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.
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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.
A13 dovetailed infill plane continued (8)
Shaping front bun on the A13 smoothing plane
Corner rounding after shaping the bun.
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A13 dovetailed infill plane continued (7)
Facing up the bed area.
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A13 dovetailed infill plane continued (6)
Parting off and trimming spacers which I use on all my infill planes for better dimensional stability.
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A13 dovetailed infill plane continued (5)
It is difficult to believe that these two pictures of the boxwood are the same handle. It is amazing what you can do with light.
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A13 dovetailed infill plane continued (4)
Some of the preparation work and then putting the metal parts together.
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One of those tedious jobs – polishing the chamfers. As you can see these need constant blueing to maintain the true flat angle all the way round.
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A13 dovetailed infill plane continued (3)
Here I describe some of the work to the bottoms of the planes. This is an area where most of the work of the plane is. It is probably light years ahead of any other infill plane.
Rebate to dovetail
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Making of A13 part two
Much of the infill work is always trued up flat and square before any of the work commences, as in most woodworking projects.
In this picture are the rear infill sides showing the frog area routered away and this gives me a datum stop which helps me work out the drilling positions and its position in the plane. This will also be the same with the handle.
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Making of A13
Not quite all of the sequential process, but most of it – not necessarily in order
A13 drilling lever cap for pivot screw
All my drilling and tappings are done in the milling machine so that I can achieve the best positioning and concentricity.
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