Some new gear

[Steve Voigt]

I've been on a tool-making binge lately and thought I would post some pics.
First, a left-handed, 1" straight rabbet plane, jatoba body and tropical mystery wood wedge. The iron is an nos I&H Sorby I got from Josh Clark. The pitch is 55*. I initially had some troubles with chip ejection, which I posted about, but it's working very smoothly now, and I'm psyched about having a lefty joinery plane.

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Second, a mini-coffin smoother, cocobolo, Hock iron. I like the stubby iron in this plane because I primarily use it one-handed. This plane has pretty much replaced my block plane for one-handed tasks.

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Last, a pseudo-Japanese marking gauge, white oak with cocobolo wedges. I made the blade from a piece of old jointer knife. One design flaw in this is that the "keeper" on the right side of the wedge is too short--it broke off during construction. I reglued it, and pinned it with a little 1/8" cocobolo dowel. The repair is invisible and seems strong, but next time I will make the wedge longer.

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Comments, questions, criticisms welcome. Thanks for looking.

[Terry Beadle]

Great work ! I really like that smoother. One handed huh....now that's balance to perfection!

Thanks for posting!

[Chris Griggs]

Wow. Fantastic Steve. Real nice shaping too, that rabbet in particular as really nice lines.

[Graham Haydon]

All look incredible, great job! Do my eyes play tricks or is the rebate plane iron set a little steeper than a regular rebate plane?

[Tony Wilkins]

Very nice Steve!

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

He does say 55º in his post, I think.

Those look really nice, Steve. Very well executed, and nice choice of pretty, but not overly showy woods on the planes.

How large is the smoother? Hard to picture the size in the photo. I love cocobolo, but mortising the mouth for that must have been interesting!

What makes a straight rabbet "handed"? Is just the escapement being conical towards the opposite of normal end?

[Jim Koepke]

Very nice indeed.

It looks if the blade is skewed on the rabbet. Is that what makes it a lefty?

Would love to see/read more about the making of these. Especially what was done to solve the chip ejection challenge you post of earlier.

jtk

[Steve Voigt]

Thanks for kind words, fellas.
Graham--yes, the iron is at 55 degrees.
Josh--The smoother is 6" long, just over 2" high, and just under 2" wide. The blade is 1.25". Yes, the cocobolo was hard to mortise, but the jatoba was actually harder for me. I don't think I'll try that again!
And yes, what makes the rabbet a "lefty" is just the side the escapement is on. So, not a big deal, and obviously one of the big advantages of a straight rabbet is that you can use it either way.
Jim--there's no skew. As far as the chip ejection goes, I solved the clogging by opening the mouth and increasing the difference between the wear angle and bed angle. This worked fine, but I think I could have done it by focusing more on the wear angle, and kept the mouth a little smaller. I will try that next time. Getting the chips to spiral properly was a matter of planing slowly, watching exactly what the chip did, and then adjusting the escapement accordingly. In fact, iirc it was you who suggested that, so thanks!

[David Weaver]

Looks good, Steve. You picked some fairly tough stuff to work for planes!

[Jim Koepke]

Getting the chips to spiral properly was a matter of planing slowly, watching exactly what the chip did, and then adjusting the escapement accordingly. In fact, iirc it was you who suggested that, so thanks!

Oh, glad my musing was of help.

jtk

[Zach Dillinger]

They are all nice, but I especially like that smoother...

[Kees Heiden]

Very nice! My favorite is the rabet plane.

[Frederick Skelly]

These are great Steve! I love the Jotoba in this application. Maybe I missed it - whats the coffin made of? (Edit: I see now you said cocobolo.)

Ive been thinking of making a small coffin plane using LVs adjuster kit (Chris flagged that a couple weeks back.) Maybe using a hunk of mesquite I bought on a trip last summer. Your work is really upping my temptation!

Fred

[Peter Pedisich]

That mini coffin smoother is a classic, well done!

[george wilson]

From what I can see(the dark cocobolo is a bit hard to make out),the work looks very nice and crisp. We are both lefties. My wife is also.

[Tony Shea]

From what I can see(the dark cocobolo is a bit hard to make out),the work looks very nice and crisp. We are both lefties. My wife is also.

I've never picked up on the fact you are a lefty george, even after watching some videos of you working. Not that it matters. But this must be challenging to overcome with all dedicated right handed tools out there.

[Tony Shea]

The tools are fantastic Steve. They are some of the nicest planes i've seen posted here of late. Your wood choices really must've made things difficult especially given that your planes are not laminated but full mortise. Really impressive. Not sure if I would've had the patience to chop these mortises in these incredible tough woods. Your soles should last your lifetime though and look incredible doing it.

Any progress photos on these? I'd love to make a rabbet plane but just haven't actually taken the time to figure it all out. They just seem a bit tougher in my head than a typical hollow or round moulding plane which I've made. Some advice on it would be great.

[Jeff Bartley]

Awesome Steve! Those planes look great, now I'm even more excited to know that you're local. I hope I get to check those out in person!

[maximillian arango]

That is so really nice stuff you made there! I hope to be doing the same my self soon.

[george wilson]

Only inconvenient with scissors,Tony!! Actually,I have to consciously slide files to the right when filing to get a smoother cut. They are made for right handed people. I'm so used to right handed bolt action rifles,I'd feel very awkward with a lefty. Not that I have the energy to shoot much,and I never hunted.

One time,I went to the trouble to experimentally make an angled bladed coffin smoother. Did a nice,crisp job on it and re ground a nice laminated Marples blade of RECENT make to fit it. Only when I started to take a cut with it did I discover I angled the blade the wrong way!! I gave it to a right handed person!!

[Winton Applegate]

Steve,

Thank you for posting photos and info about your planes !

TWO THUMBS UP !


I was particularly struck by the cocobolo mini smoother. I find the dark look of it fascinating.
As far as the wedge on the marking gauge you did the opposite of what I did when I used cocobolo for a couple of gauges. I used the cocobolo sap wood for the wedges so, in theory, it would be softer and more grippy. Beings the coco is kind of oily and so hard I was afraid a wedge made of the heart wood could slip.
It seems my fears were unfounded.

[Judson Green]

Wow looks nice Steve!

[Steve Voigt]

George, Kees, Zach, Fred, Judson, and everyone else who posted recently--thanks so much for the nice compliments, I'm glad you like the planes!

George--if you see this--I didn't know you were a lefty. Two questions: Was this ever an issue at W'burg? I imagine if they were being truly historically accurate, they would beat people for using their left hands!Also, did you ever make any lefty joinery planes? A lefty plow is definitely on my list, though I better make some furniture first or I will have to go live in the doghouse.

[Steve Voigt]

Awesome Steve! Those planes look great, now I'm even more excited to know that you're local. I hope I get to check those out in person!

Jeff--thanks! I will email you soon, and I will definitely bring the planes when I visit your shop!

[Chris Vandiver]

Really excellent work on all accounts! The small smoother is my favorite. I like the look of the shorter than usual iron for a coffin smoother. Kudos.

[Steve Voigt]

Any progress photos on these? I'd love to make a rabbet plane but just haven't actually taken the time to figure it all out. They just seem a bit tougher in my head than a typical hollow or round moulding plane which I've made. Some advice on it would be great.

Hey Tony--thanks very much for the kind words. A couple thoughts on the above:
For me--and I don't know if this is typical--the rabbet plane was harder to make than a bench plane. I know you were talking about making a smoother, so it might be easier to tackle that first. On the other hand, i remember you made some beautiful walnut molding planes, so maybe the rabbet will be easier for you.
The best free resource I know of for rabbet planes is this post (http://musingsfrombigpink.blogspot.com/2012/05/making-rabbet-plane.html) by Matt Bickford. I pretty much just followed his instructions.
I have a couple process pics for the rabbet. First is one of my embarrassing-looking guides, which I found indispensable. This one is just a block with 55° on one end and 65° on the other, and a groove down the middle to keep the guide square.

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I used the guide first to guide my back saw for the throat cuts, then I drilled the hole for the escapement.

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For the mortise, Bickford drills two holes, but I was too chicken, and it didn't look like it would work, so I just drilled one hole down the center and went at it with chisels, using the same guide I used for sawing. To fine tune, I used a couple small vixen files that I reground to fit. putting a scraper edge on the last tooth of the files, as you would do with a float, also really helps for getting the mortise right.
Then, I carved the escapement. I know less than nothing about carving, but I got 3 gauges on ebay for $15, and one of them was a 1/4" incannel gouge. I did a half-assed sharpening job and went at it. Holy cow, what an awesome tool. I'm totally hooked. Anyway, the gauge worked so well that I just needed to clean up with a coarse rat-tail file followed by sandpaper. The pic below shows the escapement almost finished. See how it flattens out abruptly and becomes almost horizontal at about the 7 oclock position? This is what was preventing the chips from spiraling properly. After I angled that bit a little more, everything worked right.
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You already know how to do the chamfers, so I won't go into that. Hope this helps you get those planes happening.

- Steve

[Steve Voigt]

Only inconvenient with scissors,Tony!! Actually,I have to consciously slide files to the right when filing to get a smoother cut. They are made for right handed people.

This is the story of my life.

[Steve Voigt]

Steve,

As far as the wedge on the marking gauge you did the opposite of what I did when I used cocobolo for a couple of gauges. I used the cocobolo sap wood for the wedges so, in theory, it would be softer and more grippy. Beings the coco is kind of oily and so hard I was afraid a wedge made of the heart wood could slip.
It seems my fears were unfounded.

Winston, the wedge is working great so far, but great point, I think you are right in principle. I'm not sure I believe that wedges need to be softer, but I didn't think about the oiliness of the cocobolo, so if that becomes an issue I'll remake the wedge.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Very nice work. I love working with cocobolo. I find myself stopping and smelling it often. I am sure anyone witnessing this would think I was crazy.

I have long wanted to make a set of moulding planes. This inspires me, but first I need to build the Ruobo bench I want.

As for lefties, add me to the mix, but like most of us I have adapted and am pretty much ambidextrous. There are a few things, however, that I actually do right-handed and cannot do left-handed, such as playing guitar and shooting a gun. I attribute those things to simply adapting to the norm. Practice is key. Being ambidextrous really helps in art and woodworking. If my hand gets tired I just switch hands.

[Warren Mickley]

I noticed that the rabbet plane was left handed in the previous thread and wondered if that was intentional. Sometimes pictures are backwards.

I think the plane iron in the smoothing plane looks awfully short. It looks like if it loses 1/4 inch in length you will have trouble adjusting it. I personally don't have any plane irons that I haven't used more than 1/2 inch in length. Older plane irons were long for a reason.

[Mark Ketelsen]

Very nice. This isn't a criticism, just an FYI. I made a virtually identical marking gauge last year and after using it for a few months I found it quite inconvenient that the cutter is obscured from view when setting the fence to say an existing knife line or other offset. I ended up modifying the gauge so that the cutter is mounted in a shallow channel in the end of the beam and held in place with a brass plate and two screws (I'd send a pic but am on the road for awhile).

[Winton Applegate]

I personally don't have any plane irons that I haven't used more than 1/2 inch in length. Older plane irons were long for a reason.
Interesting point. You lead me to do some guess work math.
I divided .500 inch by say .002 inch removed each full sharpening session to remove the wear bevels.
That is 250 sharpenings to use up 1/2 inch of length. Could do that in a year.
I use stacks of blades so that is all spread out among those.
I must be taking off less than two thou per full sharpening session. Hmmmm.

Could be another argument for using a sharpening jig and staying away from the power grinder. Which is the way I roll.

[Winton Applegate]

cutter is mounted in a shallow channel in the end of the beam and held in place with a brass plate and two screws

I did a similar one. I used one screw through the blade into a turned, cross drilled and threaded brass dowel. As you can see in the larger gauge the blades are exacto knife blades. Also shows the sap wood wedges (and decorative sap wood left on).

http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy298/noydb1/IMG_1609_zps6ecbe416.jpg (http://s801.photobucket.com/user/noydb1/media/IMG_1609_zps6ecbe416.jpg.html)

http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy298/noydb1/IMG_1604_zpsa89cc170.jpg (http://s801.photobucket.com/user/noydb1/media/IMG_1604_zpsa89cc170.jpg.html)

[Steve Voigt]

Hi Winton,
Those look great. A couple posts back, Mark K. mentioned that he preferred mounting the blade at the very end of the beam, for increased visibility. I notice you use both approaches here. Any preference?
I also notice that your wedge is angled the opposite direction from mine. Yours makes more sense, mechanically speaking, though I doubt it's a big deal, since the pressure on the wedge is minor, compared to say a plane wedge.
The gauge I posted is the first I've made…I was originally going to make a set, but I decided it would be better to start with one and work out the ergonomic issues from there. Thanks for the ideas…

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I often make an initial mark off via another piece of wood (or occasionally a combo-square, depending on how I'm working) using a chisel or knife, and then set my gauge by resting the blade in this initial mark. Originally, this was just done because it was easier to transfer than measure, but this has worked quite well for things like my panel gauge, where the blade is obscured a bit by it's construction, so even when I am measuring, I use this approach rather than trying to set the gauge by numbers. Since I started doing this, having the blade somewhat obscured hasn't bothered me at all.

[Winton Applegate]

mounting the blade at the very end of the beam, for increased visibility. I notice you use both approaches here. Any preference?

Steve,

Sorry to take so long to respond. I first made the larger one with all the wood obscuring the cutter and then realized, not that I needed to see the cutter but that the stick to the left of the blade was going to prevent me from cutting/marking where I needed to. I can not for the life of me remember which project that was. I think for the most part there is no problem; just set the dimension from the fence to the blade and go around the end of the work. Not a lot of need to see the blade. These are for cross grain marking basically.

Another way to "see" where the mark is going is, for with the grain marks, to use a marking gauge with a round pointed cutter and use an awl to put a poke in the wood where you want to stop and the gauge tip will fall into it and stop there. If that makes any sense. Kind of a "stop cut" mark.

So as I tell people who ask me "shall I get this or that" I say both. Same here. These are based on a FWW article and also on the Toshio Odate books.
I have yet to make it but I want to make an all metal marking gauge like Jim Kingshott had made for him but have not done that yet. His was very small and had a threaded micro adjuster on it.

[Mark Ketelsen]

Here is photo of how I modified my cutting guage to povide better visibility of cutter.
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[Steve Voigt]

Here is photo of how I modified my cutting guage to povide better visibility of cutter.
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Cool, I like the brass! I may try this style of blade holder on my next gauge.

[Mark Ketelsen]

If you include a brass wear plate or your next gauge, you might consider an approach that I used on another gauge and like better than the one in the photo. For the screw holes, counter-sink only deep enough so that the bottom of the FH screw slots sit just proud of the surface. Then when you file them flush, the screw slots disappear.