From the Workshop

July 6, 2017

Window to my Workshop 115

Filed under: Drawings,No 983 block plane — Tags: dovetailed, Holtey, precision, traditional — admin @ 9:04 am

In conversations over the years I have always been praised for my (primitive) drawings as CAD is the way now. (See the dinsaour card on my Facebook page – thank you David) I have never had to time to learn CAD. The hardest thing was to learn an early Heidenhain control unit for my mill. I am just starting a new batch (yes, I know I am supposed to be retiring ) of these No 983 planes, mainly because I sold the last one which was mine, I am going to use this opportunity to explain some of the workings in more depth. Maybe because I am getting older the work seems to expand but I have never allowed economic restraints to get in the way.

Going back through some of my drawings, which are very untidy, I decided to post some up. Starting with this side layout of the No 983 – warts and all. This is how I work and then I have to convert it into a suitable dialogue for my Heidenhain. Luckily I am the only person who has to understand this.

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June 28, 2017

Photos of A31 Thumb plane

Filed under: A31 Thumb plane — Tags: adjuster, classic hand tools, precision hand plane — admin @ 4:17 pm

The A31 Thumb planes are now finished. The snakewood has come out really well

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June 19, 2017

Window to my workshop 114

Filed under: A31 Thumb plane,Window to my workshop — Tags: adjuster, tooling — admin @ 6:17 pm

I want to show off some of the finer detail in the making of my adjuster components and the tooling used to make them.

These are for my low angle planes:

This is a ball turner I made 30 years ago in the days when I was very enthusiastic for making miniature locos. Over time it has been used a lot in the making of my planes.

A fixture I made which is used for making my adjuster bases.

After the threaded stem and body has been ball turned a flat is needed so that it glides freely over the adjuster base and helps to orientate the blade driver. This is the flat after milling.

This is the blade drivers at different stages of their making. Two of which are still attached to their carriers, and one finished.

The last stage in the making of this blade driver is to turn the spigot on to its body. I had to make a special collet which was a little bit fussy because the spigot has to be formed 8 degrees from the perpendicular. Unlike the Norris counterpart it is all in one piece. Norris never went this far.

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June 9, 2017

Window to my workshop 113

Filed under: A31 Thumb plane,Window to my workshop — Tags: precision hand plane, Snakewood, traditional — admin @ 3:54 pm

A photo of the infills before they go into their bodies. This Snakewood has had six coats of danish oil. As with previous work using Snakewood it hasn’t cracked whilst building up the danish oil. It does look a bit good.

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May 19, 2017

Window to my workshop 112

Filed under: A31 Thumb plane,Window to my workshop — Tags: adjuster, precision hand plane — admin @ 12:22 pm

I have seen my work described in forums as analytical and lacking the warmth of a more rustic finish. However, my personal taste is perfection.

To achieve this perfection on the adjusters for my planes, work is intensive and the inletting for them is also time consuming. The system I use is on the CNC milling machine as the quality of work is essential. It is important to have an uninterrupted feed rate using state of the art tungsten carbide tools. This I think is more desirable than a hole that looks like it has been gnawed by a rodent

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April 24, 2017

Window to my workshop 111

Filed under: A31 Thumb plane,Window to my workshop — Tags: miniatures — admin @ 4:36 pm

That is the adjusters sorted.

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April 20, 2017

Window to my workshop 110

Filed under: A31 Thumb plane,Window to my workshop — Tags: handplanes — admin @ 8:13 am

I have been wondering what to with my stock of snake wood, as you can only use it in small pieces. It seemed fitting to use it on these last A31 Thumb planes. This picture shows the nature of the wood after preparation, it will darken down to a nice brown. It has always been a favourite for knife makers and for pistol handle scales.

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April 13, 2017

Welcome to my workshop 109

Filed under: A31 Thumb plane,Window to my workshop — Tags: Holtey, miniatures — admin @ 9:10 am

It is rare to get the components from both planes together – full size and one third size. The work is still the same. Despite all the years I have been making these planes I forget the amount of work involved.

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April 12, 2017

Window to my workshop 108

Filed under: A31 Thumb plane,Window to my workshop — Tags: miniatures — admin @ 10:10 am

I have had some A31 miniature components stored away for some years, but this did not include the brass sides. With a commitment to build a few full size A31 planes it seemed a good idea at the time, to include these miniatures. If not done now they will never be made. It seems quite remarkable that I have laboured over so many components and acquired so much stock it would be a shame to abandon it. I have nightmares about all those hours never paid for A lot of these components were made before I started blogging. It is a difficult job to convince people that the price does not scale down so I will try and show the story here. More to follow.