# Home-Built Chute Plane, way kool!! ...Wrap- Up



## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Okay… A hand-operated alternative to jointers is getting higher on the list of priorities in the Poopiekat workshop. However, since I have failed so far to master the ability to achieve perfect 90-degree edges on my stock by hand, here's what I decided to do:  This is a plane I built from spare parts, adapted for use in a to-be-built chute board. I have a stockpile of junky transitional planes that will never get refurbished in my lifetime. So I stole a National cast iron bed, a Union frog and other bits and pieces and put them together in a wooden body I made of beech, oak and maple. wow, this reconstituted plane is a real hot-rod! It cuts nicely. Voila! a VERY stable sideways mounted plane! Perfect 90-degree edges are virtually assured this way.  This creation will be used to make vertical edge surfacing on lumber mounted in the chute fixture.  This is a mock-up of the yet-to-be-built chute board, with which I want to incorporate De-sta-co clamps so that all final dimensioning can be achieved in the chute board itself.  I want to be able to not only square my stock for future projects on this rig, but also to dimension and surface all edges. Mostly, I want to further reduce my dependence on table saws and jointer, relying only on bandsaw and handsaws for preliminary sizing, and final dimensioning on this fixture. What do you think of this? Constructive ideas for a final chute board are appreciated, especially if you have already built a unit similar to the mock-up in the above photos. Thanks for looking!


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

I have no constructive criticism, all I have is a large amount of awe and wonderment.

I really need to build something like this if my skills ever get that good.


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Thanks, Dallas! Sometimes, it's the desire to do better work that provides the incentive to make a tool that brings our craft up a notch or two. I was never able to freehand a perfect 90 degree edge on a board in the bench vise, and it was frustrating to me to not be able to cultivate that talent. With this setup, a square edge is expected every time.
I want to put self-stick rulers on the chute board so that I can position and clamp the boards down and plane them to their exact final dimensions.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

my first thought….why didn't i think of that.


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## saddletramp (Mar 6, 2011)

Poopie, it's plane and simple, you're a chuting star! ;^))


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## mochoa (Oct 9, 2009)

Cool idea, cant wait to see the finished product. I'm adding you to my buddy list so Im sure not to miss it.

What about using T tracks with clamps ride in it so you can adjust them to different size stock?


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## Brit (Aug 14, 2010)

Great idea Poopie! Have you thought of incorporating a variable angle ramp to run the plane along? If you hinged it at the far end, you could move a chock along underneath the ramp to vary the angle accoding to the thickness of the stock you need to plane. You will then ensure that you use all of the cutting edge on the blade and gravity will assist your forward movement.

Just a thought.


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Thanks, *Mauricio and Brit*! Yes, it seems whenever I have a moment at work to pull out my sketchpad, ideas seem to appear out of nowhere! Home, at my liesure, not so much. Heh I made graph paper at work using a set-up blank Excel worksheet, and under pressure at work is when I am at my most creative. Thanks, Brit, for the inclined runway idea! You know, this whole concept was fostered by the fact that your average #4 or #5 Stanley plane has but maybe 1/8" to 3/16" of neutral bearing surface beside the cutter to guide a plane on a chute board, so dammit I gave myself a full 1/2" inch of bearing surface by adding a fat side to the wooden plane body. So.. no rollover accidents here! I'm already thinking of ways to make beveled and/or tapered edges with this rig, my head's gonna explode. I've got T-slots and stuff, hmm maybe I'll use up some of that 80/20 aluminum stock, which means breaking up and scavenging some of my other contraptions. Rock on, folks!


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Oh, yeah, one other thing if you are into re-bodying Transitional planes. Instead of all that tedious chopping, just dimension up a piece of nice hardwood (I use beech) to exactly the height of the original wood body, by the width of the blade plus a 1/32". Then, cut the end to match exactly the cut in the original body where the cutter lays on it. It's never exactly 45 degrees, but close. Then size to length as you wish, Then, make your forestock, again imitating the forward angle, usually about 10 degrees-ish, and cut to your preferred length. Then, sandwich the two pieces with similar full-length sides, maintaining the proper gap in the mouth. So much easier than chopping out, using a float rasp or chisels to get it right. Have fun!


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## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

That's a great contraption. Holding the board stationary and moving the plane seems way easier than moving a board through the spinning blades of a machine. I kind of hate my jointer; any twist in the wood and it becomes a nightmare to get the wood flat and true. This set up of yours seems like it would make the process easier.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

I'm watchin' this closely 'cause it is a great posting.
I'm not far enough into this idea, so I don't understand how you keep from planing off your guiding edge.
How much relief do ya have at the end of the chute?
More, more, more info…..PWEEEESE.
Bill


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## Smile_n_Nod (Jan 20, 2011)

Bill White, as long as the plane iron is not as wide as the base of the plane, there will always be a tiny part of the guiding edge that remains uncut. This website explains it better:

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Setting%20Up%20and%20Using%20a%20Shooting%20Board4.html


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## getneds (Mar 18, 2009)

Great idea,

Why not attach a 6" x length of jig to your jig. Fix it so that its 90 degrees to the blade on the blade side. Your flat 6" fence will ride on the face of your work piece. This will give you a portable device that can edge any length. Not as stable but much easier to store in my opinion. I'd also have one with a 36-40": bed for really bad warpage on long lengths.

That is pretty cool, and way to keep it authentic to true woodworkers. Going green on a different level…nice.


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Okay….another preliminary prototype for the chute board has been set up! I decided to go with this commercially available extruded aluminum sometimes known as "80/20" and to get an idea of what's available, do a search within eBay for either "80/20 aluminum" or "T-Slot" and you'll find it. It's very versatile stuff for hobby builders and engineers, kinda like an Erector Set for adults. So here's what I've come up with so far: 
Three runners on which the stock to be planed will sit, a 'fence' to provide a reference point for the final width of the stock, and a backstop, pictured here as a gnarly hunk of 2X2 beech. The sideways plane will glide on a piece of melamine. 
I still have not determined what to do about making the 90-degree fence for squaring ends of lumber, maybe somehow make a pivot in the parallel fence. I want to use this unit for final dimensioning of all lumber components on small projects, i.e. components of 24" or less in length. One more pic: 
Suggestions, please? Hope you like what's been done so far.


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## ssnvet (Jan 10, 2012)

Wow…. Poopiekat… you're the poopiest!


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## Sylvain (Jul 23, 2011)

Excellent idea for the re-use of a transitional plane.

What about moving tote and knob in a more convenient way depending how you want to place yourself with respect to the system?
facing the system, moving the plane from left to right (are you lefty?) , may be with two knobs and no tote (or two totes, one for the left hand and the other for the right one) ?

or pushing the plane, with the tote at 45° (it is now at 90° from vertical) to ensure some pressure toward the board to be planed?


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Thanks again to all who responded!
Yes, Sylvain, I am a lefty! But I followed the orientation of the Stanley genuine chute-board plane just because I'd rather adapt myself to what others may already be using in one form or another. lAnd I think that I will keep my other chute board for squaring stock, and using this one for getting perfect long edges, and final width dimensioning.
There is a psychological benefit at work here too. I sometimes find myself working haphazardly and without care. After all, I can bang out a new part(s) on the saw and jointer if I screw something up, right? Well… I want to discipline myself to do careful, deliberate work only. That is where I want to be, and I want to get there with minimal reliance on power tools. So this is as much a personal journey as it is a new-found (to me) method of work.


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## Smile_n_Nod (Jan 20, 2011)

Sylvain, interesting idea about repositioning the knob and tote. It occurred to me that one could also mount the whole metal assembly of the transitional plane at an angle so the blade is skewed relative to the base of the plane. With a sufficiently wide wooden base on the transitional plane, one could probably skew the blade by 20 or 30 degrees to the cut, making it act like a low-angle shooting plane.


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Wow, Brett! I'll admit to creating only a rudimentary prototype, but yes for sure a skewed blade would definitely be an improvement! Yes, that and a reposition of the knob and tote. My intent is to end up with a setup that will accurately size boards to their width, once they've been roughed in with handsaw or bandsaw. Brit's suggestion of an inclined ramp on which to put the plane may also provide some skew effect at point of contact as well. Hmmm… y'know, Ive already done a bit of sizing with this prototype and, with a calipers I discovered I can accurately width-dimension a board to a '32nd, maybe more if my eyes will let me!


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## Smile_n_Nod (Jan 20, 2011)

Maybe 30-degrees skew angle is too much, but I'll bet 15 or 20 degrees is possible. Of course, if the cutting iron is skewed too much, the plane's wooden base has to be made wider and hence you'd loose some stability when using it as a shooting plane. You'd also have to raise the ramp a little so the cutting iron does not pass over the board being "shot" ("shooted"?). If you use the iron bed from a shorter smoothing plane, you could skew the cutting iron more without excessively widening the wooden base. You could still use a longer wooden base with the shooting plane bed. (Just thinking out loud, here.)

Whether the iron is skewed or not, including a ramp is still a good idea to ensure that more of the width of the blade is being used (to reduce the frequency of resharpening).

I know that transitional planes have their shortcomings, but for this application they open up a whole new set of possibilities.


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

thanks, Brett, for your positive words. I'm trying to scrounge some good 5/16" adjustment knobs, then my fixture will be ready to conquer the world. Ultimately, I want all 6 sides of every piece of lumber to be tooled with steel; and to walk away from inferior sanded surfaces entirely. Who knew it would so much easier than I'd ever expected it to be? *(In the bizzaro world, all of my tool edges will be surfaced by sandpaper, but none of my wooden surfaces! What a world!)*Thanks to everyone who offered their encouragement and support!!


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

*So here it is, folks*! completed, but still susceptible to further tweaking and refinements! Here it is, being used to precisely size a maple drawer side. It's fantastic to be able to use a calipers to measure the width of a board for a change! 
The fence accurately holds the piece in place, and the plane in its bed knows when to stop cutting! 
I might add a micro-metric adjuster to the fence, or adapt some Incra-type of devise to it, but it can be set-up perfectly with a pencil line or scribe mark so that you can stop at your precise width. I haven't tried yet, but I'm sure rough-cut lumber can be edged successfully on this unit, and relying on this fixture to put a perfect 90 degree edge on S2S lumber easily! This was the end I was seeking when I created this; A device that enabled me to accurately get a dead-on 90 degree edge, with the added bonus of achieving accurate width of your stock to .005 of an inch if you desired for precision work on small projects. Hope you like it! *Questions, comments and suggestions are welcome*! Thanks for looking!!


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Just to re-cap, I wanted to find a way to leave my antique jointer in the corner of the shop and cultivate good hand skills when edging lumber. Having difficulty with that, I made a plane that would lie on its side, using components from transitional planes. then, it was simply a matter of creating a bed for the plane, and an indexing fixture so that I could achieve very accurate sizing. Ultimately, this whole thing will morph into a be-all to end-all chute plane capable of all edging, mitering, and final dimensioning of stock, without so much reliance on power tools. *Patent pending ;-)*


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## Brit (Aug 14, 2010)

Very nice! That will come in handy for all kinds of projects.


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

If anyone is inspired to build one of these, please post pics, either in this thread or in your own Project posting!
I'd like to see it!


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## DanKrager (Apr 13, 2012)

I just came to this thread. What is the state of the jig? 
I wanted to find out if you ever figured out how to joint the ends? This looks handy for small pieces. I was also wondering how really short pieces were held.
DanK


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

*Dan Krager:*
Yeah, unfortunately, this jig was constructed mostly with dimensional-width planning in mind. The subframe successfully holds small pieces, down to 6 inches without too much trouble. I still use a dedicated 90 degree board for trimming end grain. I think I could probably do end grain okay with this unit, but I'd be using a low-angle plane which might not be compatible with this rig. Back to the drawing board!!

I'd be willing to guess there are a few people who successfully built an all-in-one, multi-purpose chute board, perhaps a few have been already posted on LJ.


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## Sylvain (Jul 23, 2011)

Have a look here :
http://www.rpwoodwork.com/blog/2014/04/02/shooting-long-grain/

long grain shooting is used by (but not limited to) luthiers.


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## DocBailey (Dec 9, 2011)

Nice, PK

My favorite thing is the juxtapositioning (yeah, I went there) of the rustic plane and the extruded aluminum fixture


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Thanks, *Sylvain and Doc,* for your kind observations.
I was not aware of Tom Fidgen's medicine chest video, I'll go there next.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

Afraid mine isn't quite as fancified









But, the jig is a bit simple, as well









Trans is a Sargent #3416


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Looks good, *Bandit!!*
Since #9s are the soup du jour of the HOYD thread, I'm just unable to participate. I've never seen one, much less ever owned one. After seeing some videos of Japanese miniature chests of drawers, I too wanted to build casework so precise that closing one drawer would piston-open the others….wow. I knew it would take a lot more discipline than I typically work with, to make that happen. So.. having the ability to size boards to finer tolerances was my next quest. 
Looks like your Sargent plane is getting the job done! And I see you can edge-trim AND plane long-grain on your fixture, I have to keep one of each jig to get both jobs done. Good Stuff!


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Thanks for all the cool comments, guys!


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