The person who commissioned this plane is no longer with us and I am not sure who owns this plane now. I did not stamp my name on it as it was not my design. With the wedge on runners it works well and is comfortable to use. Now I have dug the photo out it looks better than I remember and there could be possibilies with this design.
11-sa dovetailed smoothing / finishing plane
I have discovered a few pictures of work in progress, not the complete sequence, so decided to show what I have here.
11-sa smoothing plane components before assembly.
Tapping for adjuster bush after boring.
I have so many nice photos I have decided to put a gallery here for those who are interested. There is no text just pictures. It is a shame that the pictures had to be downsized.
Spiers Style Shoulder plane -4
Apologies for the 4 week gap in postings for those of you who have been following my blog. I have been a bit busy with visitors (though always welcome it does tend to put me behind a bit), and the new project (transitional plane) keeps on snapping at me; it is coming along quite well if a bit piecemeal.
As I mentioned in the last posting that I had mislaid some pictures so here I am going to replace them with some from an A7 Norris type shoulder plane as they are very close in construction.
The front infill of an adjustable shoulder plane is probably the most complex infill of all my planes; especially as they are part of the adjuster design. This infill is integral with the bridge and the clamping screw bush. The clamping screw bush (which is illustrated in a previous posting) is screwed through the bridge. It also has a shoulder which secures the front part of the infill by clamping down on to a counterbore recess in the wood. This arrangement eliminates the need for a rivet here.
All the boring, counterboring and tapping is done in a set sequence whilst everything is in situ. After this process the whole plane is disassembled for further work. This includes the fixing of the infill to the bridge with the brass bush. With the fixing secure and complete the brass bush on the underside of the bridge can then be flushed off. By offering the filling back into position in the plane I can scribe the contour lines from the plane sides for reference for the shaping of the horn detail around the brass bush.
Here the rear end of the shoulder plane is polished before the blade bed is fitted, otherwise it would be inaccessible. This is typical of the importance of getting the sequence right throughout the whole project.
Spiers Style Shoulder plane - 3
I seem to have misplaced a few pictures along the way here but the blog is only intended as a glimpse of what goes on.
At this stage with the plane temporarily assembled I drill through the horn and the bridge with a pilot drill.
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Spiers Style Shoulder plane – 2
Difficult to define a name for this component; It certainly is a bush and it is threaded into the plane’s bridge which will also hold down one end of the front infill through the horn. This component also has an internal thread for the thumb screw that clamps the wedge. The picture shows a temporary screw driver slot being cut which will be removed after assembly.
Spiers Style Shoulder plane – 1
It seems appropriate to start this blog whilst I have a picture of these planes on my website home page here.
I don’t see myself making any more shoulder planes for some time. This style of plane is the only Spiers plane that appeals to me; in fact it is probably my favourite shoulder plane. The construction with its components is very much like the Norris A7 but has the shape I prefer. In the making of the Spiers I have had to make a lot of new tooling – for just six planes. As you follow this blog you will see some of my hidden work.
The following pictures show my familiar dovetailing of the bottoms being milled in pairs back to back so that I can form a compound dovetail. Please note that all the bottom blanks have been cut and precisionally ground all round in one piece (not separated at the mouth) at this stage.
Holtey Transitional Jointer Plane – 2
As there have been comments about this dovetailed jointing system I realised that I should show the pictures of the dovetailing in progress.
There are a few who know the dovetail puzzle of using a cube made up of two contrasting woods showing one dovetail on each side. In the case of a square object you cut the angle of 45 deg for the path of the dovetails (two) so that the joint slides into position with this angle, which gives an even sized dovetail on all four sides.
Once you start altering the dimensions and the number of dovetails then it becomes complicated. If it was not for my CNC it would be a nightmare.
The first cut for the dovetailing is done with a plain cutter so that I can reduce the mileage on the dovetail cutter.
Holtey Transitional Plane
For some time I have had a fascination for transitional planes. Since I have made two planes that are mainly made from metal it seems fitting that I should now make a transitional plane.
The designs that have had the greatest influence on me are John Gage’s planes, but of course I feel the need to upgrade on the metal working side. I like the lightweight and low profiles of these planes and believe they could find favour with quite a few people.
I also have some interest in ECE Primus planes but again I don’t like their metal work. I do, however, like the laminated sole very much. I feel I could improve here by dovetailing the hardwood sole instead of grooving. It will be technically superior as the mechanics of this jointing system is not totally dependent on glue.
There are some problems in the making of this dovetailed system but I have overcome them with a considerable amount of thought and work. I will be very dependent on the use of my CNC machine. It could provide quite a challenge for the home constructor.
As you may have noticed from a previous post I have already jointed and glued the bodies and they have been settling in my workshop for the past three months.
The timber that I am using is Quilted Maple, for its beautiful figure and light weight. I have a choice of two different woods for the sole; one is a Cocobolo rosewood (Dalbergia retusa) for its density and oiliness, or the Guatemalan Rosewood (Dalbergia cubiquitzensis) which is also dense and oily.
Though I have had considerable interest in these planes I am not taking orders until I can price them.
The picture shows the plane body being flushed using a face cutter in the milling machine. This is not just the only practical way of planing this very difficult wood because of the character of its grain, but I am also applying a high degree of precision.
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Conclusion of making the A13 dovetailed infill planes
For a long time I have procrastinated in writing a blog, and in that time I have kept a library of pictures of plane making throughout my range hoping to document it over time.
With the A13 I have tried to give some idea of the sheer effort that goes into the making. Although I have missed out much of the story, I hope it is enough to provide an overall picture. I have shown the mixture of hand and machine work that is necessary to achieve something of this quality. Also, I hope that I have shown that the machine work is not an economy but a necessity.
I decided to make the A13 because I could see potential in this design and its very appealing aesthetics, and it has turned out to be my best seller. From the blog you will see that a lot of detail has been upgraded. Some of the enhanced contours have been copied by others and referred to as an A13 when in actual fact it is a Holtey designed A13 and not a Norris. The original Norris A13 was cast iron which supported a square bun. However the introduction of dovetailing (mainly brass on steel) and riveting through metal spacers are all my ideas.
With the completion of these few planes, I feel that I want to move on and look for a replacement for this infill design.
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