Jatoba and Ebony smoothers

[Eiji Fuller]

I made these guys last night, finished tuning today and I am very pleased. They are Ebony and Jatoba


6" Mini Smoother with 1 1/4" hock iron bed at 60
9" Smoother with 1 3/4" hock iron bed at 60

I really like smoothers because they can plane the most difficult woods without tearing. Im hardly totally neander since most of my stock comes out of a jointer/planer or tablesaw. I can use these guys to quickly clean up mill marks instead of sanding. Im so over sanding. Even though I have some festool sanders Id much rather plane.

Now I just need to build myself a decent workbench.

[David Gendron]

Good work! realy nice looking lanes!

[Jim Koepke]

The beauty is in the shavings.

jim

[Philip Duffy]

WOW! Most impressive shavings.

[Kari Hultman]

Fantastic! It doesn't get any better than that.

[Chris Hudson42]

Can you tell us a bit more? Did you use Hock's 'Krenov style' irons with the chipbreaker? (I think I see one - but not sure...)

Anyone's article/book (David Fincks?) for inspiration? How did you sharpen?

[Ron Brese]

Eiji,

I like the subtle contrast of those two woods, it gives them a quality look that a lot of woodies in this style lack. Obviously you have them working quite well as evidenced by the shavings.

Ron

[Eiji Fuller]

Thanks Ron.

[Eiji Fuller]

Can you tell us a bit more? Did you use Hock's 'Krenov style' irons with the chipbreaker? (I think I see one - but not sure...)

Anyone's article/book (David Fincks?) for inspiration? How did you sharpen?

Chris,

I do have Hock's irons made for wood planes without the chipbreakers in there. At the bed angle of these planes there just isnt a need for them.

Sharpening is done on the tormek set at 27 deg. for the hollow grind and to get a bit of a cleaner grind. I then take them to my king waterstones 4000 and 8000 to flatten and hone.
I can get a pretty good edge using very light pressure on the stones. Using a light touch is very important. If I get a little impatient and press harder thinking it will go faster it just never gets sharp enough to shave. Im not sure why but when using very light pressure on the stones the hairs seem to jump off my arm before the blade touches them. :D I dont use a honing guide.
I did scour the internet for plane making info, read Krenov's books, and Finck's book before getting into making planes. Finck's book is an excellent reference explaining in detail the info in Krenov's plane making chapters.

[Terry Beadle]

Wow! Great job. Those are two real beauties !

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Wonderful looking planes and shavings. What does the sole look like? Wondering about the mixtures of grain directions.

Anyway all these lovely planes are going to make me try my hand at creating one :).

[george wilson]

Extremely nice shavings !! I'm not sure a LN could do better.

[Eiji Fuller]

Wonderful looking planes and shavings. What does the sole look like? Wondering about the mixtures of grain directions.

Anyway all these lovely planes are going to make me try my hand at creating one :).


the ebony sides and the jatoba bodys have the same grain orientation.

[James Carmichael]

Very nice;)

For a 60-degree cutting angle, did you ever consider going bevel-up with a 35-degree bed?

[David Weaver]

I then take them to my king waterstones 4000 and 8000 to flatten and hone.
I can get a pretty good edge using very light pressure on the stones. Using a light touch is very important.

Using a light touch is important on all but the very finest stones.

Another trick you can use, though you may be doing it already, is to let the surface of the stone dry some while you're using it and then continue to polish the edge just as the stone is glazing over. You get a blindingly sharp edge, even on coarser stones. They cut very slow once they get glazed, but it doesn't matter because you've already got most of your work done by then.