The Lead Sled

[Michael Faurot]

Recently I've become interested in acquiring a better smoother. In my research and reading I became interested in infill planes and their smoothing abilities such as those made by Norris. Unfortunately, the cost of an infill plane whether new, vintage or a kit (such as those being produced by Ron Brese) are all currently out of my price range. At this point in my research, I figured the only way I'd be getting an infill is if I win the lottery, so I started looking at other smoother options. I did look around and found a number of quality tools that I could afford, but I didn't want to let go of the infill idea.
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Somewhere along the line, while further pondering a means to get an infill plane, I started thinking about the qualities of an infill that make it a good smoother. From what I could read, it seems like two qualities in particular jump out at me:

1.A thick chatter resistant blade
2.Weight/Mass

For the blade, I immediately thought of the 1/4” thick blades that Ron Brese uses in his infill planes. A check on Ron's web site showed that the beefy 1/4” thick blades could be purchased. So a Ron Brese blade would solve the issue of how to deal with quality #1.

For quality #2 (mass), an interesting idea occurred to me. I could just make my own infill plane—but not a traditional one. I'm not fond of metal working so trying to make and shape a metal body for a traditional style infill plane would not work for me. But, why couldn't I do it the other way around? Make a wooden plane, drill holes into the inner body and then fill the voids in with metal. So I decided on a Krenov style wooden plane and then I'd fill the inner parts with lead. Essentially it would be a reverse infill. I suspect this is not an original idea and has been done before, but I did not encounter it in any of my reading. Thus the concept of the Lead Sled was born.
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As I thought more on this idea of a lead filled wooden plane, I knew I could do this. So I went ahead and ordered a 2” wide blade from Ron Brese. Next I started researching how to work with lead. The first idea I had was to find some scrap lead, melt it down, and then pour it into the voids I'd create in the plane's inner body. So I started doing research on this and soon became concerned over the safety issues. If there's any moisture in the lead, it could cause an eruption of molten lead. Then there was the issue of lead fumes and dust. Finally there was the issue of the impact molten lead might have on the plane body. Would hot lead cause the wood in the plane body to burn, or worse to warp?

After talking to some friends about my idea of a lead filled wooden plane, I was given the suggestion of using lead shot, of the type used by sportsmen to make their own shot gun shells. So I found a local sporting goods store that carried this and got the smallest diameter I could find. This turned out to be #9 shot. I wanted the smallest possible size shot to insure the voids in the plane body would be filled with as much lead as possible. Using the lead shot turned out to be very easy, just a matter of filling a small cup and then pouring it into the voids. Instead of filling the voids completely, I left a little room at the top and then sealed things up with some epoxy.
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After getting the body glued back together, I put it and the blade on a small digital scale designed for kitchen use. I was delighted to see that the weight of my plane was beyond the capability of my scale to register. The scale tops out at something over 5lbs so I knew I was in the ball park for getting a similar amount of mass as a metal bodied infill plane. After doing some clean-up, shaping, sole flattening and other tweaks the weight of the plane came back down a bit and into the range my scale could measure. The final weight on the Lead Sled comes in at 5lbs 9-3/8 oz. The original weight of the wooden blank and the blade was 3lbs 10oz. So with the addition of the lead, I was able to add 2lbs and get the plane to have about the same mass as a metal bodied infill plane.
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(Continued in next message)

[Michael Faurot]

Here's what it wound up looking like.
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The body sides and wedge pin are Cherry, the center strip is Brazilian Rose Wood, the sole is Bubinga and the circular inlay on the sides is Mesquite. An additional piece, not shown, is made of Alder.

As I started to work with the Lead Sled I was thrilled to find that it could make extremely fine shavings.
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In the picture, are shavings made against some African Mahogany. The adjustment on the Lead Slead is the easiest I've ever encountered on a wooden plane. Possibly due to the mass of the Ron Brese blade or mass of the body or both—it is very easy to make micro adjustments to the blade with light taps from a brass hammer. I've made other wooden planes and none of them have been this easy to adjust. Getting the plane to flatten and smooth the face of a board is also very easy. As I used the plane more, I discovered it has a serious ergonomic flaw. Because it is so heavy it is difficult for me to grip the back of the body with my right hand. Not impossible, but it takes some effort. Further, as my hand and wrist grew fatigued I also became concerned I could lose control of the plane at the end of a stroke if I wasn't gripping it tightly enough.

A day or two passed and I continued to experiment with the plane. I attempted to remedy the ergonomic issues by rounding the back more, so my hand would be better able to grip it. I also put some thumb and finger indentations into the body. Both of these helped a little—but not enough. What the plane needed was a rear tote. Because I'd all ready shaped the back and because the inner body was filled with lead shot, I couldn't make a razee style tote, but would have to do something different. What I did was to adapt the handle shape from one of my hand saws and then tweaked it to fit the curve on the back of the body. I wound up using threaded inserts and machine screws so I could remove the tote if I wanted and use the plane as it was originally designed. With the addition of the tote on the back, the plane is now much easier to use and control.
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The Lead Sled has proved to be an interesting project. The final result turned out a bit longer than a typical smoother might be with a sole that's 10-1/2”, but it's still shorter than a jack plane.
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As you can see in the picture, the Lead Sled seems to sit somewhere between a #4 smoother and a #5 jack style bench plane. Although it is a little long, it does work well at smoothing and because it is a little long, it's also good at flattening. The Lead Sled also has a unique quirk to it that's somewhat amusing. Shake it and it sounds like a pair of maracas due to the lead shot moving around. At some point I may have to make another variation on the Lead Sled that's a little shorter, but for now I've got a non-traditional infill smoother that works better than I could have imagined and at a price I can afford.

[Michael Faurot]

Below are some additional pictures including one of another wooden smoother I've made that was the model for the body of the Lead Sled.

[Jim Koepke]

Very nice.

I would guess the mass of the body is what makes the hammer tap adjustment finer with this plane.

jim

[Doug Shepard]

Outstanding job and very cool thinking too. I wonder if lead rod wouldn't work better than the shot? No voids or shot noise anyway. I did a quick google search because I wasn't sure if that's something that's available or not. Grabbed the first link I found for illustration
http://www.rotometals.com/LEAD-CAST-RODS--Price-is-Per-Foot_p_2-1889.html
but I'm sure somebody else has some smaller diameters too.

[Wallis Hampson]

Beautiful work. I have an iron that i need to give that a try with. You can mix your shot with epoxy into a slurry and then just pour it in the holes to eliminate any chance of settling, shifting and rattling of the shot over time. Again Michael, nice job.

[John Keeton]

One could also pour molten lead in the holes for a complete fill. You would get some minimal charring around the perimeter of the hole, but since it would be "buried" it would not be noticeable.

[Marcus Ward]

Wow, that's great! I'm getting this image in my head....

http://www.gigglefacestudios.com/giggleface_studios/images/2008/04/17/youngfrank72.jpg

[Greg Cole]

Melting lead isn't as dangerous as you think, the danger is in the fumes.
I used to make alot of lead head jigs and poured lead on the wire frames to make spinner baits etc when I was more of a fisherman than a woodworker.
As Doug mentioned round stock would fit the ticket and not give the urge to sing la cucuracha when using the Lead Sled.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Great post Michael. That is truly thinking outside the box. The concept is an interesting one and offers some interesting possibilities for other types of planes, particularly a heavyweight wooden block plane (or chariot if yo9u prefer).

[Michael Hammers]

Egads! Brilliant!
Wow, that shows some courageuos thought and execution. Well done!
Plus you can plane and accompany Charro!:p
A La'cucaracha planing session.........
MSH

[Zahid Naqvi]

Michael that is really an original idea. Since I am also an afficianado of wooden planes and have made several, how does the performance of the lead sled compare with a regular Krenov style plane. I can get really thin shavings with the regular K. planes I have made.

I think the real test is how the plane handles curly and changing grain. I'd be interested to know how it performs against the grain and switches within the same board etc.

[Bill Houghton]

that even chunks of cast iron or steel would work. Digging through scrap bins for a piece of round stock the right size to shove into a hole would save money and avoid any concerns about toxicity (though you would lose the neat sound effects).

[Michael Faurot]

Outstanding job and very cool thinking too.


Thanks!



I wonder if lead rod wouldn't work better than the shot?
I think any form of lead would work. I went with the shot because I just didn't want to deal with any of the issues that would be involved in melting it.



No voids or shot noise anyway.
The noise, to me, is more of a feature than a flaw. :) In actual use, I can't hear it. The only way I do hear it is if I shake the plane next to my ear. I think it may also be somewhat functional in the same way that lead shot works in dead blow hammers. I haven't used the plane enough to know though.



I did a quick google search because I wasn't sure if that's something that's available or not. Grabbed the first link I found for illustration
http://www.rotometals.com/LEAD-CAST-RODS--Price-is-Per-Foot_p_2-1889.html
It looks like that could be less expensive for a single plane, but if you want to do several the 25lb bag of shot like I bought would be a better value. Using some very crude estimations, I think it would take about 3' of the 5/8" rod stock to make the Lead Sled. The cost of that would 3 X $5.00 ($15.00) plus a guess of another $15 for shipping/handling for a total of about $30. For the 25lbs bag I bought it was about $43 with tax. I've got a bunch of that shot left over so I could probably make another 10 planes if I wanted to.

[Michael Faurot]

I suspect that even chunks of cast iron or steel would work.


Right. The thought even occured to me that some variation of concrete/cement could be used instead of lead or other metal.



Digging through scrap bins for a piece of round stock the right size to shove into a hole would save money and avoid any concerns about toxicity (though you would lose the neat sound effects).I'm not an expert on this, so anyone looking to do this should do their own research and come to their own conclusions about using lead. As for myself, I had minimal contact with the lead shot and when I was done filling the voids and covering them with epoxy I thoroughly washed my hands. As for using the plane itself, I feel it's safe enough for me as the lead shot is completely enclosed and sealed in the body of the plane. Again, I'm no expert on this, but I suspect using this plane would be similar to using a plane with bronze or brass alloys, which contain lead. So I always wash my hands when I'm done using my bronze Lie-Nielsen #102 and the same with the Lead Sled.

[Bill Houghton]

I feel it's safe enough for me as the lead shot is completely enclosed and sealed in the body of the plane.

Much of lead paint mitigation is sealing the paint behind a coat of non-toxic paint. I think you're safe as can be. My thought, cheapskate that I am, was of cost.

And you're probably correct about concrete/plaster/whatever, too.

[Jeff Wittrock]

Very clever thinking. I'm glad to hear it has worked out well for you. I have been tinkering with wooden planes for a while now, and one of the things I really enjoy is being able to tinker with the shape of the plane after it has the blade in place and can be tested.

All this talk about lead reminds me of what I did to make sinkers when I was a kid. Our farm wasn't too far from a National Guard/police pistol range. My younger brother and I would go down and dig up the berm and sift through the dirt to find the the 0.45 and .38 caliber bullets. We had an old deep fat fryer that we took the thermostat out of and hard wired it to keep the heating element on continuously. My dad was amazed the thing didn't burn up, but it melted the lead very well. All the dirt floated to the top, and we skimmed it off and were left with nice shiny lead. We made the molds for our sinkers by drilling holes in wooden blocks. They lasted a while until they became too charred to work well. I remedy being slashed with bits of molten lead more than once when I was careless. Luckily I wore glasses.

I cringe at the thought of my own son doing something like this now. I think he is much smarter than I was when I was his age.

I think your lead shot idea is a good one. I'm working on a clock right now which will need some lead ballast for the weight. I have been debating on whether or not to melt some lead or use shot. I think, as you did, I'll stick with the shot. I don't have a deep fat fryer lying around anyhow.

-Jeff

[Michael Faurot]

Michael that is really an original idea.


Thanks! I'd like to think this is an original idea, at least where planes are concerned, but somehow I don't think it is. In fact part of the inspiration for doing this came from watching an episode of How It's Made that featured wooden golf clubs. In particular a wooden driver is made with a hollow in it that is later filled with lead shot to get it to an exact weight.



Since I am also an afficianado of wooden planes and have made several, how does the performance of the lead sled compare with a regular Krenov style plane. I can get really thin shavings with the regular K. planes I have made.
The Lead Sled is able to get very fine shavings. I'm not a micrometer type guy so I couldn't tell you how many thousands of an inch they are. But they do seem to be finer than what I've been able to get on the other Krenov planes I've made. Part of that is the 1/4" thick blade. The mass seems to help especially at the start of a stroke. With a number of both my metal and wood planes, it often seems like the blade doesn't really start cutting where the edge of the wood surface begins, but a bit after. With the Lead Sled it seems better able start the cut where the wood surface begins. The added mass also helps to just hold the plane down against the wood. I find I'm still pushing down a bit, but not as much as I might need to with a lighter plane.



I think the real test is how the plane handles curly and changing grain. I'd be interested to know how it performs against the grain and switches within the same board etc.For this plane the blade is bedded bevel down at 50° for use with things like Cherry, Oak, Poplar, Maple, Walnut, Mesquite, Sycamore, Ash, Alder etc. Of those I've got some local Ash and Sycamore that don't do well when planed with my vintage Stanley #4. With the #4 I'd get tear out when the grain gets difficult. The Lead Sled works well on those woods and can deal with difficult grain with no tear out.

As a test, I also tried it on some particularly difficult Purpleheart I've got. About the only things that seems to work on that are my Veritas scraper plane, a Veritas low angle Jack with 60° blade and sand paper. The Lead Sled was able to do an ok job on the Purpleheart. There was tear out, but it was very fine.

If I worked more with exotic and really difficult grained woods like Purpleheart all the time, I'd probably have opted to bed the blade at 60°. For the woods I work with most, the 50° angle seems to work well.

[Ben Davis]

Much of lead paint mitigation is sealing the paint behind a coat of non-toxic paint. I think you're safe as can be. My thought, cheapskate that I am, was of cost.

And you're probably correct about concrete/plaster/whatever, too.
I would avoid the concrete, plaster, ect. fillers for their water content. I would be concerned with how that would change the body of the plane that I'd worked so hard to get right to that point!

[Steve Clardy]

Fantastic work...;):D

[Phil Thien]

Holy crap!

Talk about out of the box thinking.

I don't own a single hand plane (yes, I will soon address that).

But your post is an inspiration.

[Lucas Bittick]

Really well-executed-- I think it is a fine looking plane. Thanks for taking the time to put this informative post together, as well.

[Victor Stearns]

Now that's some fine woodworking!
I am always amazed at what we can do when we don't want/have the money to spend. You have me now thinking of making my own smoother.
What angle did you set the iron to?
Did you make the mouth adjustable at all?
Once again very nice work.
Thanks for sharing.
Victor

[Mike Henderson]

That's a great idea. I'll try that on my next plane.

Mike

[David Keller NC]

A bit of info regarding the safety of lead that might be helpful for someone else that decides to do something similar (and it was a really clever idea):

Lead, like most other metals, are not toxic in their native (pure metal) state. The reason is that they're not soluble in water, and in order for a metallic compound to be toxic, it needs to be soluble to get into your body. This is why barium sulfate (insoluble) is essentially non-toxic, and barium chloride (soluble) is incredibly toxic.

The problem comes in when lead is oxidized or otherwise turned into a soluble salt. This is partially why lead paint is dangerous - metallic lead wasn't added to the paint, it was lead oxide (sometimes called "white lead"), which is mildly soluble in water. Other salts of lead are far more dangerous - lead chloride, for example.

So - there's little danger of picking up significant lead contamination by handling lead shot, and you can minimize this risk further by ensureing that you don't eat/smoke after handling it and before washing your hands.

Even melting and casting lead is relatively safe, at least from the lead poisoning perspective. That doesn't mean, however, that I would consider doing it around a young child (who are far more susceptible to the effects of lead poisoning), nor doing it inside my house.

Finally, regarding getting the maximum density into an area with regards to shot size. It turns out, counter-intuitive though it may be, that packing spheres into a space such as a hollow tube has a mathematical solution that doesn't depend on the sphere size - approximately 2/3s of the space will be occupied by the shperes, regardless of their diameter. Note that this solution applies only if the spheres are relatively small diameter compared to the diameter of the tube. In this case "small" means a maximum of about 1/5th of the diameter of the tube. The point here is that if you've some lead shot laying around anyway, there's no reason to not use it and spend more money on a new bag of smaller shot.

Really nice idea, and very nice execution.

[Michael Faurot]

I have been tinkering with wooden planes for a while now, and one of the things I really enjoy is being able to tinker with the shape of the plane after it has the blade in place and can be tested.


That brings up an interesting point I ran into making the Lead Sled. When making a Krenov wooden plane you can decide on what the final shape will be after doing the glue-up of the cheeks. One of the things I realized, when making the Lead Sled, is I would need to know what the final shape (at least roughly) would be before doing the glue up. This was important for both the planing of where to bore the holes and insuring I didn't cut into any of those holes later on.

[Michael Faurot]

Now that's some fine woodworking!


Thanks!



What angle did you set the iron to?
I went for 50° to match the types of wood and difficulty of grain I encounter most frequently.



Did you make the mouth adjustable at all?
The mouth is fixed and very tight. Because this plane is designed to be a smoother, I felt it didn't need an adjustable mouth. I was also influenced, in this decision, by these quotes from Ron Brese's web site (http://www.breseplane.com/construction.html):
In proper practice infill planes are used to take very light, some say fluffy shavings, this being the case, once set they are rarely adjusted. Most of our planes are offered with out adjusters. They can easily be adjusted with a light weight tinking hammer, and one can become quite proficient at this in a short period of time.

[...]

Planes are simple machines that have been over complicated over the years with gadgetry. I have found the fewer parts involved the better infill planes perform.
NOTE: I'm not comparing my plane to any of Ron's. I'm just a fanboy that has been inspired by Ron's work and until I can afford one of his planes or kits, I came up with the idea of the Lead Sled.

[Hank Knight]

Great idea and execution, Micheal.

Here's a suggestion for those tender souls who might be offended by the noise:
Fill the voids with led shot, then pour in epoxy over the shot. It cures to a heavy, solid mass. I made a weighted mallet this way and eliminated the bossa nova sound effects.

Hank

[Michael Faurot]

Great idea and execution, Micheal.


Thanks!



Here's a suggestion for those tender souls who might be offended by the noise:
Fill the voids with led shot, then pour in epoxy over the shot. It cures to a heavy, solid mass. I made a weighted mallet this way and eliminated the bossa nova sound effects.
It sounds like you used a thinner epoxy on your mallet than what I used on my plane. I used that 5 minute type epoxy to cover over the lead filled voids. It was pretty thick and had to be spread and could not be poured. It would sink in a little (but not much), and then I'd put a bit more on until I built up enough epoxy that I was satisfied the lead shot was sealed.

What is the brand of epoxy you used on your mallet? It would have been easier to have been able to mix up enough epoxy in one go and just pour it in. Instead I mixed at least six batches of the 5 minute stuff. I know I used more than that, but six was when I stopped counting. ;)

[Hank Knight]

It sounds like you used a thinner epoxy on your mallet than what I used on my plane. I used that 5 minute type epoxy to cover over the lead filled voids. It was pretty thick and had to be spread and could not be poured. It would sink in a little (but not much), and then I'd put a bit more on until I built up enough epoxy that I was satisfied the lead shot was sealed.

What is the brand of epoxy you used on your mallet? It would have been easier to have been able to mix up enough epoxy in one go and just pour it in. Instead I mixed at least six batches of the 5 minute stuff. I know I used more than that, but six was when I stopped counting. ;)

I used West Systems epoxy. It's thin enough to pour and flow into the voids. West sells a thickener to mix with it if you need thick. I think System Three epoxy is also thin, but I've never used it. You have a little longer set up time with this stuff too, but not much.

Hank

[Bob Barkto]

System 3 is about the same as West Systems. I've used both. They both make a slow hardener if you need more working time. My four pound mallet is filled with lead and System 3!
I used West Systems epoxy. It's thin enough to pour and flow into the voids. West sells a thickener to mix with it if you need thick. I think System Three epoxy is also thin, but I've never used it. You have a little longer set up time with this stuff too, but not much.

Hank

[Joe Cunningham]

Neat idea! And it sounds like it works quite well.

When I was in Cub Scouts, my dad and I put lead in the front of my pinewood derby car to give it some heft. My dad was a pistol target shooter, so he reloaded his own semi-wadcutters for practice to cut down on the cost. We just used a few of his lead bullets w/o melting them down. Similar idea, just not quite so well executed (I think we used wood putty over the mortise).

[Darrell Shelton]

Makes me want to go out now and start on one. I think I have an old saw handle around so I have step one under control.

[David Keller NC]

Another thought on the lead shot, in case someone doesn't want to seek out West or System 3 epoxy (the larger sizes can get quite pricey) - I made a couple of mallets weighted with lead shot, and lacking the proper thin epoxy, I melted parafin wax and poured it over the shot, then capped the hole with a wooden plug. I'm not sure whether the shot will eventually compress the wax and start rattling around, but after a couple of years of using them, no problems so far.