wooden plane

[John Tallyn]

I'm thinking of making my first wooden plane, a little smoother, 5 6" long. I've got a couple of chunks of purpleheart left over from a project I did a few years ago. I know purpleheart is very hard, is it stable enough to use as a plane? I've also got a nice thick piece of ash, which is one of the woods that Krenov mentions. Any thoughts one which would be a better choice?
Thanks
John

[Brian Kent]

Purpleheart. It is beautiful and works well, stable and feels good in the hand.

[Zahid Naqvi]

based on personal experience, after you make the first plane you will immediately want to make a few more because you will discover all the little things you could have done better. I'd say make the first plane with Ash and the second from purple heart. Trust me you can never make one and stop there.

[Mark Baldwin III]

I made my high angle smoother with ash. It's a good worker. I haven't tried making one out of purpleheart, that would seem pretty costly. A purpleheart sole on the other hand, would be a good idea.

[Casey Gooding]

I agree with Zahid. Make one from ash first. Then, try the purpleheart. They will both make excellent planes.

[Howard Pollack]

I've made a couple of Japanese planes out of purpleheart. They are quite stable and beautiful. The stuff is a pain to work, splintery and the texture of frozen steak. The one real downside is that it is dark and therefore makes the visual aspect of setting the blade more difficult in that when sighting down the bottom of a plane the blade appears dark and with dark wood there is less contrast. -Howard

[John Tallyn]

I think the idea of making the 1st one out of ash, and then subsequent planes from the purple heart is a good idea. Not that I ever screw anything up the 1st time I do it. I came by a rather large quantity of purple heart accidentally. I was working on a military base, and the motor pool was relining the wooden bed of a vehicle trailer, the manual stated that the bed of the trailer was required to be lined with purpleheart. So the military in its infinite wisdom bought 4000 bf of 4x6 purpleheart to use to replace the trailer bed!! I simply scavenged the cut offs that were going to be taken to the burn pit. 4 of the pieces were 12' long, the rest were in the 3-4 foot range. That was 20 years ago, and I'm down to two of the 12 foot long pieces. The local hardwood dealer is still laughing about that sale.

[Tony Shea]

I wish I could fall into such a great accidental supply of purpleheart. 12ft long peices is hardly a scrap especially when dealling with that stuff. But then again I'm assuming you meant 12" long. Either way what perfect plane making material, especially if it all was 16/4.

I like the above ideas about using the ash first and then move on to purpleheart. I would also contemplate just using ash and laminate purpleheart soles on all the planes I'm sure you;ll be making. It would really extend the amount of purpleheart on hand and produce much better wearing planes. You may after a while play with the thickness of the sole as to add the right amount of weight to the plane. I prefer my planes heavy, especially my smoothers that are small to begin with. If you do laminate make sure to do this step before cutting your blank out. I've gone throught the process of adding a sole to an already made plane and the proccess is tedious. Chiseling out an accurate mouth isn't that much fun.

[John Tallyn]

Actually the two pieces I have left are 12 foot long. I fat fingered the original description. It's funny what the Govt considers scrap, I've seen them toss out some amazing stuff. I like the idea of adding the sole prior to cutting the blank out. I do have an additional question regarding wooden planes, and I'm sure as I build the first and other I will have a great deal more questions. Is it possible/wise to build a low angle wooden plane? I do a lot of work with a shooting board and am considering using a low angle for end grain work.
Thanks

[Chris Fournier]

Ugh, I loathe working with purpleheart; I have found that Howard's asessment most closely matches my own. It can vary from board to board though so positive reports aren't unbelievable. The really purple stuff seems to be the worst, the muddy coloured stuff is just plain hard but machines well enough. Some boards have very large tool eating mineral deposits in them so watch out!

[Mike Holbrook]

I talked Steve Knight into making some plane kits for me. The bodies will be Purple Heart. Steve described Purple Heart as a "foolproof" plane wood. Since Steve cuts the kits with a CNC router maybe he does not have as much problem cutting the wood. The totes for my two larger planes will be Hard Maple but Ash is another wood Steve mentioned as working well for handles and contrasting well with the Purple Heart. In regard to stability, I think this is one of Purple Hearts better features.

A little off subject but I just got Highland Hardware's latest catalog. They just started carrying Iwasaki Carving files- "...joinery or plane maker floats, these files are a woodworker's dream for shaping, sculpting, easing hard edges & joinery tuning.They remove material quickly like a rasp, but leave a very clean surface finish like you'd get from a file" There are 14 different files in medium, fine & extreme fine, flat & round. Prices are $20- $35. I think I will order a few to use on my planes. The teeth are a little different than the standard straight ridges, look more like a micro plane to me. I have heard reports that "standard" floats may not cut Purple Heart.

[george wilson]

I made a plane from brass and purple heart when I was in high school. Kept and used it for decades,until a collector talked me out of it. The bottom never did wear,and it helped make many guitars.