Hey, one more plane

very pretty piece ! hope you enjoyed the time you spent !!

-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com

Very nice. I want to rework a transitional jack plane (similar to this one) to use as a Scrub plane.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

WOW! Absolutely beautiful. Nice work!

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

Nice peice, I like the combination of woods that you use. Great job…

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

Very nice work. Nice way to bring the dead back to life. Great job!

-- Davesfunwoodworking

good job, Daren, I’ll bet it does a good job. I like the walnut side panels. You know we might be onto something, laminateing these plane bases. Maybe more stable.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

Very nice save. I like the idea of keeping these old hand tools in use. Makes you think about who used it before you.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

I’ve often come across wooden and transitional planes with wide open mouths (from wear) and have considered reworking them like this or with a patch in the mouth. In respect to replacing the whole block though – it seems as though I read some where that the reason beech was the preferred wood of most old planes was the tight grain, and lack of wood movement. Thus, you don’t usually find old planes made of oak, walnut, cherry, etc.

Has anyone who has refurbished a plane like this beautiful example by Darren experienced a problem later, or seasonally, with wood movement and/or the sole remaining flat?

Just curious . . . .

-- Paul, Texas

That’s a neat idea. Great reclaim!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Michael Dunbar’s book Restoring, Tuning and Using Classic woodworking tools has a chapter on restoring wood bench planes as well as transitional planes….

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Wayne -

I have that book. I’ll re-check it and see if that’s where I got my thought.

-- Paul, Texas

Paul, my wood is quarter sawn (to start, some of the small pieces are flat sawn off the bigger 1/4 sawn ones) and kiln dried…I cannot see it moving too much? The lamination also has to help. I guess we will see in a few years. But once the wood is kiln dried and reaches equilibrium moisture content (EMC) in my shop is it stable from my knowledge of lumber. Not that it makes me an expert…but I do have a sawmill and my own kiln, I am in the lumber business.

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

Daren -

You certainly have more experience and expertise than I have. I just threw that vague “knowledge” out there to see if a resulting conversation would clarify or refute it. Chalk one up for “refuted.”

-- Paul, Texas

Paul, I was not trying to sound like a know it all. I just mentioned the step I took to try to avoid future failure. Like I said though, time will be the ultimate test.

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/