My new miter plane

[James G. Jones]

For a long time I have wanted a dedicated plane for a shooting plane. I love the rectangular lines of a miter plane. A Stanley or LN no. 9 was way out of my price range however. I wound up deciding to make one. Now, I had never made a plane before, but I followed a link in Johnny Kleso's homepage to Jim Yehle's site and thought "I could do that." So, I ordered some O1 steel for an iron, some 1/4" 1018 steel and 3/16" brass for the body and went to work. It took two soles, because I screwed the first one up too badly to use, and two of the dovetails are still definitely lacking in the fit and finish department, but in the end, I have a miter plane that simply cuts like butter. I still need to make a proper lever cap, but I couldn't wait to try it. I put a temporary pin in the holes for the lever cap and made a simple wedge. Minutes later, fluffy transparent shavings of curly maple were spilling out. The infill is East Indian rosewood, the iron is 1/4" O1 which I heat treated myself in a forge I built for this project, sharpened via scary sharp to 2000. I plan on making the lever cap of brass and finishing the rosewood with shellac after I clean it up some. This was so much fun I think my next project will be a Speirs type shoulder plane, or maybe a hefty smoother. Oh, and the only electrons used were from a belt sander to shape the initial bevel on the iron.:D


James

[Johnny Kleso]

It looks 100% better than the plane I never tried to build :)

The only plane I made was in my dreams, I got all the stuff to start I just have to start...

I would bet you next one comes out much better..

[Jim Koepke]

Nice.

I hope my attempt turns out as well if I ever get around to it.

jim

[John Keeton]

One bit of reality is worth more than a thousand dreams!! I could only dream of accomplishing this bit of reality. Great job!

[Jeff Aldred]

Well done! Nothing like jumping in and doing it!
I made a Shepherd smoother kit, and got the bug myself, but have not gotten past the "gathering stuff" stage (my favourite stage).
If you want some more info on process, Bill Carter and his wife (I think mostly his wife) have put up a website, and there is lots of info to be gained there. They are very generous people. If you google "Bill Carder Plane Maker", it is the first hit at my PC.

[David Keller NC]

Hmm - can't afford a L-N #9? Methinks you've spent well over that for the metals, files, forge, and related equipment, not counting your hours.

But...You've something far better than a L-N #9, both in terms of performance and something you've made yourself!

[James G. Jones]

Thanks to all. I have to say, it wasn't that hard, just very detailed and meticulous. Give it a shot

David - Shhh - not so loud. I'm firmly sticking to the line that this was MUCH cheaper. Despite four separate metal purchases, a good sized chunk of East Indian rosewood, files, and who knows how much sandpaper to get that beast of an iron sharp. To say nothing of the parts for the propane burner, fire brick etc...

All kidding aside, I probably have about $150 invested in the entire process and have enough of all materials except the infill to make either the shoulder plane or smoother I mentioned before. My filing skills and understanding of the process have improved through the act of building this one so that I feel very confident in my next attempt.

Jeff - Thanks, I relied on Bill Carter's tutorials to make the tongue and groove joint. He does absolutely amazing work.

James

[Chuck Hamman]

Looks good, James. The proof is in the shavings.
Personally, if it is working fine with the wedge, I'd forget the lever cap. It looks good just as it is.

-Chuck

[Zahid Naqvi]

Great work James. I just can't conjur enough courage to attempt making on myself.

[Bill Moser]

Nice work James - you're way braver than I am. Like Jeff, I built a shepherd tool works kit (shoulder plane). Now that I've done that, I think I could start from "bare metal" so to speak, but the kit really got me over the hump of making a metal infill type plane. Starting from scratch the way you did, and hardening/tempering the blade to boot, is an accomplishment!

[Leigh Betsch]

James, how did that O1 work out? Did it warp much when you heat treated it? I have a plane under construction right now but I opt'ed to use mild steel on the first one and not go with a tool steel becasue I was worried about the steel twisting when heat treated, and I don't have a surface grinder (yet) to reflatten it. I used 3/8 mild steel for the sole and sides. The sides pulled the sole flat enough so I could finish it by lapping. I also skipped the dovetails and just rabbited, dowled, and screwed the sides to the sole. How did you flatted the sole? I have a couple more planes in my future, I hope to use tool steel for the sole but I need to be able to flatten the sole after it is heat treated. I'm keeping my eyes open for a used surface grinder.

[David Keller NC]

"I have a couple more planes in my future, I hope to use tool steel for the sole but I need to be able to flatten the sole after it is heat treated. I'm keeping my eyes open for a used surface grinder."

Leigh - to my knowledge, no planemaker heat-treats the soles/sides of a plane to make them hard. In fact, most that I'm aware of will intentionally anneal the steel to make it soft and malleable so that the dovetails will peen together well. And as you noted, lapping goes much faster with soft steel - I've done may share of lapping the backs of Hock O-1 tool steel irons to remove 20 thousandths to get them to correctly fit older infill planes, and it's a LOT of work. I wouldn't want to do this with the sole of a plane hardened to the same rockwell 60-62.

[Leigh Betsch]

"Leigh - to my knowledge, no planemaker heat-treats the soles/sides of a plane to make them hard.

Thanks for the info. On my next plane I wil probably switch to a tool steel and just leave it soft. Heck all the big dollar store bought ones are just cast iron and not even steel anyway.

[James G. Jones]

Leigh,

It is exactly as David said. The sole is annealed. Just the iron was hardened. As for warping, it didn't warp too much. By the time I removed the scaling, I had worked it flat. Sanding the iron flat was certainly no picnic. I went through many, many sheets of sandpaper. I had shaped the majority of the bevel beforehand. You don't want to fully shape it before heat treating as I've read that can cause the edge to overheat. I flattened the sole and the peened dovetails with a file and sandpaper as well. It was considerably easier.

James

[Leigh Betsch]

I built a bunch of irons awhile back. I made them out of A2 which air quenching rather than O1 which is oil quenching. The A2 is much more stable during heat treating and doesn't warp like O1, it's one of my favorite tool steels for this reason, and you can get it as hard as O1. But it is more difficult to heat treat. I sent my blades to a heat treater, cost me $125 for about 30 irons if I remember correctly.
Thanks for the info on the sole. I was thinking of heat treated tool steel, but even A2 would need to be flattened after heat treating, and that is way too much hand lapping for me. So I'll just stick to soft steel for the soles and hardened steel for the blades.
Welcome to the shinny side.

[James G. Jones]

Leigh,

I went with O1 because like you said, it is easier to heat treat. I priced out what it would be to heat treat the two irons I made, and it would have been $112. I built my propane forge for less than half that and now I can heat treat as many as I want for just the cost in propane.

[Leigh Betsch]

I'm interested in seeing your forge design, Do you have a pic or a plan?

[James G. Jones]

Leigh,
The burner is the Ron Reil Burner, (just google Ron Reil - he has a great fact filled site) the forge is the firebrick forge at zoellerforge.com

Sorry I don't have any pics yet, I'll try to get some.

James

[Leigh Betsch]

I can't believe you tricked me into another hobbie. I wonder if I could fire a forge with some of my failed woodwork projects.