experimental plane

[bridger berdel]

I use baltic birch ply as a material in cabinetmaking. mostly I use it for drawer boxes, but it gets used other places where a strong dense sheet good is called for. I generally have scrap, so it gets used in jigs and such. I also have a drawer full of random plane parts. so I got the idea to build a laminated plane from baltic birch ply. it worked surprisingly well. I approached it as a quickie experiment, expecting it to fail. it didn't. I just used titebond original- if I were to do it again I'd use epoxy. the blade is union tool, thick and tapered. the chipbreaker is one I found at the back of the drawer. it is low profile like old style woodie chipbreakers. first I tried it with a stanley humpback chipbreaker, but had trouble with adjusting the wedge.

anyhow, some pics:

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[Eric Brown]

I think you did a great job Bridger. The plywood should be stable and for its size is economical too. Your approach would also work with solid woods well. Are you planning some more variations? What improvements might you do? Keep it up. Thanks for sharing.

[bridger berdel]

I think you did a great job Bridger. The plywood should be stable and for its size is economical too. Your approach would also work with solid woods well. Are you planning some more variations? What improvements might you do? Keep it up. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks!

for the most part, I have all of the bench planes I need. I'd like to play with a high angle smoother, and if I can get my hands on a toothing blade, I'll make one of those.

[Jim Matthews]

I like laminations.

I think you're WAY ahead of the game, building up from a known thickness
to your desired dimensions, instead of sawing off the sides and putting it back together.

This method eliminates one of the points where errors can derail the build.

I would have two questions about the material, as shown in the OP:

What are the wear characteristics of the exposed plies?
(This surface is where I normally have chip out in making drawers.)

Do you have multiple blade sizes you can fit (due to the thickness of the plies)
or can you get more than one blade width into the design?

I've just had a miserable failure in rehabilitating a coffins smoother,
but installing a dutchman to tighten the mouth leads me to think
that you're onto something, if you laminate a final wear layer on the bottom of the plane.

Nicely done.

[bridger berdel]

I fully expect it to wear itself into a corrugated sole. :)

this material comes in 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4" from my local vendor. all are slightly undersize. the central part of this one is 3 layers of 3/4" material and nicely fits the blade from a #5 plane. the sidewalls are 1/2" material, which is a bit too thick. 1/4" will be a little thin. I think that a coffin smoother shape would be striking, if perhaps a bit over the top. not sure about the long term viability either. I keep thinking of those plywood sandvik saw handles, and how many of them I have seen delaminated.

[Matthew N. Masail]

I really like it, it's totally going 'with the flow' on a laminated plane.

I do wonder how strong are the factory laminations, as you are now relaying on those too.

I would glue a hardwood sole, about 3\16 thick.

[bridger berdel]

certainly adding a sole is an option for later on. this was an experiment in making a quick and dirty plane from plywood. I don't see an immediate need for an added sole as the baltic birch ply is made from all hardwood plies. if anything, adding a sole now would tend to disguise the behavior of the plywood body. I'm not even sure that I will end up keeping this plane, or if I'll build another body for this blade and scrap the wood. so far it's performing quite well, but how a plywood body holds up over time is a complete unknown.




I really like it, it's totally going 'with the flow' on a laminated plane.

I do wonder how strong are the factory laminations, as you are now relaying on those too.

I would glue a hardwood sole, about 3\16 thick.

[Matthew N. Masail]

certainly adding a sole is an option for later on. this was an experiment in making a quick and dirty plane from plywood. I don't see an immediate need for an added sole as the baltic birch ply is made from all hardwood plies. if anything, adding a sole now would tend to disguise the behavior of the plywood body. I'm not even sure that I will end up keeping this plane, or if I'll build another body for this blade and scrap the wood. so far it's performing quite well, but how a plywood body holds up over time is a complete unknown.


I for one would be very happy to hear how it holds up over time. I don't know if a sole will change the feel very much or very little, or for better or worse, but I do know that a hard slick sold on a woodie is great, I usually use Ipe, because it's cheap and available here.

[Matthew N. Masail]

I also suggest waiting with the good wood until you use a certain design for a while and are comfortable with it.

[bridger berdel]

I for one would be very happy to hear how it holds up over time. I don't know if a sole will change the feel very much or very little, or for better or worse, but I do know that a hard slick sold on a woodie is great, I usually use Ipe, because it's cheap and available here.

at the moment the sole of this plane has been sanded flat, given a couple of coats of varnish and rubbed out with caranauba wax. no shortage of slick hardwood sole here....

[Matthew N. Masail]

Sounds good. with wood I never put a finish on. will be interesting how long the finish lasts too. I am not trying to put it down at all, don't get me wrong, just talking
from experience making dozens of planes over the last 3 years, but I never made one out of ply.

[Ryan Mooney]

Interesting experiement. Actually looks pretty good considering the source material.

[bridger berdel]

Sounds good. with wood I never put a finish on. will be interesting how long the finish lasts too. I am not trying to put it down at all, don't get me wrong, just talking
from experience making dozens of planes over the last 3 years, but I never made one out of ply.

I don't expect the varnish on the sole to be permanent, of course. I finished all surfaces including the insides, hoping to give the ply a little extra protection. as the sole wears, gets flattened, etc it'll need more of something, but whether that is oil, varnish or shellac or just wax is to be determined.