Todd Ferrante
06-11-2009, 9:24 PM
I recently picked up my first wooden plane (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=113587). When I got it I didn't really know how to adjust it. Web research turned up some nifty plane hammers, some for purchase and others home made. Some of the nicest I found were the ones made by Chester Toolworks (http://www.chestertoolworks.com/planehammers.htm). I made a hammer of my own roughly patterned after their design.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3598/3618447706_ca5ab29df5_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3647/3618447740_c331472201_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3616/3617626381_1143d64614.jpg?v=0
The materials had all been laying around my shop for awhile. I've had the spare hammer handle for years, and the brass scrap was just waiting for a nifty project. The wood is cut from a carved sailfish I picked up from an antique shop for $5 because it looked to be carved from pre-embargo Rosewood. The head was turned on my Taig mini lathe both with metal cutting tools and also hand turning tools. The wood is attached to the brass with a 1" piece of steel bolt epoxied in tapped holes in both pieces. The handle hole was milled on the milling machine. The handle is slotted and pounded with a wedge of the same wood as the hammer face. Both faces are crowned and the corners rounded to prevent hammer marks on the plane parts. Machine marks were polished out with fine emory cloth, scotch brite and finally buffed with a cloth wheel and polishing compound. A coat of paste wax finished it off. It's so shiny I'm going to hate hitting things with it.
Todd F.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3598/3618447706_ca5ab29df5_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3647/3618447740_c331472201_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3616/3617626381_1143d64614.jpg?v=0
The materials had all been laying around my shop for awhile. I've had the spare hammer handle for years, and the brass scrap was just waiting for a nifty project. The wood is cut from a carved sailfish I picked up from an antique shop for $5 because it looked to be carved from pre-embargo Rosewood. The head was turned on my Taig mini lathe both with metal cutting tools and also hand turning tools. The wood is attached to the brass with a 1" piece of steel bolt epoxied in tapped holes in both pieces. The handle hole was milled on the milling machine. The handle is slotted and pounded with a wedge of the same wood as the hammer face. Both faces are crowned and the corners rounded to prevent hammer marks on the plane parts. Machine marks were polished out with fine emory cloth, scotch brite and finally buffed with a cloth wheel and polishing compound. A coat of paste wax finished it off. It's so shiny I'm going to hate hitting things with it.
Todd F.