From the Workshop

June 29, 2010

Window to my workshop 41

As I have mentioned before most of my entries will be piece meal and out of sequence.  On this occasion I have managed to take some pictures whilst making chip breakers.  Apologies for missing the bending and forming of the front edge of the chip breaker but I forgot to take the pictures.

 These chip breakers are standard on all my smoothing planes with 2 ¼” blades.  They are made from gauge plate.

Milling the faceted end of the chip breaker with a rough cutter.

 

After cutting out the facet I go round with a finishing cutter for finishing and size

 

 I have already formed the basic shape, and this is applying the rounding to the front edge.

  

After the rounding the hand polishing is done to the top side and the round. 

 

Bevelling the facet.  It is worth noting that it is important to get the sequence right to maintain that sharp, crisp finish.  After this work is done the edges will be ground and polished all round cosmetics.

 

The finished chip breaker.   Sometimes I might polish the bevel faces but of late I have preferred to leave a good milling texture.  This gives a much sharper appearance.

April 3, 2010

Window to my Workshop 40

Just a couple of pictures that got left off Post no 38 on the A6

A6 dovetailed smoothing plane with brass sides 15

 

A6 dovetailed smoothing plane with brass sides 16

 

A6 dovetailed smoothing plane with brass sides 17

March 6, 2010

A13 Boxwood pictures

Just a few quick pictures of this Boxwood A13 I have just finished

A13 boxwood smoother plane 1

 

A13 boxwood smoother plane 2

 

A13 boxwood smoother plane 3

February 7, 2010

Window to my workshop – 38

A6 Smoothing Plane

At last I have managed to find a little bit more time  for another entry in my blog.  For this entry I have decided use some old pictures of an A6 in the making as I have come across some pictures which could be useful.  As usual there are a lot of gaps in the picture diary and so I will start with the project already under way.  I feel sure that it will still provide some interest.

This A6 is one of the least copied planes around but is one of my personal favourites.  This is the real smoother as this plane is never much more than 7-7 .5 inches in length as its only job was for surface finishing.  This pattern is one of the most traditional, a fully handled infill plane.

I have been congratulated by many for introducing this informative blog as it shows how different my work is from other plane makers either historic or contemporary.  There are good plane makers but I feel that my methods set me apart. 

 “The nicest things about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from “ Andres S Tannenbaum.

 

 A6 dovetailed smoothing plane with brass sides 1

 After all the profiling and dovetailing has been completed (this is the same process as with my other infill planes and has been documented elsewhere in these blogs), I can concentrate on the mouth and the frog.  As you will see from the picture the mouth is slotted and the holes drilled in preparation for the frog riveting.

  (more…)

January 3, 2010

Window to my workshop – 37

74 T21 Transitional dovetailed jointer

 95 T21 Transitional dovetailed jointer

I thought I would put this picture up for the benefit of the customer who is buying it. I plane all round for truing up.  As you will notice I have chosen to do all my planing on the milling machine as it will plane true without any tearing when it comes to the more difficult grains.  I achieve more accuracy this way than I would do on an ordinary planer/thicknesser.

  (more…)

January 1, 2010

Window to my workshop – 36

T21 Transitional Dovetailed Jointer Plane

 63 T21 Transitional dovetailed jointer

 

64 T21 Transitional dovetailed jointer

Boring and counter boring the hole in the bun blank for the fixing stud.

  (more…)

Window to my workshop 35

T21 Transitional Plane

I will be working to finish the blog on the T21 today, so I thought I would leave you with these pictures in the meantime.

60 T21 transitional dovetailed jointer

 

61 T21 transitional dovetailed jointer

 

62 T21 transitional dovetailed jointer

December 27, 2009

Window to my workshop -34

 T21 Transitional Plane – Bushing

 

There are 2 single bushes and 1 pair in this plane.  The bun and the rear handle have one each and a small pair for the adjuster.  Following are a few illustrations to give you an idea of how they are made – once fitted they are invisible though vital.

 53 T21 transitional dovetailed jointer bush

The purpose of these bushes is that they spread the load into a greater contact area.  I use a coarse thread on these which is cut on to both the male metal portion and the female wooden counterpart. These bushes are permanently cemented into position with an epoxy resin.   

 

51 T21 transitional dovetailed jointer bush

It is possible to break the bond on the metal parts.  When the bushes are cemented in position they are less likely to rotate due to the mechanical properties of the flats you will have noticed in the photographs (in the above photo I am about to cut the flats on to the stud for the front bun, not one of the bushes – but the principle is the same).   However, as during the fixing process the epoxy resin is forced in the fibrous texture of the wood providing an additional mechanical key these will not break down.

(more…)

December 26, 2009

Window to my workshop – 33

T21 adjuster

 

The adjuster for this plane is of the well known Norris type. As with all my Norris style adjusters they have some revisions.

 

 20 T21 transitional jointer plane adjuster

 

21 T21 transitional jointer plane adjuster

In these pictures you can see two small holes which are used to secure the adjuster body.  One of the larger holes is for the rotating nut and the other is an extra hole to assist in work holding when machining (as in the second picture).

  (more…)

Window to my workshop – 32

Gunmetal fittings for T21

 

 7 T21 Transitional dovetailed jointer plane

This is parting off my spider hub (for want of a better name) from a prepared bar.

 

8 T21 Transitional dovetailed jointer plane

 Once these are parted off they need to be trued up to the precise length.

  (more…)

Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress