steel, brass, 0-1 tool steel and 60 year old rosewood

[Ron Brese]

First let me apologize for the dark pictures, the rosewood is not nearly as dark as the pictures make it seem. In these pics it could just as well be ebony.

This is what I call my 875-250 smoother. It has very distinctive Norris #13 lines and my very recognizable single 1/4" thick iron configuration. It is 8.75 inches long, and features a 2" wide 0-1 iron ground at 30 degrees. This plane is set up at York pitch (50 degrees) a bit steeper than the original Norris. The sole is 3/8" precision ground steel and the sides are 3/16" brass. The infill wood is from the log that I featured in a prior posting. It came into the U.S.A in the 1950s, I'd say it is well seasoned. The mouth was set using a piece of Home Depot receipt paper, I believe this is about .003.

I just finished this plane about 2 hours ago and have already given it a test run and then had to make myself leave the shop and go into the house so I wouldn't have to sweep up shavings before I quit.(grin)

Thanks for looking,

Ron Brese

[Ron Brese]

This is a link to the thread about the rosewood log.

www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=85170&highlight=Brese

[Russ Hauser]

Absolutely gorgeous! How are the sides attached to the sole?

Russ Hauser

[Steve Pirrelli]

Ron that's a beaut! Do I see brass pins attaching the sole to the sides?

[Bill Houghton]

The mouth was set using a piece of Home Depot receipt paper, I believe this is about .003.

I take it you selected Home Depot receipt paper after extensive testing of HD paper vs. Lowes vs. Ace Hardware...

Just teasing. That is a lovely, beautiful, stunningly nice plane.

[Joel Ficke]

Wow! That is stunning Ron! How many hours does it take to make something like that once you are up the learning curve? I dream of making one of these some day.

[Ron Brese]

Thanks for the comments guys, the assembly method I use on my planes is referred to as an integrated rivet. The brass pins are integrated into the sole of the plane and fit thru holes in the plane sides which are counter sinked. The top of the rivet is peined into the counter sink to secure the sides to the sole of the plane. The attachment forces are at right angles to the sole and it makes for an extremely rigid and accurate assembly and an almost invisible attachment method. Actually they are more visible in these pictures than in person.

Ron Brese

[Ron Brese]

Joel it depends on what you would consider a learning curve. Once the plane body was together I still had the better part of a week in this one. The woodworking on these planes can easily take as long as the metal working. The rear infill is very time consuming and then when you add touches a like an inlayed lever cap the hours do add up. After the woodworking aspect is completed you have a very tedious assembly job to execute and then you have to tune the plane after working the iron. Tuning in this regard is flattening the sole, tuning the lever cap to the back of the iron and filing the mouth the size.

I do this work daily so most would have to consider an allowance of more time. Probably the most overlooked part of plane making is the amount of concentration required to make the details correct and to attain the accuracy required to make a plane of excellent function as well as creating an object that is visually appealing. If it did not function at a high level what would be the point?

Ron Brese

[Ron Brese]

Bill the paper testing occurred as follows:

Home depot paper was found first.(grin)

Ron