Wooden Jointer

[Leigh Betsch]

Ok I finished up a few Christmas Tea Caddies (in the project forum) and I'm actually going to start building that mesquite wooden jointer that I've been talking about for a year. So does anyone have any recommendations before I start? I'm thinking 30" long (I already have a couple in the 22"-24" area), with a 2" iron at 50 degrees. Any recommendations how far aft to put the tote, and how far ahead of center to put the iron? I'm thinking razee design. Recommendations for height? Maybe I'll just go to Clark and Williams and try to scale one from the experts. Yikes I see they are now Old Street Tool Co! Still great planes I'm sure.

[David Weaver]

28 or 30, and I'd add at least a quarter to the iron width.

No recommendations on razee dimensions, but I have a nice old single iron jointer that isn't razee style, a wonderful user. I'll go get the measurements off of it and put them in this post once I do. I think it's bedded somewhere around 50 degrees.

Edit: OK

28 inches long, a strong 3 3/8 inches wide, and 3 inches high. Iron is just a hair over 2 1/2 inches wide.

ON THE SOLE:
18.25 inches from the back end of the plane to the back of the mouth
9 1/2 inches from the front end of the plane to the front of the mouth (so the mouth is around a quarter)


ON THE TOP OF THE PLANE:
From the front of the plane to the front edge of the mortise on the top, 8 1/2 inches.

If you draw that out, you should be able to get every critical measurement, or at least one sample plane to start from and you can modify.

[greg Forster]

I checked an 18thc jointer I have:

length- 33"
distance from toe to mouth - 11.5"
distance from toe to center of tote - 23" ( it's a closed tote, so I measured to center of grip)

[Tri Hoang]

I guess you want the tote to be close enough to the blade so the vector of force applied by your hand have a chance to go through the tote and to the mouth in a straight line. I like to have some distance between the tote and the mouth (say 1/3) to help balancing the toe of the jointer when edge jointing.

[Leigh Betsch]

When I cut my 4x4x36 chunk of mesquite down and as anyone that has worked with mesquite knows you never know what your going to find inside. The pic explains it, a big inclusion. By the time I got down to solid wood I finished up at 1 1/2 x 3 1/4 x 30. I was planning to box the sole with lignum and I have a 8/4 piece, but I am thinking a 1 1/2 sole is going to look out of place. So my dilemma is whether to thin the plane down to ~2" tall and probably shorten it up also, laminate the sole to ~1 1/2, or abort the long jointer and just make a couple of jack planes. The mesquite off cut doesn't have enough solid wood to add a mesquite lamination to the the 1 1/2 x 30 blank. I'm leaning toward a thinner and short jointer, or maybe using the mesquite to re-wood a couple of my transitional.

[Leigh Betsch]

Anyone know the dimensions of these gems (ECE Primus Jointer Plane 701)? Maybe I can come close with my 1 1/2 mesquite!

[jack christensen]

I'm out of town for 2 days. but if you'd like I can post the dimensions of my Primus jointer as soon as I get back. I copied the adjustment mechanism to build a version of the ECE Primus type smoother and it works beautifully. I could send pics of that if you want.

[Pam Niedermayer]

Anyone know the dimensions of these gems (ECE Primus Jointer Plane 701)? Maybe I can come close with my 1 1/2 mesquite!

600 mm/24" long, 60 mm/2.4" blade width. I'll try to remember to measure the height tomorrow.

Pam

[Leigh Betsch]

thanks Pam. The thickness is where I'm going to have a problem so I would appreciate the help if you can get the height measurement for me.
Absolutely Jack a picture or two would be interesting, also of the adjuster that you made.

[David Weaver]

With pieces of that thickness, it might be an opportunity take a junk transitional plane and rob the hardware from it and put a heavier iron in it.

It's hard to tell until the first time the weather changes significantly, but I don't know if you might've gotten more wood movement than you wanted out of that piece of mesquite, anyway.

[jack christensen]

Hi Leigh
Hope this works. I'm not sure how to post pictures, but here goes.

These probably don't give enough information, but if you want me to I could make a drawing and email it to you. The body is hard maple with laminated sides and a cocobolo base epoxied on and an iron bedded at 50 deg.

It wasn't much more work than building my Krenov style planes, but it works far better. The adjustment is very fine and I can take fluffy shavings when I close down the mouth. The adjuster would probably work well on a jointer.

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[Leigh Betsch]

Thanks Jack I like it! But my jointer is back on hold. I decided to use some of the solid mesquite to re-wood a Stanley 26 transitional. Then I decided to change a few things and just use the frog rebedded at 55 degrees. I hope to get it done tomorrow, then it will be back to the jointer. Not sure if I will make the mesquite work or if I'll change to maple. How tall is your ECE jointer plane? I used to have a ECE Primus smoother so I know how the adjuster works. Your version looks like it would work the same. Did you embed a threaded nut for the adjuster screw to thread into? I plan to steal the frog off a junk transitional for my jointer, but if for some reason that doesn't work maybe I'll copy your version of the ECE adjuster. What did you use to make the lateral adjuster out of, some sort of sheet metal?

[george wilson]

I suggest using an antique English jointer as the basis for making your new one. They had things pretty well worked out back then,when they were using them for a living. Aesthetics are better,too.

[jack christensen]

The jointer is 3 1/16" high. I embedded a 1/2" threaded cross dowel for the height adjuster before laminating the sides. The lateral adjuster is 1/16" plate and isn't worth using. I adjust laterally by tapping with a small hammer, and hold the setting with set screws on the side. The ECE jointer is not pretty, but I also own a Veritas BU jointer from LV and while it is superior in many ways I would say the ECE comes reasonably close. The Veritas was a splurge and I'm really glad I have it, but it was really not a necessary purchase.

[Leigh Betsch]

Thanks for in the info Jack. I think my mesquite finished up to thin to use for a jointer. It would take a 1 1/2 thick lignum sole to get my thickness up to 3". George my original plan was an English jointer, I was just looking for options to salvage my "thin" mesquite and thought the ECE plane looked thinner. But it looks like I'll use the mesquite for a couple of transitional plane rebuild jobs and make a long jointer from some maple that I have.

[Derek Cohen]

...I'm thinking 30" long (I already have a couple in the 22"-24" area), with a 2" iron at 50 degrees. Any recommendations how far aft to put the tote, and how far ahead of center to put the iron? I'm thinking razee design...

Hi Leigh

Here is a 30" razee jointer I built in Jarrah ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Planes/My%20planes/Jointer.jpg

This uses a 3/16" thick and 2" wide Hock blade (infilled with brass) and a lever cap and screw I built. It is bedded at 60 degrees ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Built%20a%20Jointer_html_6c96dd65.jpg

Initially I had the tote further back, then rebuilt it with the current position. It is important to get close to the blade for control.

Regards from Perth

Derek