Project Information
I have wanted to make my own wood plane for a while now and this past week I finally got a chance to do it. I have a lot of bench and block planes so I decided to make a specialty plane that would do something different then my other planes.
I decided to make a chamfer plane. I didn't follow any plans for this I just made things up as I went along. I started by ripping a couple of strips of Maple at a 45 degree angle. I then glued the two strips of Maple to form the bottom of the plane. The top is made out of Mahogany and I forget the light colored wood that makes up the sides but its an exotic lumber. I cut the block of Mahogany at a 45 degree angle to form the plane bed and then the sides were glued on. After the body was glued up I used my dado blade to cut out a groove on the bottom to fit the chamfer guide. I glued it all up and cut out a wedge from a piece of scrap Walnut.
The body was shaped by hand with planes, rasp and sand paper. The front design just kind of happened so I went with it.
I made some mistakes and learned some things about wood planes during the construction of this plane. The first big problem I ran into was that I had not left enough room for shavings to escape. I had to go in with a chisel and carve out a notch for the shavings. Once the notch was cut the plane worked a lot better.
I finished the plane with a couple coats of shellac.
It took me a little time to get the hang of using this plane. To start the chamfer I have the iron set so its just barley making a cut. Once the chamfer is even across the edge the iron will no longer cut. To adjust the depth I just tap the iron with my hammer.
I was very pleased to see the finished results of the cut. I was able to cut a perfect chamfer, something that I couldn't quite do when using a regular plane freehand.
This was a LOT of fun. I really enjoyed the whole process of making this and I learned a lot. I am looking forward to making many more wood planes.
I decided to make a chamfer plane. I didn't follow any plans for this I just made things up as I went along. I started by ripping a couple of strips of Maple at a 45 degree angle. I then glued the two strips of Maple to form the bottom of the plane. The top is made out of Mahogany and I forget the light colored wood that makes up the sides but its an exotic lumber. I cut the block of Mahogany at a 45 degree angle to form the plane bed and then the sides were glued on. After the body was glued up I used my dado blade to cut out a groove on the bottom to fit the chamfer guide. I glued it all up and cut out a wedge from a piece of scrap Walnut.
The body was shaped by hand with planes, rasp and sand paper. The front design just kind of happened so I went with it.
I made some mistakes and learned some things about wood planes during the construction of this plane. The first big problem I ran into was that I had not left enough room for shavings to escape. I had to go in with a chisel and carve out a notch for the shavings. Once the notch was cut the plane worked a lot better.
I finished the plane with a couple coats of shellac.
It took me a little time to get the hang of using this plane. To start the chamfer I have the iron set so its just barley making a cut. Once the chamfer is even across the edge the iron will no longer cut. To adjust the depth I just tap the iron with my hammer.
I was very pleased to see the finished results of the cut. I was able to cut a perfect chamfer, something that I couldn't quite do when using a regular plane freehand.
This was a LOT of fun. I really enjoyed the whole process of making this and I learned a lot. I am looking forward to making many more wood planes.