Building my first proper plane - need advice

[Matthew N. Masail]

So I decided that although I don't have the hard exotic woods I ordered for the soles, I should go through and build a plane to get to know the steps, so I don't end
up ruining some hard to get expensive woods. I decided it will be a Jack plane, with a 39mm wide blade. I laminated the body blank out of mahogany making sure that I keep the tear out direction constant, but when
I cleaned up the end grain I saw that I didn't orient them the same, they are opposite !it looks nice... (-: but for future refferace was this a mistake, or does it not matter so much? I put a beech sole on it, about 4mm thick.
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I also experimented making a small thumb screw, using my drill press as a leath... turned out nice, albit a little oval, but it dosen't matter so much.I don't have brass yet to make a screw cap or a matching screw, so I thought maybe I'd make the screw cap out of beech also? if I make it 1/2" thick I don't think I'll have any problems with flexing as it wont be more than 2" +- long but I am worried about the thread in the wood... is this worth a shot or a waste of time? maybe flooding the threads with super glue would help?

Thanks, I really value your input.

[David Weaver]

How are you going to sink the mortise (for the bed and the iron?) or will there be external sides glued to this plane?

Also, if you don't have brass available, and i"m not sure it's worth the cost on a laminated plane, I would use a retaining pin and a wedge like most krenov style planes do. You can use an all wood pin if you find something hard and fit your wedge well, but any cheap drill rod will work fine also.

Using a brass lever cap brings the extra challenge of being able to accurately cut the mortise square to the sides and then drill holes square to that. Using a wedge relieves you of that, you just need to make the wedge fit whatever level of squareness you're able to achieve.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Hi David, there will be extarnal sides glued on, so squareness won't be hard to achive. I made a pine mock-up with a wedge, I can see the wdge workes very well and there is somthing nice about it, but I want to try the screw cap method also to determine what I prefer.

[David Weaver]

Hi David, there will be extarnal sides glued on, so squareness won't be hard to achive. I made a pine mock-up with a wedge, I can see the wdge workes very well and there is somthing nice about it, but I want to try the screw cap method also to determine what I prefer.

You will want a metal cap, then, and something that you can adjust easily (by that, I mean in fitting the leading edge of the cap to the iron so that the plane adjusts predictably and evenly). Brass is probably the best choice, even though it's expensive. Just make sure that whatever screw you put on it doesn't put pressure above the bed of the plane, at least not by much (none is good). Obviously, a cap screw putting pressure on the iron above the bed of the plane by any significant amount would pressuring the iron to be levered up off the bed against the other end of the cap.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Thanks! I plan of have the screw on the bed, I'll will just have to see how low I can put it that won't intefere with the shaping of the plane yet will still be comfortably accecible. I cannot afford brass at the moment, so what would be the problem with wood aside the threads? It just accoured to me the I can inset a T-nut from the bottom side of the cap and then just laminate another thin piece so it's not visable.

[Chris Vandiver]

I think that wood for a screwcap is not such a good idea and probably wouldn't be effective. If it was, you would expect to see a lot of examples in vintage planes. Wedges provide a lot of holding power and work extremely well. When making a wooden plane(any plane for that matter), there is no reason to re-invent the wheel. My guess is that the best ideas are already in place and there are many examples out there to use as a reference. If you follow these examples(the devil is in details), you'll have a much greater chance for success. Good luck.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Thank you Chris, although I knew someone would say that. I'm not trying to reinvent anything, I just want to experiment and try out the possibilities and was looking perhaps for some thoughs on the pros and cons of the idea. trying out these things is very fun for me, and thats part of the hobby .

I'd still like to hear logical thoughts on why wood wouldn't work, I covered the thread issue, and at 1/2" thick and 2" long I can't see how it would flex to any problematic degree. there need not be a huge amount of pressure to hold the blade so I don't see the wood breaking either. maybe it's too slippery? I'm going to try this, but if anyone has any thoughts on this I'd be happy to listen.

[Zach England]

I hate to be 'that guy' but if you are going to go to the trouble of building a plane I'd source a suitable piece of wood instead of laminating one. I am sure the lamination would be functionally fine, but somehow seems less pure.

[bridger berdel]

a screw cap contacts the blade only at the front edge. a wedge seats down evenly against a large area of the blade. a wood screw cap will have a hard time holding up at the front edge.

[Alan Schwabacher]

The reason people use wood for wedges but metal for screw caps is that you want to leave the mouth clear to allow shavings to escape the mouth. The crosspin must be sufficiently strong to hold in the iron, so it takes up a certain amount of space. (That's one reason some prefer locking the iron in with wedges against abutments on the sides, rather than the older design with a crosspin.) Metal is strong enough that it does not take much space even when it's strong enough to use a screw cap. A wooden wedge can be thin, because it's just in compression. A wooden screw cap however, would need to be stiff enough to not bend and break when it applies enough force to hold the plane iron in place. You can try it, but I'm skeptical. At best it will cut down the free space for shavings to exit by a large amount.

[Tony Shea]

You will want a metal cap, then, and something that you can adjust easily (by that, I mean in fitting the leading edge of the cap to the iron so that the plane adjusts predictably and evenly). Brass is probably the best choice, even though it's expensive. Just make sure that whatever screw you put on it doesn't put pressure above the bed of the plane, at least not by much (none is good). Obviously, a cap screw putting pressure on the iron above the bed of the plane by any significant amount would pressuring the iron to be levered up off the bed against the other end of the cap.


David, the theory behind keeping the screw pressure on the bed of the plane does make sense to me. But there seems to be so many examples of this that perplex me where they've put all the pressure above the bed. On some of the small coffin style infill smoothers it is not uncommon to see where the cap screw is actually above the bed by a small amount.

[Matthew N. Masail]

The reason people use wood for wedges but metal for screw caps is that you want to leave the mouth clear to allow shavings to escape the mouth. The crosspin must be sufficiently strong to hold in the iron, so it takes up a certain amount of space. (That's one reason some prefer locking the iron in with wedges against abutments on the sides, rather than the older design with a crosspin.) Metal is strong enough that it does not take much space even when it's strong enough to use a screw cap. A wooden wedge can be thin, because it's just in compression. A wooden screw cap however, would need to be stiff enough to not bend and break when it applies enough force to hold the plane iron in place. You can try it, but I'm skeptical. At best it will cut down the free space for shavings to exit by a large amount.

I see your point about the room. a wooden screw cap will be at least twice as thick as a metal one. but if I make the cross pin out of some metal maybe around 4mm thick, I can pass it right through the middle of the screw cap, and therefore, as the middle of the screw cap is the "netural plane" and under very little tension, it should bearly effect it's strengh or stiffness. what I'll do is locate the pin in a location that with alow me to make a wedge if it dosen't work out. albit a thickish one. it may be over engeniering, but I have to try it.

as for the statment about the lamination, I'm using scraps for this plane, as it's a test model. I have some 2" thick stock for the rest. but I think lamination is legitimate nevertheless if you cannot find or afford thicker stock.

[David Weaver]

David, the theory behind keeping the screw pressure on the bed of the plane does make sense to me. But there seems to be so many examples of this that perplex me where they've put all the pressure above the bed. On some of the small coffin style infill smoothers it is not uncommon to see where the cap screw is actually above the bed by a small amount.

A small amount is OK. Ideally, to have a nice adjusting iron, you'd like the pressure at three places on the bed - right below the lever cap screw (though on a thicker iron like most infills have, they don't need to be right against each other), and even on each side below the iron close to the cutting edge with a uniform cap fit across the frot. That makes a nice adjusting plane and a nice working plane. It's awfully hard to get the whole bed perfectly flat, but you can intentionally fit it like that to the iron (the "high" spots are a tiny tiny fraction above the "low" spots, like a smoother shaving's worth).

I don't know how far above the bed you can go with the lever cap screw, but if you're making a plane yourself, I wouldn't go too far if you can help it.

[Matthew N. Masail]

a screw cap contacts the blade only at the front edge. a wedge seats down evenly against a large area of the blade. a wood screw cap will have a hard time holding up at the front edge.

do you mean it will have a hard time holding the blade, or that it won't wear well?