Low angle wooden block plane

[Mike Olson]

I want to make myself a small low angle wooden block plane for trimming dovetails and other small work.

I love my Transitional planes which i use almost exclusively but I have been looking for over 6 months now for some transitional or woody to use for these trimming end grain purpose. I'd like to use a Hock blade but I'm concerned that the krenov style blades won't be long enough for the low angle?

Anybody know where I can get some plans or a step by step of one already made?

Thanks,
Mike

[David Weaver]

Look up the striking plane on the philly planes site.

Assuming you are going to do this bevel down? If you're looking to do bevel up, you're really challenging the strength of the wood at the back of the mouth, and probably will find failure at acceptable angles.

If you made a woody with a 40 degree bed and a good iron, bevel down should work OK, especially if you do a good job fitting/bedding the iron so that it has support close to the mouth.

Why again don't you want to just use a regular bench plane for this?

[john brenton]

Check out the book "making traditional wooden planes." They've got it on amazon for a decent price. To be honest I was kind of disappointed with how many planes were not covered, but its a good one to have anyways.

There is a section on low angle wood planes including wooden mitre planes. If you want any angles or dimensions I can just give them to you. If you've ever made a plane then you don't really need the book as most of the info is pretty basic.

[Terry Beadle]

You may want to contact St. James Bay regarding a plane blade long enough for a low angle block plane. I know he can make blades of custom length and width ( with in certain stock standard widths ).

I have one of his blades in my smoother and it's a keeper.

Good Luck.

[Joel Goodman]

If you are willing to forgo a cap iron then LV has some 3/16th thick plane irons for woodies that are longer than the Krenov style irons.

[David Weaver]

Ron Hock himself may also have one. I got a one-off from him when I wanted to do my first infill - he had some left over from a class. They were 3/16", 1 1/2" wide and 5" long. He may have something wider - I'll bet he's got lots of stuff that's not stocked by the woodcrafts and craftsmanstudios of the world.

You also have the option of going to the S&S below or whatever it's called and getting a D2 iron, which is a good option if your ultimate creation is bevel down.

Probably want to go HCS if it's bevel up, but I still think that's risky with an all wood plane. You would almost have to blunt the back of the mouth short of the iron on a bevel up, or it will just break off and you'll end up doing it anyway, and you'll lose a little of the sweetness that you get with a BU plane in the fact that the iron isn't supported right at the very edge (as it is in a well designed metal miter plane by filing the metal mouth a slightly shallower angle than the infill bed, forcing the bedding to occur right at the edge of the mouth).