Trevor Walsh
08-26-2012, 7:20 PM
In the v-plane thread I mentioned that I re-manufactured a hollow plane as part of the quarter set I'm building. Before I put up the image set of that process I thought it might be good to show how to get those bananas back in shape.
The original plane was a #6 (3/8" radius) round, skewed, manufactured by the "Summers Varvill Ebor Works York" sometime between 1840 and 1867, it was missing an iron and had some wood movement issues. The whole thing was bowed a heavy 1/16th to the escapement side, and was crooked to leave the ends out of flat by about a light 1/16th. Condition other than that was pretty good, some paint, some nail holes from a batten long ago, but rather well cared for by a guy named "RJ. Coleman".
The grime was cleaned off with a rag and Briwax, then first the bow was planed out on the escapement side, and the blind side cleaned up with a few passes. Contrary to the course of things in planemaking I cleaned up the blind side bevel then shot the sole square to the escapement side until it was flat and measured 3/8" in width. The mouth opened a little, but the LN tapered iron I installed was thick enough to help some.
With the skewed blade the blind side of the iron has to be relieved so the front cutting edge gets all the way over to the blind side corner. If not I imagine the plane will clog in short order. Once that is all set I clamped a batten to the escapement side I used a #6 round to cut a mated hollow, took shavings until the sole was wide enough. (Yes a converted it to a hollow, not a round like it was). Some light sandpaper between soles ensured two matched and even profiles.
I fit and ground an iron to shape, it still needs the clearance ground and hardening but she's as good or better than the other planes in my set. I plan to do all of the iron work at one time. I don't mind the patchwork appearance of the old vs. new wood, but I may fiddle with some dyes to see if I can match the color and get it looking better.
The original plane was a #6 (3/8" radius) round, skewed, manufactured by the "Summers Varvill Ebor Works York" sometime between 1840 and 1867, it was missing an iron and had some wood movement issues. The whole thing was bowed a heavy 1/16th to the escapement side, and was crooked to leave the ends out of flat by about a light 1/16th. Condition other than that was pretty good, some paint, some nail holes from a batten long ago, but rather well cared for by a guy named "RJ. Coleman".
The grime was cleaned off with a rag and Briwax, then first the bow was planed out on the escapement side, and the blind side cleaned up with a few passes. Contrary to the course of things in planemaking I cleaned up the blind side bevel then shot the sole square to the escapement side until it was flat and measured 3/8" in width. The mouth opened a little, but the LN tapered iron I installed was thick enough to help some.
With the skewed blade the blind side of the iron has to be relieved so the front cutting edge gets all the way over to the blind side corner. If not I imagine the plane will clog in short order. Once that is all set I clamped a batten to the escapement side I used a #6 round to cut a mated hollow, took shavings until the sole was wide enough. (Yes a converted it to a hollow, not a round like it was). Some light sandpaper between soles ensured two matched and even profiles.
I fit and ground an iron to shape, it still needs the clearance ground and hardening but she's as good or better than the other planes in my set. I plan to do all of the iron work at one time. I don't mind the patchwork appearance of the old vs. new wood, but I may fiddle with some dyes to see if I can match the color and get it looking better.