Almost finished infill gloat

[Ron Brese]

Coming soon to a shop near you (that is if you happen to live in my vicinity) a new infill plane. This is a plane that I designed over a year ago and am just now getting around to making. Things like finishing and moving into our house sorta got in the way. This plane has a .250 tk. bronze sole, .187 tk bronze sides the infill and tote are walnut. It will utilize a 2.375 wide Lie-Nielsen iron and will have a lever cap made from .5 tk bronze. The rear tote is attached to a .125 tk. brass tang emerging from under the rear infill. I didn't think it was thick enough to be in scale with the other parts of the plane, so today I remade it in .187 tk. bronze. There will be a .125 tk tang emerging from the infill right under the iron it will bend back and attach to the top of the tote. I fabricated the top tang today but it was not done when I made the pics. The sole length is 8" true smoother length. As you can see the front bun is already finished. Today after fabricating the tangs I was able to do the assembled sanding on the rear infill and tote. Tonight I put some dark garnet shellac on those parts. Besides doing the other stages of finishing on the wooden bits I only have the lever cap left to fabricate.

The top tang attaching the tote to the rear infill is in effect making a closed tote with more finger room than a traditional closed tote. The rear tote is also angled forward more than a traditional tote so I am interested to see what it's like in the using of the plane.

[Bruce Branson]

I like the xtra space behind the tote ,but, I wonder if your little finger will slide down and be jammed between it and the bun.

[Ron Brese]

Bruce I don't think it will. There is a rounded area right at the base of the tote that should keep my finger no lower that the curved part of the tote. Of course the truth will be in the using, so we'll see.

Ron

[Jim Dunn]

Just beautiful. What material is at the bottom of the tote? Is it brass as well, part of the sole maybe?

[Ron Brese]

Jim the material at the bottom of the tote is a 3/16 tk. piece of bronze. It is fastened to the sole under the infill.

Ron

[Chuck Hamman]

Gosh I hate it when work and family stuff get in the way of building new tools!
Ron,
The new smoother looks great. Great craftsmanship. It has a kind of Bedrock flavor to it. I noticed the increased angle on the tote right away and it struck me as being a bit fragile. Then I read your text and the tang coming off the top is a good idea; should make it all quite stout. It almost looks as though you could vary the position of your hand on the tote to increase or decrease the amount of downforce, if you found that to be of benefit.
Bed angle is 50 degrees?

-Chuck

[Ron Brese]

Chuck you are very perceptive. My idea about the tote was just as you said.
The pitch is in fact 50 degrees. I french polished the wooden bits yesterday and did some prelimary assembly work today. I have some metal finishing left to do on the sides and then I have the daunting task of making the lever cap. If the pivot holes in the cap are not right this pretty beast won't behave properly. I think I'm gonna save that for a "first thing in the morning project"
while my mind is fresh. I figure I should have it all wrapped up by the first of next week.

Ron

[Ron Brese]

I've made some progress on the infill. I've attached pics that show the tang that supports the tote.

[Chuck Hamman]

Ron,
That dark garnet shellac looks awesome on that walnut.
I've never used shellac as a finish -I must have been living under a rock all these years. I've been reading a lot about it lately and I bought some orange shellac chips from LV a couple of weeks ago. As soon as the weather breaks around here I'm going to use it to finish a little handkerchief table I'm building.

-Chuck

[Ron Brese]

Chuck I use shellac as a sealer for all my furniture pieces. Being a period furniture guy the garnet colors really add a nice color to these pieces. On furniture pieces I usually top coat with a waterborne lacquer, but on tool totes and grips I like the feel of the shellac and I usually rag or french polish these pieces.

Ron