101

[Ryan Cathey]

I've bought three Stanley 101 planes to make small infills out of and in case anyone here has never seen one I'm here to tell you that you could fly a Cesna through the mouth of these things. Now my really quick question is: How important is it for a plane to have a tight mouth? I asked my uncle about attaching a metal shim to the mouth to close it up some and he suggested TIG (tungsten inert gas) welding it. He said that he could take it to his job and TIG-weld in some stainless steel. I've filed out one of the planes and am ready to cut the infill for it which I will do on the bandsaw in my tech ed class:D. I've also emailed Lie-Nielsen about a brass lever cap from one of their model maker's planes but haven't recieved a reply yet. All in all it's gonna be a pretty sweet looking plane if I do say so myself;).

-Ryan C.

[Brian Kent]

That'd be the first time somebody flew a small plane through the mouth of another small plane!

[Ron Brese]

Ryan,

The tightness of the mouth has a lot to do with what your expectations are for the plane and how you're planning to use it. If you are looking to make a plane for smoothing difficult woods then you are by all means going to need a tight mouth in that plane, for general work you may want a larger mouth. What is tight and what is not tight? It is not uncommon for dedicated smoothers to have mouth dimensions as tight as .002, however I think good performance can be had with slightly larger mouths, and this will increase the usablilty of the plane.

Ron

[Ron Brese]

Ryan is that 101 a small block plane?

Ron

[Ryan Cathey]

Sure is...it's a model makers plane. Do you have Patrick Leach's site bookmarked?

-Ryan C.

[Ryan Cathey]

It just dawned on me; you're the one that made the small infill!! I'm glad you saw the thread. I might need your help along the way.

-Ryan C.

[Ron Brese]

Ryan,

Thanks for the PM, That is the plane I was thinking it was. I have several questions. (1) What is the pitch angle of the iron and are you going to leave it as it was manufactured? (2) Does the lever cap need to work against the cross pin that is in the plane already, or will you modify this part? (3) How do you want it to function?

Ron

[Ryan Cathey]

1)yes 2)For my first try(I have two other planes to work with) I'm going to use the bar, maybe for another time I'll try something else. AND 3) Basically like a mini smoother. You know, smoothing tearout or things like small pieces of highly figured wood.... On one of the other planes I may try and make it's angle a little lower, but I'll have to move the bar to do that.

-Ryan C.

[Clint Jones]

in case anyone here has never seen one I'm here to tell you that you could fly a Cesna through the mouth of these things.
-Ryan C.

Are you sure you have the blade inserted correctly. The 101 should be bevel down to be used as a small trimming plane. I use mine when I'm making picture frames. Heres the bottom of the 101 I use. The blade is set to take a thin shaving and there is hardly a gap in the mouth. I dont think the plane would function properly if the mouth was any smaller. If you plan on adding a replacement Little Victor or LN type blade you may even have to open the mouth or change the pitch angle of the iron. Just my 2 cents.
60684

[Ryan Cathey]

You know what I bet it is? I bet it's because I'm working on the off-brand version before I dig into the yet-to-arrive Stanley. That's probably it and all the more better...just one less obstacle.

-Ryan C.

[Ron Brese]

Ryan,

Now that you've answered those questions, I of course have some more(grin)
How wide is the iron, and have you thought about a thicker iron to tighten up the mouth in lieu of welding a piece in the mouth? Have you considered letting the rear or bedside of the infill go into the mouth to decrease the size of the mouth? (keep in mind this could affect the position of the lever cap pin, and I like the thicker iron idea better)

Just thinking out loud here, but on a plane this size you probably could make the lever cap out of a piece of the cocobolo. That stuff is dense and may hold threads plenty well enough to secure a small iron, or a cocobolo wedge would look cool and function well.

Ron

[Ryan Cathey]

The iron is one inch wide (the plane itself has a mild coffin shape which I think is very befitting for an infill btw) and I'm going to purchase the "Little Victor" replacement blade from LV to use in it. Clint pointed out something I hadn't thought of so possibly the mouth may have to be filed out. That's better anyways. The LV blade is O1 steel and thicker so it should work nicely. I like that lever cap idea but my miniature woodworking skills are going to be taxed by this infill as it is:rolleyes:. Also using a wedge would open up a whole other can of worms that I'm not ready for. BTW here's a quick profile sketch of the plane. It's going to be overstuffed. Tell me what you think.

-Ryan C.

[Ron Brese]

From looking at the picture of the plane on the page you sent me I agree with Clint, given the pitch I'm sure it would work bevel down, otherwise it would quite nearly be a scraper.

Ron

[Ryan Cathey]

Either way would work nicely for what I plan anyways lol.

[Ryan Cathey]

Grrr!! I hate school. I'm off to bed and won't be able to check the thread until four-ish tomorrow. Thanks guys.

-Ryan C.

[Ron Brese]

That will gives us time to figure out how to tell you to rebuild your plane, LOL

Ron

[Ryan Cathey]

I've decided I'm going to use some thick douglas fir I have lying around before I try with the rosewood. I'll put it into the cheapie craftsman model I have and then put rosewood into the Stanley.

-Ryan C.

[Ron Brese]

Ryan,

I think a trial run is always a good idea, prototyping with rosewood is probably not a good idea.

Ron

[Ryan Cathey]

That's kinda what I thought. Also with the DF I can work out how I'm going to cut it and shape it and everything. I'll probably just hot glue it in so I can go back and replace it with rosewood if I want to.

-Ryan C.

[Ryan Cathey]

I tried working on it today. It's harder than I thought. At the infills thickest point it's only one inch thick. Do you think I could use a scroll saw for this? My grandmother has a scroll saw that I could borrow and that would be better than taking something to school every time I need it cut.

[Ron Brese]

Ryan,

Why don't you talk to your shop teacher and explain what you're trying to do and I bet he/she will let you bring the plane body in and work on it at school.
If that's not a possible then tune up one of the planes and get it working well enough to fine tune the size of the infill, or if you have other planes then size the infill in a larger piece that you can more easily plane to fit, and then cut the bed angle and the shaving escape angle on the infill pieces. Be careful on those small pieces, small pieces tend to make people get their hands in places they shouldn't be putting them, so take time to figure out how to do it in a safe way.

Ron

[Ryan Cathey]

Will do. I'm at school right now (Don't tell anyone) I'll ask him sometime soon.

[Ryan Cathey]

I got my Ebay 101 today and I was correct in my assumption...the mouth is waaaay smaller on it. Goes to show ya how much better Stanley was at one time. I also got a reply about the Model Makers lever cap. The lady that replied said it would be 15 dollars plus 3 dollars shipping and if it didn't work I could send it back for a full refund.

-Ryan C.

[Ron Brese]

Ryan

The lever cap is one of the more critical and harder to make parts, finding one makes things a lot easier, if it works you're on your way. You will probably need to wait till you get the lever cap and the iron you will using before doing the final fit on the rear infill.

Ron

[Ryan Cathey]

I've got the stock Stanley lever cap..it's just...well...the LN one looks better!!LOL! I'll probably end up ordering it, I do have the money back gurantee offer.