Bob Smalser
02-16-2007, 3:26 PM
Ok, Bob you got my attention, do you have pictures of the plane unassembled, i.e. without the blade and wedge in place. I can see myself doing this, I have a useless Buck Bros #3 that I got from a borg which is begging for this transformation.
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/230775874.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~rexmill/sharpening/sharpening_jigs_gages/sharpening_jigs_gages.htm
Johnnie Kelso down in Georgia at Rex Mill is a retired machinist and superb craftsman who likes to rehab old planes and make tools. He recently made a trial run of thick plane irons and was kind enough to send me one to try. Thick, heavy, dead flat and already hand honed to include eased corners....and too nice to let sit on a shelf.
http://home.comcast.net/~rexmill/heat_treating/images/9_small.jpg
Johnnie's intent for these is in woodies, but although I still use a beech jointer occasionally on something I can't take to the machine, I don't have a use for another woodie in anything other than a specialty plane like spars or chamfers. The reason is seasonal movement and wear.....I use planes outdoors in a wet climate and my woodies go out of tune with the seasons. I'll fuss with a spar plane because I have no choice, but for a smoother I prefer cast iron.
First thing I noticed about Johnnie's iron was that it was the same width as a #4 and #5 Stanley iron. I considered annealing and machining a slot in it to accept the Stanley lever cap, but then I'd have to redo all Johnnie's lovely work getting the back flat, so I switched to a bar and wedge.
I would have preferred a junker #4 for this plane, but didn't have one. I did have a junker #5 however, and using hack saw and buffer-grinder I cut the #5 down to the length of a #4 1/2.
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/230775847.jpg
You can see the quarter-inch drill rod I used for the bar between wedge and iron, and if you look closely you can also see a ring of the silver braze I used to attach it to the cast iron cheeks of the plane body. I simply stripped the frog of unnecessaries, and indexed the iron on the remounted frog in a trial-and-error process of widening the front of the plane mouth using files.
When I had the mouth I wanted, I indexed the frog and blade again, and marked on the cheeks where the drill rod should go. Then to the drill press, the brazing furnace made from fire bricks, cleanup and flattening the plane's sole using index fluid and 60-150 grit on my jointer table. Like most planes, this one had been used to edgejoint boards and had significant wear down the center of the sole that had to be sanded out.
I rasped out a wedge for fit, refinished an old beech handle to match, blued the metal and found the plane works as well as any I've used. All that's left to do is fabricate a mounting screw of the proper length for the knob. If I ever make another, I'll leave a little more room between the iron and bar for a thicker wedge with a tad more taper that would be easier to fit. That's why I left the wedge corners square, so it's easier to remove, as the shallow taper makes it fit tighter than it needs to.
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/230775874.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~rexmill/sharpening/sharpening_jigs_gages/sharpening_jigs_gages.htm
Johnnie Kelso down in Georgia at Rex Mill is a retired machinist and superb craftsman who likes to rehab old planes and make tools. He recently made a trial run of thick plane irons and was kind enough to send me one to try. Thick, heavy, dead flat and already hand honed to include eased corners....and too nice to let sit on a shelf.
http://home.comcast.net/~rexmill/heat_treating/images/9_small.jpg
Johnnie's intent for these is in woodies, but although I still use a beech jointer occasionally on something I can't take to the machine, I don't have a use for another woodie in anything other than a specialty plane like spars or chamfers. The reason is seasonal movement and wear.....I use planes outdoors in a wet climate and my woodies go out of tune with the seasons. I'll fuss with a spar plane because I have no choice, but for a smoother I prefer cast iron.
First thing I noticed about Johnnie's iron was that it was the same width as a #4 and #5 Stanley iron. I considered annealing and machining a slot in it to accept the Stanley lever cap, but then I'd have to redo all Johnnie's lovely work getting the back flat, so I switched to a bar and wedge.
I would have preferred a junker #4 for this plane, but didn't have one. I did have a junker #5 however, and using hack saw and buffer-grinder I cut the #5 down to the length of a #4 1/2.
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/230775847.jpg
You can see the quarter-inch drill rod I used for the bar between wedge and iron, and if you look closely you can also see a ring of the silver braze I used to attach it to the cast iron cheeks of the plane body. I simply stripped the frog of unnecessaries, and indexed the iron on the remounted frog in a trial-and-error process of widening the front of the plane mouth using files.
When I had the mouth I wanted, I indexed the frog and blade again, and marked on the cheeks where the drill rod should go. Then to the drill press, the brazing furnace made from fire bricks, cleanup and flattening the plane's sole using index fluid and 60-150 grit on my jointer table. Like most planes, this one had been used to edgejoint boards and had significant wear down the center of the sole that had to be sanded out.
I rasped out a wedge for fit, refinished an old beech handle to match, blued the metal and found the plane works as well as any I've used. All that's left to do is fabricate a mounting screw of the proper length for the knob. If I ever make another, I'll leave a little more room between the iron and bar for a thicker wedge with a tad more taper that would be easier to fit. That's why I left the wedge corners square, so it's easier to remove, as the shallow taper makes it fit tighter than it needs to.