First attempt at a Krenov style plane

[Tristan Williams]

I got my hands on a copy of David Finck's book over a year ago, and I finally followed through on my continual threats to build a plane!

I decided to make this first one just a cheap experiment to practice and see if I liked wood planes at all, so I did a few things different. I used a new Stanley 45mm blade with no cap iron, laminated the body from 15mm beech "hobby wood", and used brass rod for the pin. Its about 20cm long. Everything was bought from a big box type store, and overall cost very little. In addition I built it with an absolute bare minimum of tools - saw, chisels, drill, sandpaper to true the surfaces, and rasps to shape it.

It was a fun experiment, and very quick. I'll probably follow it up in the future with a similarly built jointer, hopefully with a Hock iron and cap!

So, how does it perform? Amazingly well! I'm very pleasantly surprised - I haven't finished tuning it yet, but it already cuts nicer than my metal #5, and after some practice I really like the method of adjustment. I made a big pile of shavings this afternoon with it, and I think its a keeper! Its great at taking heavy shavings, but the blade chatters a bit too much for fine work. It does a pretty good job, but so far I've only tested with a semi-sharp blade (shaves hairs with force) and the wedge needs more tuning - its a bit thick, so the front of the blade doesn't get as much support as I'd like. I would like to find or make a thicker blade for it, too.

Give it a go, fence-sitters! You'd be surprised just how easy it is to make a very handy plane :)

I've attached a picture - its only roughly shaped so far, but now that I've got a feel for how it planes I think I'll round it off some more and make it a bit prettier. It works great, push or pull, and working with a tool you made yourself is a great feeling :D

[Brian Kent]

Congratulations for jumping in to plane making. Keep tuning and you should end up with a plane without chatter.

[David Gendron]

Good for you! As for plane blades, I realy like the Hock blade/chipbracker combination. you can buy them in 1 1/2, 1 3/4 and 2 inch wide as well as a curved one for scrub or convex sole plane!

[Tristan Williams]

After some more tuning, and some more practice adjusting, the plane is now making lovely "cottony" shavings :D It gives a great finish on the only wood I had to hand (some pine, some heat treated alder and some heat treated aspen IIRC). Definitely a keeper, with the mental note: "buy one of those Hock or Finck blades when you have a spare $50 laying around".

I guess I had better stock up on planemaking materials, I've got a whole kit to make now :D

[Brian Kent]

That's fantastic news. Congratulations, Tristan.

[David Gendron]

Same here, I would like to put my hands on Quarter sawn White Oak.In an ideal world, it would grow in the Yukon....

[Chris Friesen]

As an alternative to Hock blades, you might try the spare blades from the Taiwanese-style planes (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=46322&cat=1,41182,41187&ap=1) at Lee Valley. They're high speed steel, 3mm thick.

Apparently they hold an edge for a long time. Eventually I'll get one and build a plane.

At $13 for the largest blade, the price is right.

[Mike Henderson]

Another alternative for a blade is an old tapered blade with a chipbreaker. You can find them on eBay and they usually don't cost too much because you can't use them in modern planes - only in wooden planes like the one you made.

The blades are usually thick which reduces chatter.

You can see an example on eBay item 270468908971.

Mike

[Tristan Williams]

Thanks for the tips guys - I just realized I have one of those old tapered irons with chipbreakers stashed away somewhere, its a real gem of a blade too. Swedish maker, very highly regarded. Guess I'll build a jointer around that next, while I wait for some of those Taiwanese blades to arrive :D

I just mounted up my front vise (one where you make your own jaws) on my new makeshift bench, so as a test I left the jaws 5mm proud of the benchtop so I'd have to plane that back. It did great! Chewed through the wood in quick order and left a lovely finish even with thick shavings. I love how I can pull and push and use all sorts of different grips on it, its great to have that flexibility :) I'm surprised how well it performs even with a cheap Stanley blade. I haven't resharpened it yet, either, since the initial shavings.