Weekend Project

[Jeff Wittrock]

This is a small plane I made this weekend. I don't have any experience with these things, so I pretty much borrowed the shape and dimensions from some other Krenov style planes I have seen. Maybe once I use it for a while I better understand what shape works best.

I used the Iron from a Japanese style plane I purchased about 15 years ago while I was stationed on Okinawa. I could just never get used to using that Japanese plane on the pull stroke. I had a heck of a time holding on to the thing, and I even dropped it a couple of times :o.

About the only thing I did a little different from most of the krenov style planes was to use a metal cross pin instead of making one from wood. I don't know that this is better or worse, I just did it because I has some 5/16" steel rod laying around, and It allowed me to glue up the plane before I drilled the cross pin holes. I filed a flat spot on the pin where the wedge contacts it. This also keeps the pin captive when the wedge is in place.

I wasn't picky about the material. I just glued up some some red oak I had laying around. I didn't make a separate sole. Hopefully the red oak will wear OK.

I made a whole bunch of shavings. Tried it out on some walnut, maple, oak, poplar, and pine. It was almost as much fun using the thing as it was making it.

[rick fulton]

Nice! Looks like a very comfortable smoother.

[David DeCristoforo]

Nice plane. May I make just one suggestion? On the "next one" try to incorporate a chip breaker. Most Japanese blades are sold with one and they are designed to do "double duty", also serving as the wedge. You might be able to buy just the chip breaker from some place like "Hida Tool" or the "Japan Woodworker" in which case you might be able to replace the wooden wedge with the chip breaker. Most western style blades also include a chip breaker but they are usually "attached" to the blade with a screw so you still need the wedge. In any case, your planes will cut much cleaner if you include one. I like the "hybrid" quality of this plane with the Japanese blade in a more "western" style body.

YM

[Pam Niedermayer]

Nice plane. May I make just one suggestion? On the "next one" try to incorporate a chip breaker. Most Japanese blades are sold with one and they are designed to do "double duty", also serving as the wedge. ..

Many of us routinely set aside the subblades of our Japanese smoothing planes; and they work better as smoothers and raise a higher polish with a little less work.

Pam

[David DeCristoforo]

"Many of us routinely set aside the subblades of our Japanese smoothing planes..."

As you wish.... I would like to add that while removing the sub-blade may offer a slight advantage when using the plane for "polishing" cuts, it is not necessarily so for a "general purpose" plane.

YM

[Jeff Wittrock]

Nice plane. May I make just one suggestion? On the "next one" try to incorporate a chip breaker.
YM

Your right, the original plane that I borrowed the blade from had a chip breaker/wedge. The problem I had with the combination was setting the wedge while at the same time having the breaker stop in the correct position. Nothing to do with the design, just my lack of skill :).

I've been wondering about the benefits of the chip breaker. I remember a post from not to long ago which discussed just this topic. I think I can probably make small spacer block to slip over the cross pin which would let me set the original breaker/wedge. It will give me a chance to try a good comparison.

Thanks,

-Jeff

[Brian Kent]

Beautiful plane Jeff. Are there any other sizes that you might build in the future?

Brian

[David DeCristoforo]

"The problem...was setting the wedge while at the same time having the breaker stop in the correct position".

This can be tricky but it is not difficult. It involves bending the "horns" on the top corners of the chipper so that it gets tight just before it reaches the correct "depth". Then a few taps to "snug it down" are all that is needed. Typically, this need be done only once. Of course, with a Japanese plane, the main blade has it's own tapered groove and will pretty much "stay put" while you are adjusting the chipper which makes it a bit easier than having to try to adjust both blades at the same time.

YM

[Jim Koepke]

Very nice indeed.

jim

[Zahid Naqvi]

Nice plane Jeff, I was wondering how the metal pins holds as far as keeping the wedge in place. I wanted to use one because it allows more escapement space but wasn't sure how steadfast it will hold the wedge.

[Jeff Wittrock]

Nice plane Jeff, I was wondering how the metal pins holds as far as keeping the wedge in place. I wanted to use one because it allows more escapement space but wasn't sure how steadfast it will hold the wedge.

I haven't made one with a wooden pin, so unfortunately I can't give you a good comparison. I guess I can only say I haven't had any problem with my very limited (one weekend) usage :). I guess since I filed a flat surface about halfway through the pin, it gives about a 5/16" X wedge width bearing surface.

Honestly, since I know very little about making planes like these, I wondered if it would be better to leave the flat surface I filed on the pin a little rough to grip better, or polish it smooth. I ended up polishing it. I don't know if that was a mistake or not.

I guess I like the metal pin because it allowed me to do the messy glue up first, and then drill the cross pin hole, and as you say, it gives more clearance up front for the shavings to come out and to clean.

-Jeff

[Charlie Mastro]

I tried wooden dowels but they flexed. The true Krenov style used a thicker piece of wood with round ends to fit inside the plane when you glued it up. Then you couldn't remove the pin if you needed to. I went to a brass pin, 5/16 to 3/8 and filled a flat as you did. The bonus is you can drill the hole for the pin after you glue up the block and you can remove it too.

In my hand plane classes over 20 years I kept trying to refine the building of the plane to make it as easy as possible for anyone to do and if something looked harder than it needed to be I just changed it.

The plane looks great and I don't think you really need the chip breaker. As Pam said we sometimes just leave them out. Steve Knight's smothers use a thick blade and no chipbreaker and I am told they work fine.

[Wilbur Pan]

Just to be pedantic, the chipbreaker in a Japanese plane isn't really designed to be a wedge to hold the plane blade in place in the same way the wedge works in a western/Krenov-type wooden smoother. The side grooves that the plane blade sits in is the source of the wedging action. The chip breaker is really designed only to, well, break chips.

If I recall correctly, Japanese planes went for hundreds of years without chipbreakers until early in the 20th century.

[Dale Osowski]

I use mine without the chip breakers. I did however start fitting them and sharpening them if I do need to use them some day. The ones that are fitted don't seem to perform better or worse. I prefer without.

[David DeCristoforo]

" The ones that are fitted don't seem to perform better or worse..."

I have found that for fine finishing cuts, the chipper (or sub blade) makes little difference and some even find that they get a "cleaner" cut without one. But for "general" work like rough smoothing or cleaning edges, (for me) the chipper improves performance. But, in truth, having a very sharp blade (regardless of the country of origin) is far more important.

YM