The A31 Thumb planes are now finished. The snakewood has come out really well
June 28, 2017
June 19, 2017
Window to my workshop 114
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.
June 9, 2017
Window to my workshop 113
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.
May 19, 2017
Window to my workshop 112
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 
April 24, 2017
April 20, 2017
Window to my workshop 110
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.
April 13, 2017
Welcome to my workshop 109
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.
April 12, 2017
Window to my workshop 108
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.
April 5, 2017
Window to my workshop 107
Edge polishing to the sides is usually done with all the sides in a block to keep all the edges true and square.
All my hand work it has to be as good as the machine work, at the risk of looking clinical with no soul
March 31, 2017
Window to my workshop 106
During the course of the completion of these two A31 planes – full size and 1/3rd size – I will be posting up comparison photos over the next two months.
It is always amazing to see how small the 1/3rd size plane is.
