Shoulder Planed finished! (almost.....)

[Matthew N. Masail]

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Oak and Pau Ferro (from guitar fingerboard stock)
Blade bedded at 42˚

getting the rabbets right took some effort as I didn't have any planes that could help. I lapped it on sandpaper.
the wedge action is perfect and the mouth is tight, however the chip clearing isn't great, knowing what I know now I would have tapered the circular cut out in fron of the blade almost to a point.
it doesn’t happen every time but it's much too often. any advice on how to improve this: (I've already done what I can with the wedge except for cutting it shorter)
?
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[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

One thing that has helped a lot with my fillester plane is that the part of the wedge that extends into the mouth tapers to one side, so it helps guide the shavings towards the escapement. A slightly large hole, and one that is sort of conical will also help guide the shavings out to the side rather than curling and bunching inside the mouth. You want to guide the shavings left or right out of the plane and not just straight up out of the mouth.

[Garrett Ellis]

Same thing happens to my hock shoulder plane, it's quite annoying and makes simple tasks take way too long when I have to clear the shavings after every pass. Enlarging the hole did help some.

[Ryan Baker]

That's a nice plane, Matt.

It looks to me like that escapement hole needs to be larger, and with more conical taper out the side. Your shavings are going up the ramp, around the tight circle, and crashing back into the mouth where they jamb up. You need them to turn the corner and head out the side. A bigger loop will give the shaving more chance to start turning to the side. A taper on the end of the wedge helps get the shaving to start turning to the side too. If you cut that chamfered edge deeper into more of a conical ramp, that would probably help more than anything.

[george wilson]

I agree,Ryan.

[Paul Saffold]

Matt Bickford's blog "Musings from big pink" has a writeup in May about building a rabbet plane. He "explanes" this very well and the pictures will help you see the shape the escapement hole should be.

That's a nice looking plane you made Matthew. I've been reading about making one but haven't got that at the top of my list yet.

[Matthew N. Masail]

ok thanks guy's I'll work on it. I might even make a few pine mock-ups to test different shapes. I couldn't find the explanation on Matt Bickford's blog, but I think I've got the picture.

[Kenneth Speed]

It seems to me clearance for shavings on a shoulder plane should be a relatively minor issue inasmuch as a shoulder plane is a tool for refining a joint as opposed to making one. I agree that the escapement hole seems too small and should be enlarged and beveled. I get the feeling that we're fixated on this issue and haven't asked the most basic question: How (well or poorly) does the plane work other than the shaving clearance issue? I'm also wondering if the blade is a Hock blade and what are the dimensions of the plane?

[Matt Bickford]

The post was in May, not June.

[Paul Saffold]

Sorry Matt B., I sent Matt M. a PM with the link to your blog post and edited my first post.

[Jim Koepke]

Matthew,

The workmanship of your plane looks great.

My question is whether this is a rebate plane or a shoulder plane?

Shoulder planes of my acquaintance have a much lower bedding angle and the blade is mounted bevel up.

As to the taper of the escapement, if the plane is used left and right handed, then the taper should start in the center and go out both sides.

If you build another and the plane is only going to be used in one direction, you might want to try a little skew to the blade to cause the shaving to curl to one side or the other.

To improve the plane you have made, other's suggestions of enlarging and tapering the escapement will likely help to alleviate the problem of shavings jamming.

jtk

[Matthew N. Masail]

It seems to me clearance for shavings on a shoulder plane should be a relatively minor issue inasmuch as a shoulder plane is a tool for refining a joint as opposed to making one. I agree that the escapement hole seems too small and should be enlarged and beveled. I get the feeling that we're fixated on this issue and haven't asked the most basic question: How (well or poorly) does the plane work other than the shaving clearance issue? I'm also wondering if the blade is a Hock blade and what are the dimensions of the plane?

The plane works wonderfully; heavy cuts in hardwood no problem, no chatter. it's also quite comfortable, but I have no comparison as it's my first time to hold a shoulder plane. I jumped the gun and enlarged the escarpment and tapered it to both side and now it clears alright, if it doesn’t it's large enough that the next shaving pushes it out. but I know for next time to do it the way Matt B. shows, Thank for sharing Matt! you have some blog there :) and Thanks to Paul for the link.

Jim, thank you! It's a multi purpose for now as it's my only one, I noticed skewing the plane causes the shaving to clear, so thanks for adding the fact that I'll have to give some thought to it's use when (not if ) I build another. basically my fall down the rabbet hole continues......

for now it works ( wasn't skewing the cut, only for the pic's)
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[Jeff Wittrock]

Very nice plane. I love the picture with the long curly coming out.