From the Workshop

April 17, 2020

No 10 Smoother plane revisited

Filed under: No 10 smoother/mitre — Tags: , , , — admin @ 11:47 am

No 10 small smoother plane. Metal component parts

IMG_0445

peining the dovetails showing the forming tools

IMG_0317

Showing various infills

IMG_0677

The finished No 10 smoother plane

CI3A1002

No 10 smoothing plane revisited

No 10 smoothing plane. I have chosen this plane for its simplicity as an insight for the amount of work and effort that goes into this plane. I will tell its story over the next few postings.

CI3A0996

Starting with the blade drilling and facet forming

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Integral rivets being milled in situ on a bar strip to be cut up into individual sneck pieces

– Version 2

Sneck pieces shown after being cut into individual pieces

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

September 20, 2019

Workshop blog no 33

Looks like I have started a new family here, there are all limited editions only

CI3A6200

May 8, 2019

Workshop blog no 23 – No 985

Looking back on the last posting and it has been a whole month – I have been away for a while and life just seems to get in the way of work sometimes. Was having a look at what retirement could be like, but I can’t afford it!

A quick photo of work on the upper blade bed. The amount of work here was greatly underestimated in my planning. It is always difficult to estimate in the first place and then I keep tweaking and tuning as I go along. Why spoil the ship for a ha’porth of tar. I don’t think I will ever be rich but I can aim to be the best.

I will retain radio silence for a little bit longer until I have something more interesting to show.

CI3A5378

April 8, 2019

Workshop blog no 22 – No 985

I wish this stainless stuff would cut as easy as the plastic. The plastic is very useful for setting up.

This is quite a heavy cut for my machine and she it is getting quite old. So it always nice to put these jobs behind me.

CI3A5367

With the recesses now cut I am still not out of the woods as the drilling for the custom made screws makes me worried about tool breakage – set up is critical. The drilling stage is three different tools.

CI3A5374

The tapping is the most dangerous part of this stage and I always take a sigh of relief if I finish without incident. One tap breakage means I am minus a plane – that is a lot of work gone down the toilet! It is not like a production line and every plane is relied on to show a profit.

CI3A5376

Every stage of this work has to be a well planned operation to avoid any casualties.

March 18, 2019

Workshop Blog no 17 – No 985

Filed under: No 985,Window to my workshop — Tags: , , , — admin @ 2:57 pm

After a lot of deliberation I have made a decision to screw the front bun directly to the sole which allows me to achieve the design aspect I was looking for.

55516272_10205956891718225_713172228509794304_n

54401918_10205956891278214_436265778447122432_n

53838532_10205956891958231_2837485567329959936_n

You will notice that the profile has been cut showing recesses for the handle tenons. Still a lot of work here as everything is complex just to achieve a simple line. The handle will be secured by one 6mm screw. All my dimensions are critical so precision is the key word. I am longing to get this bottom finished and get on with the rest of the plane. On all my planes the bottom is the mainstay of my work.

54522537_10205956892238238_8477769734358564864_n

March 12, 2019

Workshop blog no 16 – No 985

Lots of work and very boring but worth showing. Here are the No 985 bottoms after milling from stock, they go on to be precision surface ground on four sides. This is to maintain sectional precision. The rest of the work to follow is on my CNC mill.

CI3A5310

All the parts are clamped together after milling the edges so they can be rotated for the opposite side without any disturbance.

I think I am the only person on record to work to this standard. It might be over the top for some but the achievements speak for themselves.

CI3A5314

CI3A5317
Now over to the CNC for the next processes.

February 23, 2019

Workshop blog 12 – No 985

The last side of the No 985 plane. The fixture screws (custom made of course) are also going to be used in the fabrication of the plane. They will be bedded in a locking compound.

I have flitted backwards and forwards between this system and the in-situ riveting – they both have their plus points. Same quantity of work with either system. But working with this system puts less stress in the construction.

As you can see from these jig screws they have a precision shank for true alignment.

CI3A5171

December 14, 2018

New Workshop 5

Filed under: No 98 plane,Window to my workshop — Tags: , , , — admin @ 11:27 am

I have decided to put my blade chamfering onto the No 98 blade, it does set off a low angle plane – ergonomic and aesthetically. It is a lot of work, especially finding 30 deg chamfering tools (a 45 deg just doesn’t look right). The polishing is very time consuming. I have to do the polishing before I send them off to heat treatment, then I only need to buff the edges and surface grind when they come back.

No 98 blade chamfer

December 7, 2018

New Workshop 4

Just a few more pictures as I get near to finishing these new No 98 planes

CI3A4909

CI3A4928

CI3A4925

Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress