Wooden Plane Thoughts

Not sure if this is what you are looking for but I blogged on a while ago:

http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/GaryK/blog/3460

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Nice info Gary. Funny thing is that I favorited it a while back. Forgot about it.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Hi Jeff.

Ron Hock has a youtube of how to make a Krenov-like plane here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLNRkyCTlT4

Some instructions for more or less the same plane are here:
http://www.crfinefurniture.com/1pages/sitelinks/howplane.html

Hock also sells plans for $3.50 for planes to be built to use the iron assemblies he sells.
http://hocktools.com/products.htm

-- johnjoiner

Jeff,

I’m not sure if these were on the blog you mentioned:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/woodworking/1273456.html

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Build/BldHndPln

Cheers,
Kerry

-- Alberta, Canada

Thanks all. Feel free to keep them coming. I’m going to go forward with the Kerry’s links. John’s links were nice as well. I had seen them a while back. Thanks.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Check out my plane making projects on my home page. If you need help I can talk to you about it. Check out how I did mine and lets talk. Dave

-- Davesfunwoodworking

Thanks Dave, way ahead of you. I’ve had a few of your projects bookmarked for a while now. Very well done. If I remember right, I think I checked out a router retrofit you did as well.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

I was catching up on some of the content I had not yet read and came across this post. Some good links here. Also, thought I would add my Plane reference blog to the list.

http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/WayneC/blog/series/43

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

Thanks Wayne, I’ve spent some time checking out your links and there were a lot of new ones for me. I used the Popular Mechanics plan Kerry posted for a plane I posted last month. It was very straight forward and very well illustrated. I liked how they took one design (Krenov-like) and plan, and showed 3 different sets of measurements for different type planes. I been going block size thus far, but will try a big one when I get the hang of it. Still can’t say I’ve made one that performs as well as a moderate metal version. I’ve had a lot of time over the last few months using a couple post-war Stanley Bailey’s and still go to them right now. I would love to be able to produce a wooden plane of like or better quality. I realize a few errors I’ve made and want to work them out before coming to conclusions. From all I read, the wood ones at least match metal ones in many shops, just haven’t gotten there yet.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Your welcome. I’m wondering if the larger ones would be easier to get working well. I’m also wondering if I can get a wood plane to work better than metal planes. I have a Bedrock #5 with a hock blade and chipbreaker that performs really well (better than my LN #4). I would be surprised if I can make a wooden one that will work better.

I’ve picked up a hock kit. Thought I would start there and then move to my own plans. I also have a couple of hock plane iron assemblies set a side and some good wood. Hopefully, I will have time to get it together before long. I have been so busy with work.

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

I’ve made more than a few wooden planes…. sometimes just
specialized circular planes for a single project.

You can get all into it with plane “floats” and files, etc… or
use my cheater method and make a working plane in a couple
of hours.

How to cheat:

- Saw your plane sides out of one stable board…or slice
up one 8/4 board into 3 unequal parts for the sides and
infill.

- mark out the plane bed (usually 45 degrees) and throat
(30 degrees is good). if you are going to us a harder
wood for a sole you’ve introduces another step and
you need to excavate a mouth out of the sole piece.

- nail, tape or screw the sides to one another and drill
a 1/4” hole through them for a 1/4” steel rod. The rod
is the secret of the cheater method. By using the rod
you avoid all the purist fuss of carving out angled slots
for your wegde to fit in.

- glue it up. I recommend alignment dowels for
larger planes because the parts will slip around when
you glue and clamp them.

- carve your wedge, sharpen your iron, true the sole
on a “sanding board” and go to work.

-- http://amherstcabinets.com - also a marketing consultant with expertise in direct response marketing for woodworking and online business building