Finished V-Plane

[Trevor Walsh]

Hello,

I wanted to post pictures of a v-plane I just finished, it's made of sweet birch with bubinga boxing and a salvaged iron.

[Dave Beauchesne]

Looks great Trvor - how does it perform?

Dave B

[Patrick Tipton]

Nice job!

Looks like it works great too!

[Trevor Walsh]

Thanks, it cuts well, it handles rank setting well and with a little tweaking on the iron it will do whisper thin shavings just as well. I'm really happy with how it tracks a gauge line which is important for this type of plane.

[george wilson]

Great looking job!!

[David Weaver]

What do you use it for, to start a cut like you would with a snipe bill plane? Looks good.

[David Weaver]

Jeez I'm dense today. I see your test cuts from it in the last picture.

[Zach Dillinger]

Great looking plane. Now you just need to make a shipwright's hawk plane :)

[Trevor Walsh]

Thanks George, I'll take aesthetic praise from you any day,

David, yes if a chamfered quirk is desired, or to hog out waste in a big moulding like you'd use a plow/tablesaw for.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

That's a lovely plane! The escapement looks really well done.

[Matt Bickford]

Try them in the following situations. You may be surprised at how well they work. You also may find yourself making a few with various pitches. (I always clean up with a rabbet.)
239698

[Paul Saffold]

Very nice Trevor. Did you make the blade from a tapered iron or modern non- tapered blade?

[Jim Koepke]

Looking good.

jtk

[Jeff Wittrock]

That's a beautiful little plane! I especially like the shape of the escapement opening. Very nice detail.

[Ryan Baker]

Looks great, Trevor. I've got one of those on my to-do list too. (It's a long list.)

[Trevor Walsh]

Zack, shipwright's hawk being a v-plow? What were these used for in the shipbuilding trade?

Matt, will do, once I get the other hollow's and rounds built. Great book, by the way it's been a big motivation to tune and build more moulding planes.

The iron was from a vintage tapered iron, from an Ohio Tools skewed rabbet if memory serves, I got excited to finish it otherwise I would have gone with a new Lie-Neilson blade, there was an awful lot of regrinding to thin it and grind the profile. On the plus side I didn't have to bust out the heat treating equipment.

Jeff, I was never a big fan of the conical escapements, but after carving one I really like them. All the inspiration credit goes to Matt Bickford's blog (http://musingsfrombigpink.blogspot.com/), he's got pictures of the escapement shaping that were a huge help in making this one.

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Great looking plane, Trevor. The visual balance is how it should be and the last pic shows that it does it's job very good. I agree with Matt. This plane is useful on many tasks. I'm sure it will get good and frequent use. It was the right decision to make the running edge out of Bubinga. This wood will stand the stresses.

Klaus

[Chris Griggs]

That's very cool Trevor. Aesthetically very very nice too. Will be great to see how your hollows and rounds come out!

[Kenneth Speed]

Trevor, Could you tell us the dimensions of the plane iron?

I's also like to say that the escapement is very nicely formed.


Ken

[David Keller NC]

Hey Trevor - Very nice plane. One thought for future planes - on most historical planes, the grain of the plane body runs the opposite of what you've pictured. That is, it slopes down from the toe to the heel. On your plane, the very tip of the front of the mouth has short grain, which can potentially break off when shaping/refining the mouth or in use. I personally think the front of the mouth breaking off in use is unlikely, though Larry Williams has noted that the grain orientation in historic planes was probably intended as an aid to the plane maker (to avoid potentially chipping the front of the mouth).

[James Bird]

Wow, very cool trevor! Reminds me I will have to head over to your blog, haven't been there in awhile!

Any inclination to make planes for sale? I'm sure there are those with more money than time (or just some money and NO time) who'd be interested in buying instead of building!

[Trevor Walsh]

Kenneth the iron is a touch over 3/4" wide, OA width of plane body is 3/4"

Klaus, I'm really happy with the broad chamfers, I think I will standardize on that size, others look too insubstantial/puny.

David, yes I'm familiar with that orientation issue, and glad someone else is paying attention. The purpose of the reversal is so that the boxing grain slope and the plane body grain slope go in the same direction, thus forming the geometry of the sole doesn't result in tearout of either material. As a consequence you get short grain in the mouth, but won't chip out the boxing on the bed or tear out the sole. The unboxed planes I do slope the "correct" way.

James, I want to someday, I'd like nothing more than to make planes for sale. I need to make a few more and secure a source for either birch or beech. I'm a big fan of the birch I used in this plane.

[Matt Owen]

Very cool! I love shop made tools, especially when they look this good. Well done, Trevor!

[Trevor Walsh]

Now I need to find a lot more beech, yellow or sweet birch so if you have a tree around let me know.

[Gary Herrmann]

Excellent job. Need to try that myself someday.

[Trevor Walsh]

With the right tools, the floats basically, it's really pretty simple. The tricky part is fit and finish which is practice. Hopefully after a few more (100?) I'll get it pretty good.

[David Keller NC]

David, yes I'm familiar with that orientation issue, and glad someone else is paying attention. The purpose of the reversal is so that the boxing grain slope and the plane body grain slope go in the same direction, thus forming the geometry of the sole doesn't result in tearout of either material. As a consequence you get short grain in the mouth, but won't chip out the boxing on the bed or tear out the sole. The unboxed planes I do slope the "correct" way.


You know, that's a good point. I have an extensive collection of antiques, both 18th century and 19th. I'll have to take a look as to whether that was a common practice "back in the day".

[Trevor Walsh]

David, I'd be interested to know too, I'd have to check my sources but I think my notion starts with something Larry posted on Wood Central.