Traditional wood hand plane stock??

[Tony Shea]

This is probably a problem for everyone but thought I'd post something. Where on earth can I come up with stock for making a jack plane in the traditional style with a 2 1/8" wide iron? I understand Beech is incredibly difficult to find due to the lack of demand for it but even finding some straight grained maple thick enough has been very difficult for me. I can always laminate some pieces together but REALLY would rather not do this.

This afternoon after work I stopped at my favorite antique tool shop and they happened to have a iron set that is a really good candidate for making me a traditional style jack plane. The back of the blade will require very little work to tune it up and the chipbreaker is in great shape. So if Dave W. is reading this I appreciate your offers but I think I found the iron set I'm looking for, thanks for the suggestion of looking at irons at least 2 1/8" wide.

I would really appreciate someone pointing me in the right direction for some thick stock.

[Paul Sidener]

Try here.

http://www.premiumspecialtyhardwoods.com

[David Weaver]

Prashun got the beach that he offered to me at horizon. I would call them and ask if they have any 16/4 beech shorts that you could get some dead quartersawn plane blanks out of. If they're selling to larry and don, they know what will make planes. the stock that I got from Prashun has made a spectacular plane. I can't think of a better wood to build a jack plane out of, it works nicely by hand and if you get a piece with nice color, it has a lot of personality (as long as you don't sand the personality off of the surface).

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I'm kind of glad that you got your own iron, because ...well, if there would've been anything that you didn't like about the ones I have, I'd have been on the hook!!

[James Conrad]

Tony, Try these folks: http://www.rarewoodsusa.com/

A bit of a drive for you to them, but they are in Maine. They are good people, I use to get stock from them when I was in State. I may have another source for you in Portland, but need to talk with them first.

[Tony Shea]

That would be great James.

I will def call Horizon David. And I would never sand a handplane unless I was flattening the sole. Sanding the surfaces of a handplane should almost be considered criminal. Thank you David for the offer of your irons and most importantly the inspiration to finally get serious about making myself a jack. I made a Krenov style jack a couple years ago and never really cared for this style of plane for use as a jack. There is just too much force when using a jack plane to just wrap my hand around the body and hog away. My hand cramps after a while. I do love my Stanley jack but still think that throwing around a fat wooden plane to hog some wood off seems much more natural and enjoyable. I can only hope to end up with such a nice stick of beech as you have there and create as pretty of a plane as you did.

What style of tote does anyone suggest I use on a jack purposes for initial flattening? An open or closed? I love the looks of a closed tote but am concerned it may look a little crowded on a 15" long plane.

[David Weaver]

I like a jack plane with a closed handle. I've got both, but the one with the open handle, I can feel the handle flexing when I'm horsing it hard. And I don't mean abusing it, but just using it briskly.

I don't know what point wood planes become fores, but the plane in the foreground is a mathiesen (it's got a large 2 1/2" iron) and the plane in the background is a 2 1/4" ohio.

I can steal the measurements off each if you'd like. The mathiesen is 17" long and the ohio plane is 16".

If I were going to have a single handle made plane, I'd rather offset the tote, make it short and force myself to use the grip george suggested (where some fingers drape over the side of the plane). i'd like the single handle a little more if it was shorter and didn't spring as much.

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[Tony Shea]

I do like the plane with the closed handle better. My plane will have a slightly narrower iron but would much appreciate the dimensions of it anyway. How thick should the abutment walls be? Not sure if that is proper terminology but I mean the section that holds the wedge up against the iron. I've heard anywhere from 1/16" to 1/4". I don't want that area to look chunky but want it to be plenty strong to hold up through the years.

[David Weaver]

1/4".

You want the area between the abutments to be about 1/2" narrower than the iron is at the cutting edge. That will give you about as much lateral movement as the iron has lost width from the tip to the top of the abutments, and still have 1/4" abutments.

If you're using 2 1/8", I'd plan for that space between the abutments to be 1 5/8".

[Kees Heiden]

Just some pictures of jacks with a small tote.

From the Logan Cabinet Shop blog
http://logancabinetshoppe.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/grain-direction-on-plane-handles/
http://logancabinetshoppe.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/18th-century-style-jack-plane-the-details/
The picture size is too large, so you'll have to follow the links to see the plane.

From George Willson. A nice plane he made from the same period, but this one has horizontal grain in the tote.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?149509-Scalable-pics-of-an-18th-C-jack-plane-I-made&highlight=18th+century

And a plane from my collection. It's not functional, more worm holes then wood.
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[David Weaver]

For the closed handle jack:

Front of plane to back of mouth is 5 1/2 strong.

Height is 3 1/4 (you'll want a little less than that)

Finished width is 3 1/4.

Wear is about 80 degrees and a little over an inch.

Width between abutments is exactly 2 inches.

Handle is 3 3/4ths high. Back of handle is 1.25 from the back of the plane.

Escapement forward angle is about 55 degrees.

Handle has a stub tenon forward like my jointer.

(here's a picture of the handle, both from above and from straight on in case anyone wants to copy its proportions and angles).

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