. The blade is honed with a very pronounced camber on the end. You would use this plane on large, rough stock to "hog" off a whole lot of wood in a short time.And there you have it. I'm sure there are some other planes that I didn't cover that you all can come up with, but I think this is a pretty comprehensive list that shows you the variety of hand planes out there.
In the modern powered shop, many of these planes would be unnecessary. a good router and bit set can do most of these jobs in short order. I know, not very galoot-ish but I'm being honest. throw in a decent power planer and jointer and most of the bench planes are out too. Still, you might come across a board that's too wide for your jointer and/or planer. And not all power tool cuts are perfect. So, maybe I can make a few suggestions for your arsenal:
- #3 or #4 Smoothing plane (to help smooth out planer marks and other odd jobs)
- #5 Jack plane and #7 Jointer plane (to complete the board dimensioning trio when your jointer/planer is too small)
- Low Angle Block plane (for triming board edges, etc.)
- Shoulder plane (for trimming tenons, cleaning up rabbets and dados)
In part 4, I will be cleaning and tuning up a used bench plane. Stay tuned.....
Myk
The Northeastern Wood Whisperer's Federation
Hey guys - just thought I'd share this with anyone who missed it on Marc's site:
"Monday the 15th marked a new chapter in Wood Whisperer history. A confluence of the paths of three Wood Whisperer disciples culminated in the first meeting of the Northeast Wood Whisperer’s Federation. This Wood Whisperer offshoot, satellite group, faction, clan, posse, rogue mob - or whatever term you wish to describe it - met Monday in Amsterdam NY to exchange ideas, exchange goods for cash, compare shops, and dine at a local establishment. Fortunately, all three charter NWWF members live close to each other. Dan, a.k.a Mystyk and Lance, a.k.a. Charger1966 both live in the Amsterdam NY area. Mike, a.k.a. muddlermike lives in a northern suburb of Syracuse NY about 2 hours away. It was a heartwarming occasion where good friends who had never met face to face…… finally did.
The picture was taken in Lance’s kitchen. Charter members from left to right: Dan, the renaissance man; Lance, the frugally ingenious; Mike, the fat guy with the little head."
* I just have to say, there's nothing like meeting an old friend for the first time. Thanks Dan and Lance for such a great day. If you're ever in Amsterdam NY, the food at the Windmill Restaurant is excellent!
Muddy
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