Maple and Jatoba For Infill Plane?

[Rick Akl]

Are jatoba and hard maple suitable for infill planes? I know that there are probably better materials but I will be making it from the woods that my bench is to be made from. I think that they would compliment the bench nicely. I would not mix and match on an individual plane but rather make a couple of each.

Thanks,
Rick

[Brian Kent]

I did a google search on these woods for infills. Holtey Planes has a few examples of maple. They are beautiful, but my preference is for the darker woods. I have not worked with Jatoba. Does it have closed or open grain, and will it polish well. If it polishes well, it seems like that would be a beautiful choice.

[David Weaver]

Are jatoba and hard maple suitable for infill planes? I know that there are probably better materials but I will be making it from the woods that my bench is to be made from. I think that they would compliment the bench nicely. I would not mix and match on an individual plane but rather make a couple of each.

Thanks,
Rick

I think to figure out what you want to have, calling a lumber shop (like hearne) and asking what moves the least when it changes humidity, and has the lowest shrinkage is advisable.

I think almost anything will work if it's reasonably hard and dry.

I have used cocobolo on two so far, and am doing a third now (but a kit unlike the first two), but with cocobolo again. I'm ready to use a different wood. There has definitely been a significant difference between all three cocobolos. The first was advertised as dry, but wasn't adequately dry.

The second was known to be old, and it was fantastic, not oily at all but has a nice finish.

And the third is cocobolo from shepherd. It's unebeliavably oily, to the point that it's not that nice to work with. It also smells different and is the first one I'm sensitive to and need to wear a mask with.

Anyway, I'd probably avoid maple, it's hard to get it looking nice, and it's not as stable as mahogany or walnut (those two would be the low cost woods that I'd probably go with). Derek cohen did a test infill with jarrah if I can remember correctly, and it looked fine, but I don't know about its stability. A quick google about its stability and shrinkage might be instructive.

If, along your travels, you run into piles of dry exotic woods several years old in sizes big enough for infill planes, be sure to let the rest of us know ;)

[Johnny Kleso]

If I were buying or making an infill I would use the best wood I could find..

I think Karls are Boxwood and not Maple but I could be mistaken..

As far as movement Karl uses brass tube that are pressed into the infills so wood never gets loose..

[David Weaver]

If I were buying or making an infill I would use the best wood I could find..

I think Karls are Boxwood and not Maple but I could be mistaken..

As far as movement Karl uses brass tube that are pressed into the infills so wood never gets loose..

Johnny, you are right. The A13s and such lately in light wood that karl's been making are from huge chunks of boxwood. I'm not sure he would use maple in anything other than the quartersawn curly maple he used in the recent transitionals.

Karl has some sort of saying about using wood in planes - something about in the long term, in the war against wood movement, we always lose.

I'm into the "best wood you can find" camp. It takes so long to make an infill if you do it from scratch, that when you get to the point of replacing the test infill, you'll feel like you really want to have something nice to do it with - something that will polish well without pores, and work well with files and rasps.

mahogany and walnut are a bit of a compromise with the pores, but they are really nice to work and can be gotten (at a higher dollar cost, of course) from instrument supply places properly dried and cut.

Still searching for more dried exotics here.... next plane may get walnut if I don't have some luck. :(

[Eric Acle]

I'm going to be doing a similar project. Mine will be a block plane. How dry does the wood have to be? How would a 8.4% quarter sawn piece of bubinga fair?

Thanks for the input.

Eric

[Rick Akl]

Eric,

Did you source the brass locally? Did you get a good price?
Nevermind - Amazon had some for relatively cheap.

[Al Biggles]

I think Jatoba is a wonderful wood for infills.

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1ptD4BE5zbhIIoowBoDiK_ZqM6FGOrn6DQEAMix2EXMDpATm0 Eyw9wH4YPpc-5wL7-obNEXJyDRLienvs73azNtg/al9%20shave5.jpg

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p_p6aka1gDg4rdZEDz2DbtT4u8iypIv_1JFGt67Mnlaml0we h7qdr9sWfNuWvgdIEjqPYdckjx9414A3P-ftp7w/hd12.jpg

[Johnny Kleso]

Al,
Thats some nice looking Jatoba most of the stuff I see looks like plain cherry..

[Steve knight]

the biggest trick is to have very dry wood. this is more important then what wood. tropicals tend to be mroe stable then american woods. Purpleheart is extremely stable. Jatoba is too.