Home-Made Shoulder Plane

[Drawbar]

I have not had the time to spend in my woodworking shop like I would like to, but I still enjoy woodworking. Lately I have been getting more into making the tools to work wood, then actual woodworking. Still, as a machinist, I enjoy merging wood and steel into a useful tool. Here is a polished stainless steel shoulder plane I made. I stuck a quarter in the picture just to show how polished the stainless steel really is :)

The infill wood is Padoak, while the wedge is of Crab Apple, a tree that came off my own land. Its kind of interesting because my house sits on what used to be an apple orchard back in the 1800's. My Grandfather cleared the orchard into potato field in the 1940's, but to this day some of the apple trees remain on the outskirts of the field.

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/sitebuilder/images/Plane-Polished-Small-341x260.jpg

[woodsman1031]

Drawbar,

That plane is awesome!! :o

I like to see homemade hand tools. Have you made any other tools? If so will you post pictures?

I would like to see anything that you have made in your shop. You are a true craftsman.


Tommy

[Drawbar]

Hey thanks...

And yes, I have made more. I am about half-way into my next hand tool, a stainless steel dovetail saw with...well you guessed it...a Crab Apple Handle. I have it only partially completed, as I just have not got back to finishing it yet. Still its destined to be a Presentation Tool, that is, one that works but is meant for display inside a glass cabinet mostly. It will still cut wood for sure, but is more for looks.

It has a long ways to go,like polishing, building a glass case for it, and filing the teeth into the stainless steel. I have polished stainless steel split-nuts made for this saw, but they have not been installed yet.

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/images/Shotened_Saw-small.JPG

[Drawbar]

I am really proud of this hand-tool, though technically its not one I built. What I did was take a friends original 1909 Stanley #140 Hand plane...and pimp the ever living crap out of it.

I added a pile of stuff, like a side fence, a purple Heart wooden axillary fence, remilled the sole, changed the blade to A2 cyrogenically treated steel blade, replaced the steel chipbreaker to brass, milled a dimple on the side of the plane, changed the front knob to cherry and even made a glass case for this guy. The thing is, the plane owner is a woodworker so this plane will see wood and be worked.

In the end it changed the whole look of the plane, and it should give this plane another 100 years of use. Here is a before and after picture. (and yes it really is the same hand plane)

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/sitebuilder/images/Pre_Rebuild-342x259.jpg

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/sitebuilder/images/plane_4-344x260.jpg

[woodsman1031]

Thanks Drawbar,

Those are great! I like hand tools because you can get alot of "Thinking" done while you use them. I have about half and half power/hand tools. I have never mastered my planes though:(.

Do you happen to have any plans or pictures of a wooden spokeshave? I have a metal one that I use quite often, but I have been wanting a wooden one.

Thanks again for posting the pictures!


Tommy

[Drawbar]

Planes are neat...if they are dull and not tuned properly, they make you throw them into a corner...but if they are well tuned, you quickly realize they are a woodworkers dream. They just take the slightest shaving and save lots of sanding, and lots of wasted time doing machine set ups.

Its funny because the older I get, the more I do by hand. I am not a Neanderthal, but I don't think I could make a dovetail joint with a machine, nor would I want to. And the same thing with mortise and tennon joints. I just love to do them by hand. Over time my woodworking projects take longer and longer, but in the end they also come out sweeter. Here is a link to my daughter's cradle. I worked for the railroad for 10 years so I just had to make her a cradle in the shape of a train. I think it came out good.

I'll also post a picture of the cradle "lovetails", or dovetail like jointery, but made into the shape of a heart. When placed in a row they look real cool, and here is the secret to Lovetails...they are SUPER EASY to make and a lot of fun. Heck I made Lovetails long before I could make hand cut dovetails...they are that easy. If you are interested I'll gladly explain the process.

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/Wood-Train-Cradle.html

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/sitebuilder/images/Lovetails-320x426.jpg

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/sitebuilder/images/Locomotive_Cradle-454x336.jpg

[woodsman1031]

Drawbar,

I like the cradle, Please explain the lovetails.

Tommy

[Drawbar]

Lovetails are pretty easy to make. The hardest part is laying them out evenly spaced. For instance you can see in the picture that I goofed.

Since you are limited to ½" wide lovetails in order for the pin to be able to fit on the edge of a 3/4 inch board, that means your heart will be about 3/4 of an inch long top to bottom.

I do the sockets first, or the holes that are cut out for the lovetail pin to fit into. I lay the row of lovetails out on this being very careful to mark all the centerlines, and the centerlines of the lobes so that I can drill them with a ¼ inch drill bit.

To actually make the lovetail socket I use a ¼" forstner bit in a drill press to cut out the lobes of the hearts. Then I thread a scrollsaw blade up through one of the holes and cutout the vee part of the heart. This is all there is too making the sockets. As I said very easy.

Now clamping everything down so nothing moves, place the end of your pin board underneath the board with the sockets cut out and trace around your heart cutouts. Be very careful as your lines will dictate how tight your lovetails end up being.

I like to use a bandsaw or scrollsaw to cut most of the waste away from my lovetail pins. Then I clamp the board down tightly so that the end with the pins is facing upward. Being VERY careful with a chisel I chisel away the wood out around those heart shaped pins.

Now this is the hard part. You have to go right up to the line, but not over it. If you take too much off, it will show in your final lovetail connection. If you don't take enough off, when you put the lovetails together, the very small amount of wood between the lovetail socket and edge of the board (less then ¼ of material) will "blow out". At the same time, as you chisel you have to make sure your pins are straight up and down. If the pins are narrower at the top then the bottoms, it will force a blow out too because of the wedging action. You can undercut the pin a bit so that as you slide the joint together the pin sits flush with the top of the socket in a perfect fit, but underneath there is a gap for glue to sit and to keep blowouts to a minimum.

Another trick I like to do is make the joint a combination rabbett/lovetail joint. By making the pin board longer, and putting a rabbett in the socket boards, you can limit the thickness of the lovetail pins and sockets. I like a ¼" pin height. That just makes for alot less chiseling, and keeps the potential for blowouts to a minimum. To say the socket boards are fragile is an understatement. The pins and sockets have to fit almost perfectly or blowouts will occur.

That really is all there is too it. Just some easy drilling and sawing for the sockets, and some careful chiseling on the pins and it should slide right together.

Its not a very strong joint, though, so be sure that when you pull on a drawer lets say, the pins extend from the left and right so that you are pulling wood on wood, and not pulling the socket off the pin with just glue holding it. In my picture you are pulling from the left side by the handle, while looking straight on from the side of the drawer.

Now once you master this, and its far easier then its sounds, you can ramp everything up by getting into other shapes. For instance I did a gun cabinet where I used pistoltails. What I did was take some clip art of a pistol and resize it to the shape I needed on the computer. I used a 6 quarter pin board for the extra width, and then laid out the pistoltails.

This required some reverse images of the clip art because guns have a left and right so the left side of the cabinet, and the right side of the cabinet, should have the pistols facing in the same direction. (I also pointed the pistoltails towards the wall as that is conducive to gun safety even if these pistols were made out of wood :) )

Cutting out the sockets and pins for these shapes are just the same as with the lovetails. I used a scrollsaw on the sockets and careful chiseling on the pins. Blowout on these is 10 times worse then lovetails because of the multiple corners, but after several frustrating tries I managed to get the pistoltails together.

With these decorative joints, you are only limited to your imagination. You can make anything from bulldozer tails,to shiptails, to lighousetails...any basic shape is possible.

Here is a picture of a half completed pistoltailed hanging wall gun cabinet. In it you can see how I used the rabbett/pistol tail method the make the joint, and the overall shape of the pistols. Adding a finish to this joint makes the end grain of the pin darker and contrasts against the socket so the shape of the pistol is evident.

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/sitebuilder/images/Guntails-Small-345x262.jpg

[woodsman1031]

Drawbar,

I hope to try this some day soon. Gosh you are very very talented :o

[LeatherneckPA]

WAY COOL!!! I am finding myself wanting to use more and more hand tools also.

I have to get my chicken shed built and my garden in the ground first, but after that I hope to have some time to attempt making myself a couple of wooden hand planes.

drawbar, where would one look if I wanted to buy brass plate in thicknesses of say, 1/4" or 3/8"?

I don't have any metal working tools, per se, but I think brass and aluminum are soft emough to work with my current drill press and lathe.

[Drawbar]

Hey guys I appreciate the kind words. I really do. I have languished in this small town for years making some neat things and never get much recognition. Still I look on the bright side, I am 34 and woodworking is one of those things that you can do from childhood and until you are 100, so I have a lot to learn yet.

As for the Brass it is getting harder to find. With scrap prices hitting 400 dollars a ton now, the more expensive allows are even higher. Even in my small town I see load after load of good iron going up the road to the scrap metal dealer and I am sure there is some good brass in there.

My suggestion is to go where it is going. If you talkto a scrap metal dealer, no matter how big or small he is operation wise, all you have to do is explain what you are making, how special it will be, and he will more then likely dip his hand into a bucket and produce some nice iron. Even scrap metal dealers enjoy knowing good metal goes into something better then some brass knob on some subdivision home. (Not that there is anything wrong with a subdivision home). That is my suggestion anyway.

As for your time or lack of time, I understand that scenario all to well. After 15 years without any livestock on our farm, I am getting back into animal husbandry. That is taking up all of my time, along with being a foster parent, father to my biological toddler-aged daughter, a husband and full-time machinist. Now did I mention I have a toddler? I swear its easier to nail jello to a tree then it is raising a toddler :)

[woodsman1031]

Drawbar,

I understand about the children. Mine are 19 and 15 now, before you know it yours will be around that age. They grow up quick!

I just had a huge career change, and I now have much more free time. I have been learing how to make knives out of old saw blades. I have made 2 knives so far, and I hope to learn how to actually forge a blade (or anything else) out of hot metal! Its alot of fun making the knives because you get to use metal as well as wood. I am also learning how to make bows. I have made one bow and I am 3/4 of the way through my 2nd. I failed my first 2 bow attempts. You would not believe how dificult is was for me to actually get a working bow.

I hope to build a shaving horse to assist me in the bow making. If I ever get one made I will post pictures. If you have never seen one GOOGLE them. They are an awsome traditional woodworking tool.

I have had some of these handtools for a long time, but I am just now getting to use them. I have a ton of tools, I just wish I had the skills to use them!

Tommy

[Drawbar]

I kind of did the same thing a few years ago. For 10 years I worked for the railroad. I was a machinist, and made good money, but I was always gone. The longest time was 5½ months away from home. They paid for everything, but enough was enough.

10 Christmases, 10 Thanksgivings, 10 birthdays...all spent on the railroad.

So when my daughter was born I quit and now build high-end yachts. Its different, but I like the 3 day weekends and the fact that I work during the day, sleep at night and don't have to work 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week.

As for your knives, you should check out www.familywoodworking.com. They have several knife makers on there. In fact as I type this there is a thread on knife-making.

One "knife" I always wanted to make was a round pizza cutter. I know its not a true knife, but I would think a mirror-polished stainless steel pizza cutter, or a blackened wrought iron cutter with a nice highly figured handle would look sharp together. I would think that would make for a good seller to people too. Just an idea I thought I would present to you. If you like it, use it.

[woodsman1031]

Drawbar,

I will check out that site.

I sure bet it would take some talent to grind a bevel on a round object like a pizza cutter blade. I will have to try that one day.

Do you have any more pictures of tools?


Tommy

[woodsman1031]

Drawbar,

A few years back I found a ton of plans online for an old world style plane. It was basically a block of wood with a hole and slot w/blade. I also saw a plan for a tool called a widows tooth. I think it is also called a router plane. Do you know where I can find something like that. I have searched and searched tonight, but I cannot find any plans.

Tommy

[Drawbar]

I made some planes like that when I worked at Lie Niesen Toolworks. I don't know of any plans off hand, but I know they are easy to make.In fact my next home-made plane will be one of those.

[woodsman1031]

Cool!

A tutorial would be nice!

Hint, Hint!

Tommy

[Drawbar]

That would be hard to do. You would need some specialized tools. The hardest part would be making a square hole for the cutter. You could either:

Broach it, which requires a big press and a special broach

Mill it. That would require a milling machine, a metal cutting saw and then a welder to put the two machined halfs back together again. I doubt you could use a standard welder either, the spatter from drag rod or wire feed would be a bear to clean up. You would need to tig it, not an easy process of welding to learn.

You could have that broached at a machine shop though I guess and do the rest of it yourself??

[woodsman1031]

The home made one I saw a long time ago had a wooden frame. A set screw held the cutter. It still looks like a real bear to make.

Tommy