Shepard shoulder plane finished

[Roger Myers]

OK - Dave's post earlier shamed me into doing the last tweaking, and taking a test cut and some pictures of the shoulder plane kit I worked on at the Neander Meander...finished 90% of it there, but didn't really get back to it till yesterday evening due to other pressing matters...
Definately a good first plane kit if you are just starting out, and it resulted in a very satisfying plane that will see a lot of use...this is the 1 1/2" shoulder plane that fills in the large shoulder requirement and allows me to leave the old Stanley 94 that was my fathers, on the shelf...and this feels and works a whole bunch better!!
I've included a picture of the parts as received, the sides roughly fitted, and a couple of completed pics. Not as tough a kit to build as Dave's smoother, but a really terrific project!!

Roger

[Ed Marks]

Gee Roger .... that went from rough fit to finished pretty quick :) Looks nice. Bet you won't be using the #93 as much.

[Tom Scott]

You guys are killing me with al these infills posted. Looks great, and with that tight mouth, I bet it works a little better than the 94.

Tom

[Roger Myers]

Ed...it actually doesn't take all that long...really a function of how fussy you are....and I'm very high on the fusy list.....from kit to ready for tweaking is maybe 8 hours....tweaking in my case is another 3 or 4.... but a second one would go much quicker....I was slow and careful in peining the dovetails which in my opinion saves considerable time later...no "dings" to deal with...

Tom... you are so right...the 94 is now just an interesting and sentimental paperweight..it doesn't even come close to the performance of this.... I have the Lie Nielson small shoulder plane and this performs right up there with the LN... Now, Konrad Sauer had to go and show me a really sweet, and really small, shoulder plane...well, you just can't have enough!

[Ben Knebel]

Very nice job Roger--and doesn't it give you that nice gooey gushy feeling inside knowing you built it yourself.
Regards
Ben

[Matt Woodworth]

Nice job. It really looks great, you can't even see the metal joinery.

[scott pollack]

great job roger! ive never built a plane before. are jacks and smoothers just as " simple"? and how sells these kits?
scotty

[Ben Knebel]

Hi Scott;


The smoothers take a little longer than the shoulder planes to build and the panel planes a little longer still but any of our planes can be built in a weekend.
Regards
Ben
www.shepherdtool.com

[Matt Woodworth]

Hi Scott;
The smoothers take a little longer than the shoulder planes to build and the panel planes a little longer still but any of our planes can be built in a weekend.
Regards
Ben
www.shepherdtool.com

Ben,

The primary reason I'm reluctant to buy a kit and try my hand at making a plane is that I'm concerned that I would mess it up and that I don't have the equipment I need (anvil?). Do the kits come with instructions? Have you considered putting the instructions online? I typically read the instruction manual before I buy a tool.

On a semi-related note, I read that most woodworkers research their tool purchases more than an average person researches their house. I can actually believe that. :)

[Dave Anderson NH]

I'm sure Ben or Doug will reply in detail, but I dont have an anvil. I used a steel plate 3/8" thick and about 6" square which I got as a scrap from work. I place it on my benchtop and used it to do my peening -worked just fine. The kits come with instructions and as long as you take things slow and read the instructions before starting and as you go along, things should be fine. Everything depends on working carefully and I personally don't recommend try to finish the kit in any set amount of time. It has taken me years to get away from my speed demon approach to things and my results in almost everything have improved as I slowed down and let things proceed at a comfortable pace.

[Ben Knebel]

Hi Matt;
There s actually very little in the way of special tools needed to complete these kits. We designed these kits so that you didn't have to have a blacksmith's shop to make one.

For the smoothers through panels you need a couple of bastard files--8 " straight and half round are fine---a ball pien hammer--and a metal surface to pien. This metal surface can be as simple as the back end of a bench vice or , as Dave suggests, a chunk of metal ---offcuts are usually available form scrap yards or machine shops for very little money. A drill press is a nice to have but a hand drill will work fine and a belt sander is a very nice to have but not necessary. The whole plane can be finished with files and sandpaper--a longer process but definitely doable.

For shoulders , chariots and the mitre plane the only extra thing you need is a set of needle files---because you're dealing with a very fine mouth so tiny files are necessary to work that area.

We will be putting out insructions on line but if you go to our site you will see the build process described by several of our customers. The smoother build has been described by Chris Schwarz of Pop Wood and you can see the article at this link http://www.popularwoodworking.com/features/fea.asp?id=1224

Metal tends to be a scary thing for woodworkers but because we deal with mild steel it is a lot easier to work than people expect. In fact the mild steel is "softer" than the Cocobolo we use for the infill. Mild steel can be filed, sanded, scraped, planed and even shaped on a scroll saw with a metal cutting blade. It's not as scary as you might think.
When I built our first plane I had never touched a piece of metal--to make something out of--in my entire life. I'm told I did a credible job building that first one.
Regards
Ben

[Roger Myers]

Matt,
Let me add also (since Ben is being his ususal modest self) that the guys at Shepherd tool will make sure that you do a great job...any questions or concerns if instructions are not clear, will be answered promptly...they will go out of their way to insure that you are happy and satisfied.
I built the shoulder plane first for two reasons...one, I wanted a shoulder plane in that size, and I also knew that in many respects it would be a little les daunting a task..now, I would have no hesitation to take ona panel or mitre plane...
Another thing in my mind is to take it slow when building the plane...first, this is a more satisfying way to approach things...file a little, test the fit, file some more..... When it comes to peining the dovetails (the part I was most nervous about) this went very, very well...but again, my approach is probably a little slower than many others...but that also meant that there were no dings in the side of the plane that I would have to spend extra time working on....patience is an asset here.
Working the mouth of the plane was actually very easy....go slow (have I said that before?) and you will be very pleased with the result.
Roger
No affiliation with Shepeherd Tool (other than as a satisfied customer who will no doubt end up buying more and more planes from them...)

[scott pollack]

alright now. please help me , what the heck is peining? matts post has me a little nervous. like when he first started , ive never worked with metal either.
scotty

[Ben Knebel]

Hi Scott;
Piening is the process of hitting the metal with a ball pien hammer ( a hammer with a flat on one head and a round on the other-almost a ball--hence the name) for the purpose of causing metal to move or deform to a desired shape.

In the case of metal dovetails you join the sides of the plane to the sole of the plane by hammering the snot out of the tails causing the metal to deform--in this case you are actually flowing the metal tails on the sides and the sole together to form a solid bond. This is sometimes called cold welding or hammer welding. If you were doing this with metal pins it would be called rivetting and this is also part of the build process. Far less complex than it sounds and the metal deforms quite easily from the blows of the hammer.

This process of hammer welding can be done hot or cold. In the case of a plane it is done cold. The process of using a hammer to fold pieces of steel together to join them has been around for a couple of thousand years so hey --if the ancients could do it so can you.
Regards
Ben

[Glenn Clabo]

It should also be noted...only because I'm married to a Canadian who corrects my spelling all the time...that the 'Merican spelling is "peening"...at least as far as I can figure.

And please don't ask me to spell anything...evah...

[scott pollack]

thank you ben. now that makes sense to me. now i just need to save and convince kathleen why i need to do this. ben , we may need to hook up on a call. we'll see! thanks again. scotty