Plinth blocks by hand

[Keith Mathewson]

I needed to make a few plinth blocks to match a remodel. Nothing too elaborate but thought hand tool Neanderthals might find it interesting

[William Fretwell]

Not hard to have chisel and shaping plane envy. Why is it done as little blocks?

[Keith Mathewson]

These are blocks which go at the bottom of door casing to accommodate baseboard and baseshoe terminations.

The reason I thought it might be interesting is that this is endgrain shaping. The first few I did one at a time using the old piece as a backer to avoid tearout. It then occurred to me that if they were ganged together they could be worked like a long grain piece. I cleaved off the major sections with a chisel after first sawing to deand the rest was done with hollows and round as well as a pair of snipe bills.

[Stew Denton]

Keith,

Nicely done. My folks had a house that was probably built before 1900, and it had such blocks at the base of the door casing.

Stew

[brian zawatsky]

Very nice Keith. I’ve never used a moulding plane in a cross grain orientation. I would imagine it takes very sharp & finely set irons to cut cleanly.

[Keith Mathewson]

Thanks for the comments. Cross grain planning is prone to tear out, also the slightest imperfection is a scratch and not just a ridge. I had to sand after because any little Imperfection shows up when stained. In one of the pictures you can see the sharpening station near the bench. I tend to sharpen often, it makes the job much easier.