Matt Lau
Member

Matt: I've lost Stan Covington's e-mail; can you furnish? Post here or e-mail j.s.waldron@comcast.net
Miss Stan around here; wish we could get him back.
Thanks,
Jim

I'm slowly clearing shop space.
Where is your shop?

I've got a solid bench I could spare.

The rotating mechanism means that storage, and seasonal adjustment of the "abutments" are not necessary. Every old Dai I toss on the burn pile and coffin smoother that fail break in the same place.

I wouldn't make furniture with joints at short grain.
It's structural, and fragile by design.

Not to mention the difficulty.

I can send pics of my feeble effort from my email,
but not through SMC messages.

anji12305@yahoo.com

If your sacrificing an older jointer, I recommend cutting a fresh, new mortise. You'll get a better feel for fit, as you sneak up on the dimensions.

Drop Steve Voigt or Dave Weaver a line on Woodcentral. What little I know was learned watching their struggle.

FYI - my next Japanese style body will incorporate the rotating mechanism ECE uses on their wedge bodies. (Not their excellent, but fiddly spring loaded adjustment.)

Kudos on making the effort
Jim in Massachusetts

The Mesquite jointer seems adequate, and was made because I couldn't purchase a Dai that large.

Mesquite is a good choice because it shrinks or expands at the same rate, both with the grain and tangential to the grain.

It is unfortunately prone to chipping.

I recommend the European beech body planes, as donors. They can be found (without blade) cheap.

The bigger, the better.

The Mesquite jointer seems adequate, and was made because I couldn't purchase a Dai that large.

Mesquite is a good choice because it shrinks or expands at the same rate, both with the grain and tangential to the grain.

It is unfortunately prone to chipping.

I recommend the European beech body planes, as donors. They can be found (without blade) cheap.

The bigger, the better.

Kudos on making your plane. I just made my first Japanese style jointer from Texan mesquite. My recommendation would be to find an important older Western jointer plane for material, and cut it down to size.

I admire your lesson taken from the deceased.
If she lived through the Great Depression, her relationship with scarcity was more intimate than our own. Poverty does not bring out the best in us.

If you're building boxes with long rabbets in thin stock, much can be done with a sturdy knife (to score with the grain) and a flat paring chisel (to remove end grain to chosen depth).

Please post photos if your project.

I recommend both DIYSG and Troels Gravensen webpages for further study. They take different approaches, but the projects are within reach of home builders.

http://www.diysoundgroup.com

http://www.troelsgravesen.dk

Jim

Solid wood assembled into a cube will fracture along grain, particularly where screws anchor the drivers. MDF is used because it's easy to machine with high speed tools - not for acoustic considerations.

I use plywood, with a little internal bracing.

Jim