I thought I would put this picture up for the benefit of the customer who is buying it. I plane all round for truing up.  As you will notice I have chosen to do all my planing on the milling machine as it will plane true without any tearing when it comes to the more difficult grains.  I achieve more accuracy this way than I would do on an ordinary planer/thicknesser.

Just a nice picture of the throat area.

Recessing for the rear handle using the CNC mill.

With the base of the handle also CNC’d fits first time, every time.  This handle is made removable.

The counterbore in the top of the handle.

Using solid carbide drill makes a good centre and starting drill for the main bore.

With an extra long drill I am able to drill through the entire depth of the handle with a surprising degree of accuracy.

Using the Holtey machine to shape the handles.

Convexing the top of the brass handle retaining nut.

Drilling the blind hole ready for tapping of the handle retaining nut.  Notice the small countersink which will assist in work holding further ahead.

Tapping the ¼” Whitworth thread for the stainless steel handle fixing nut.

The drive slot being cut for the above nut.

Here I am waisting the centre of the retaining nut.

 Handle fixing showing the 1/4″ stainless steel rods.

 Tweaking out the mouth using a file with safe sides.

Various views of the same Boxwood plane.  I will post the quilted maple ones on the website shortly.

T21 Transitional Dovetailed Jointer Plane

Boring and counter boring the hole in the bun blank for the fixing stud.

Cutting a coarse thread for the stud.

Once the blanks have been cut, counter bored and tapped they are then ready for turning.  This picture shows part of the turning as the first part (no picture) was turned on a mandrill and once I have a circle I can turn it round and secure it in a three jaw chuck for the other radius.  Sadly I still don’t have a wood turning lathe, which is something I must be looking into.

Making patterns for the bun profile.  Although there is a science in proportions and curves which I know nothing about, I am happy to manage on my instinct.  I think I am a good guesser.

Once I am satisfied with the profile I can check the contours with the bun whilst being turned.  Notice that the bun is being turned on a mandrill which fits the bun’s internal thread.

 Experimenting with some bun forms.  I elected to use the right hand one.  I wanted to keep the profile low because with wooden planes you are already starting in an elevated position.

This is the picture that some of you have been waiting for.

It is the removal of the material from the plane’s throat.  This is only the first stage and following procedures seem to have been mislaid so I will have to move on.

Whilst I am in this set up I need to fit my bed pads.  It had been my intention to keep the blade bedded entirely on wood.  However, as this particular wood is quite soft I thought two brass pads would help prevent any wear or deformation at this critical point. 

The bed pads mentioned above.

Drilling for the spiders for the bespoke brass lever cap fittings.   Normally an indexing table would have been appropriate, but the CNC is nicer and quicker. (I have used a reject No 982 bottom as a clamping plate – very useful.)

A quick visual revision of the work in the throat area.

The plane’s sole is usually skimmed a number of times throughout the making process as whilst removing material and working there will be fresh settlement.

 With most of the work done in the plane’s throat then the mouth can be routed out.

T21 adjuster

The adjuster for this plane is of the well known Norris type. As with all my Norris style adjusters they have some revisions.

In these pictures you can see two small holes which are used to secure the adjuster body.  One of the larger holes is for the rotating nut and the other is an extra hole to assist in work holding when machining (as in the second picture).

Work holding jig with base plates worked in different stages, and clamping screws.

As you can see here are the finished base plates.  They are precisionally milled, drilled and surface ground.

A hexagon being formed on the end of the adjuster stem which will fit into the broached hexagon hole through the gun metal knob.

Completed hexagon.  Doing this process on the CNC is unbelievably fast, as in the old days I used to use an indexing head and crank each cut by hand.

The adjuster stems showing the hexagon fit to the gun metal knob. 

The knurling operation for the gun metal adjuster knobs.  This pre-prepared bar will cut 11 knobs.

This could have been my entry for the Turner Prize but got accidentally thrown away when Claire was clearing up.

If your knurling is right your swarf will look like this.

With the knurling complete I can now cut the rings and separate the knobs in preparation for parting.

Back to the adjuster stems.  Here showing the 5/16” 32 tpi ME right hand thread being cut with the Coventry die head.

As much as nobody likes a sloppy thread the nut must still spin freely as shown here.

After the larger thread is cut I then turn down the smaller portion of the spindle, turning away the unwanted threads from the previous threading operation.

This is the 7/32” 40 tpi ME left hand thread.  This is the original Norris twin thread concept.  The disadvantage is that the travel was a little on the fast side, but I have decided to return back to this as there are more benefits to be gained.

Adjuster components but with the stem and the gunmetal knobs to be assembled prior to taper turning.

The stem is secured easily in a collet which would not be possible after the taper has been turned.

Now with the stem secured I am able to apply some peining around the hexagon end of the stem to provide retention for the knob.

Turning the taper portion of the adjuster stem.  In the past I have always avoided using a turning centre at the top end of the adjuster as shown in this picture.  I have now decided that I shall turn all my adjuster stems in this way, so there will be a centre hole in all the adjuster knobs.

Going into the final stages of the adjuster assembly.  The spigot on the rotating nut is swaged over a washered seating to form a retainer. 

After much cleaning and fitting of the threads these adjusters are assembled for the last time.  As with everything I make, all the components including the washer are made in house.

I just had to have this picture.