Pimp My Plane

[Doug Shepard]

So a few months back I'm just mindin my own bizness when I hear

Psst.
...
PSST.

Now at first I do what anybody who's eaten beans the night before does - blame the dog - "Dang China. Whatchoo been eatin?"
But it got louder.

Psst.
Hey man. Wanna buy a plane?

Wha? Hoozat?

It was a member of the Heavy Metal Mafia - the Georgia chapter prez hisself - Yup, none other than Ron Brese (street name Tightmouth:D).
Now I gotta be careful here cuz you dont want to rile them if they're armed.

I dunno Ron. What ya got?

Sho nuff - he's packin heat, and fishes this piece out of his trenchcoat complete with steel polka-dots (that's pronounced prototype down in Jawja:D).
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Oooh - Purrrrty.

Now I'd asked a few times when one of Ron's full size smoother kits was coming out. Right after getting one of his small smoothers, Jameel Abraham did that excellent blog on building his from a kit and left me kind of wishing I'd tried the kit. So I'd been interested in doing one of the full size kits when they were available. I'd been suggesting he turn one over to Jameel so he could do the same blog job with the big plane (sorry J, I tried). That way I could just follow Jameel's tutorial if/when I built my own. So maybe it was just the timing on asking about the kits or maybe just to shut me up about a freebie for Jameel - but Ron's got some contraband he's looking to unload for a "nominal" fee.

Hmmm (sound of sucker being reeled in) - how much you gonna pay me to forego the pleasure of building my own plane?


When Ron finished coughing up a hairball, we came to terms. I tried to lowball him, and even threatened to see what kind of counteroffer I could get from the New Zealand chapter of the Heavy Metal Mafia - but he wasn't having none of it. But I figured if I sold a kidney, a few pints of blood, and shared from China's dogfood dish for a couple months I could just swing it. So I decide to go for it cuz that fishhook in my lip was hurtin. I knew I'd kick myself later if I passed and I'd be telling stories of the big one that got away forever.

Now somewhere along the line I get the idea that maybe I could at least have a small part in the plane build plus get something unique. I got lucky (and spoiled) on the small smoother when Ron threw in an ebony cap screw inlay just so he could get some pics for his website first, and the barenekked cap screw on this prototype was just screaming for something. So I sez:

Hey Ron - Let's PIMP MY PLANE
..
Say what?
..

I mention I've got some Malachite (Recon, not natural stone) that might look good in the cap screw and could he just counterbore it so I can do my own inlay? So I whipped up some Bling-Bling to get an idea of how it might look. After setting a piece in some scrap brass and sanding up through about 1000g it looks pretty good but still needs some buffing. Well now it was Ron's turn.
Oooh - Purrrrty.
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[Doug Shepard]

But I dunno. The small size of the plug doesn't allow enough space to show the mineral patterns running through the stuff and looks too much like a solid color to me (natural stone would probably be a whole nuther story). It just doesn't have enough Pimpitude. So I start looking about at other reconstituted stone. Turquoise and a couple others were pretty good contenders but I still couldn't make up my mind. Then I start thinking about shell. Hmmmm, maybe mother of pearl? Well I surfed about and quickly gravitated to Paua Abalone and started reading up on how to work the stuff. The laminated stuff (Abalam) is easy to work and looks OK but nothing like the real shell. So I end up finding some nice shell pieces on eBay from a guy in NZ. Then spent a few weeks trying to find a way to work the stuff with the tools I've got. But finally through trial and error I get a method worked out to flatten one side and hold the pieces so plugs can be drilled. Ron then turns a few screws over to another Metal Mafiosi - Johnny Kleso (aka Rarebear) to get counterbored. So after mixing up some epoxy and tossing into my EasyBake Oven
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then some sanding, and polishing here's the outcome.
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Any pimp would be proud to hang this on a gold chain around their neck.
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I have it on good authority that the Devil DID go down to Georgia with some extra abalone plugs so Ron could probably be convinced to do one of these for you - just ask for model number 875-250-POP (Pimped Out Plane:D) (steel polka-dots not included). No two of these screw inlays will be identical though due to the nature of the shell.

[Doug Shepard]

Well to be honest, despite Ron's great work I just couldn't get it to plane well and the balance felt all wrong. I'm happy to report that the abalone has totally corrected the problems:D and this thing is amazing.

It's supposed to rain here most of the week but I'll rehone and get some better pics outside next weekend with natural light but here's a couple with Jatoba shavings. To be quite honest I still haven't figured out which way the grain is running on this piece and the Brese-O-Matic is no help at all. It just refuses to tear out no matter how thick a shaving I have it set for going in either direction.
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[Jim Becker]

Now....THAT was entertaining! And the plane is, well...;) Awesome.

[Greg Cole]

I don't wonder what the dog;s been eating... I may inquire as to what you've been drinking though Doug....LOLOL
Too damn funny, not often will Bling and a Neander thread cross paths... then again it might be rather common now.
I've been working some curly maple lately for a bed that I would LOVE to try the grain ignorance of the Brese-O-Matic on.
Seriously, nice plane my good man.

Greg

[Ron Brese]

I enjoyed being an accomplice in this "pimp my plane" pursuit (grin) and as usual Doug has found an hilarious twist to this bit of an adventure in shell inlay. Doug's 875 plane is a very well functioning prototype in which I tried some things I wouldn't normally do on a production plane. The integrated steel rivets were a bit busy and a design change allowed their omission on the production planes, if infills can be considered a production item. However some will like the fact that the attachment method is celebrated by the exposed rivets and while I had the plane I have to admit it had grown on me as well.

The overall message of this post however is that even thru work and business we can still find ways to have a good time and see the humorous side of our work, (we needn't take ourselves too seriously) besides the fact that the inlay is absolutely gorgeous. Doug actually cut these plugs out of raw shell which was impressive in and of itself.

When he sent me some pieces that he had processed I inlayed a piece in a small lever cap screw. As shown in the attached pic. After Doug saw this picture he insisted that we expedite the counter boring of the screws and Johnny certainly obliged. The picture also shows just how much variance in color there is in this material.

I have investigated the possibility of including more and different types of shell inlays in my planes but right now I think that will occur on a quite limited basis.

We'll see what the future holds,

Ron Brese

[Johnny Kleso]

I can't get over that thats just a piece of shell..
God sure does some great work...

[Doug Shepard]

...
The overall message of this post however is that even thru work and business we can still find ways to have a good time and see the humorous side of our work, (we needn't take ourselves too seriously)
...


Darn tootin! That's what my mentor always says:p:D
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It's been fun working with you and Johnny on this little skunkworks project. Can't wait to see where you go with this.

BTW - I dont recall any of the plugs I sent you having that level of black/brown in it. I'm certainly no photographer but so far, the ONLY light I've found that works worth a darn for pics is outside on an overcast day. The stuff is just too iradescent and reflective and does some real strange stuff with bright sunlight or inside with artificial light.

[Steve Clardy]

Amazing piece of work. Seen the post this morning and thought Doug had been partying all night or something :D


Amazing work guys.

And super write up Doug. ;) [I'm still snickering]

[Tim Dorcas]

What a fantastic post and as a hand plane enthusiast, I think the plane itself is awesome!

[Jim Dunn]

What!! no lights?

That plane is a piece of work and so is the author of the post:)

[Ben Davis]

Great looking plane. I like the MoP inlay. It really adds a nice touch.

As an aside, this thread is a great reason why the ~100K size limit on photos needs to be increased.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Thats entertainment! Thanks for sharing Doug!

[Greg Cole]

Darn tootin! That's what my mentor always says:p:D

Oddly enough, I recieve an invitation to the door of the GM's office on the day job for not taking myself serious?:D
Then again I don't believe there is any mentoring going on in that office....:rolleyes:

Greg

[Jameel Abraham]

Ooooooh.....Aaaaaaaaah :)

[Doug Shepard]

Ooooooh.....Aaaaaaaaah :)

Sounds like somebody wants to do another kit build:cool:

[Jameel Abraham]

Sure, if you're buying. ;)

[Doug Shepard]

Well I carted a few boards and shavings outside this weekend to get some shots in natural light.
First some curly mango shavings
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Then some curly maple
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Tried mic'ing the maple shavings and I'm not sure what I've got. If I apply pressure on the caliper legs I get a reading of 0.000 which it clearly aint. If I release the pressure, it reads 0.0015 but I can see a faint bit of light on either side of the shaving. Got this pair of digital calipers from LV several years ago and it seems pretty accurate but is obviously having a bit of difficulty measuring something this thin. So the shavings are somewhere between 0.000 and 0.0015.

[Steve Clardy]

Sweet..............;)

[Lee Hingle]

OK, now for the serious question:

Where'd ya get that curly mango???????

Lee

[Mark Stutz]

Man...I've ben trying for weeks to suppress the Infill Fever, and had just about succeeded, and then you go and post something like this! NOW IT'S WORSE THAN EVER!

Mark

[Doug Shepard]

OK, now for the serious question:

Where'd ya get that curly mango???????

Lee

eBay. Not quite as insane as the Koa prices but it's some very cool stuff with specks of orange, red, blue, grey, and brown. Most came from a seller in HI named nameleomoanikeala who was good to work with. I sat on the shipping for a couple weeks so I could hopefully win a few more auctions and combine the shipping. I bailed out on any where the bidding got too insane. The S&H still ended up around $45 IIRC for 4 boards but there doesn't seem to be too much of it growing locally so...

[Lee Hingle]

Hey Doug,
I've seen that guy, but never bought from him. He does have some amazing stuff.

Best of luck with the plane. You will absolutely love it - I love mine and there is not anything I have thrown at it yet that it won't cut through like butter.

Lee