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Thread: Why aren’t there many stainless steel body hand planes?

  1. #16
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    I would think most SS planes are 304 but I would love to see a highly polished 904L plane. The machining would cost a fortune but it would start to take on that white gold luster at high polish.
    Of all the laws Brandolini's may be the most universally true.

    Deep thought for the day:

    Your bandsaw weighs more when you leave the spring compressed instead of relieving the tension.

  2. #17
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    I'm actually not a big fan of stainless. I kind of like the patina I get on old Stanley planes, and I've never had a problem with rust, even in the super humid climate that I used to live.

    I also wouldn't want to flatten the sole of such a plane, which, if what others is saying is true, may be more likely necessary considering that stainless is reportedly less stable.

  3. #18
    Dumb question---- why not plastic or stabilized wood?

    Won't it be pretty inert?

    You can have a ultra low friction sole for it.

  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Lau View Post
    Dumb question---- why not plastic or stabilized wood?

    Won't it be pretty inert?

    You can have a ultra low friction sole for it.
    Matt, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. 3-D printing using palmers has pretty much killed my trade. Lite 3&5 C&C have done another number. Resources for finding cheaper labour are consumers requirements.... well I’m getting dangerously close to playing political.

    A/CAW printed this bumper sticker

    “Hungry and out of work, eat your Honda”
    Last edited by Matt Mattingley; 10-20-2018 at 12:03 AM.

  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Lau View Post
    Dumb question---- why not plastic or stabilized wood?

    Won't it be pretty inert?

    You can have a ultra low friction sole for it.
    I've been wanting to do few planes out of stabilized wood. Just don't really want to mortise then out by hand is what's stopping me so far. It also seems like it'll be pretty hard to get the interior surfaces as crisp (scratch free) as I would want to. Konrad Sauer has done some stunning infills with stabilized wood.

  6. #21
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    Vincent; the following might spur you on.










  7. #22
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  8. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stewie Simpson View Post
    Vincent; the following might spur you on.

    Stewie; I thought this was plain jarrah? Or was this stabilized jarrah? if so how did you go about the mortising, I have been dreading the idea of relying on a drill press or a mortise machine which I don't have. I have chopped out planes in stuff like tiger wood and some other really hard stuff with no drilling (other than the mouth a couple of times) but any exotic pales in the face of stabilized wood... I held some yesterday and gave it a couple knocks together and whew it gave me even more dread. I talked to the knife maker that had brought these stabilized wood pieces and he was unsure if I could get by with hand tools. He thought mortising by hand it would be like trying to mortise plexiglass by hand. If you've done it though then it must be possible. Beautiful plane, one of my favourites amongst the many you've shared. The set of hollows and rounds take the cherry for me.

  9. #24
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    Show Off, show off!

  10. #25
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    Vincent; its natural timber that's not been infused with plastic resin.

    Stewe;
    Last edited by Stewie Simpson; 10-21-2018 at 10:37 PM.

  11. #26
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    Stewie; I thought this was plain jarrah? Or was this stabilized jarrah? if so how did you go about the mortising, I have been dreading the idea of relying on a drill press or a mortise machine which I don't have. I have chopped out planes in stuff like tiger wood and some other really hard stuff with no drilling (other than the mouth a couple of times) but any exotic pales in the face of stabilized wood... I held some yesterday and gave it a couple knocks together and whew it gave me even more dread. I talked to the knife maker that had brought these stabilized wood pieces and he was unsure if I could get by with hand tools. He thought mortising by hand it would be like trying to mortise plexiglass by hand.
    Hi Vincent

    The stabilised wood is only for infills, where the sections are solid and able to be machined to fit the plane shell. I share the opinion of your knife maker friend.

    Even in unstabilised hard woods, the task is formidable enough that chopping is not recommended, and one turns to drilling out the waste. Chisels and floats are for finishing.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  12. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Stewie Simpson View Post
    It’s natural timber that's not been infused with plastic resin.

    Stewe;
    Wow!!! I love your work! Please share more.

  13. #28
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    Beautiful and impressive nonetheless.

  14. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Mattingley View Post
    Matt, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. 3-D printing using palmers has pretty much killed my trade. Lite 3&5 C&C have done another number. Resources for finding cheaper labour are consumers requirements.... well I’m getting dangerously close to playing political.

    A/CAW printed this bumper sticker

    “Hungry and out of work, eat your Honda”

    Hey Matt,

    Ironically, I go out of my way to support guys like you.
    In dentistry, a lot of guys are going to cheap, milled crowns from mega-labs (sometimes offshoring work).
    I insist on local, hand-made labwork that is done right...after all, my name is on it!

    What trade do you do?

    -Matt

    ps. I find that people get what they pay for usually.

  15. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Derek Cohen View Post
    Hi Vincent

    The stabilised wood is only for infills, where the sections are solid and able to be machined to fit the plane shell. I share the opinion of your knife maker friend.

    Even in unstabilised hard woods, the task is formidable enough that chopping is not recommended, and one turns to drilling out the waste. Chisels and floats are for finishing.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek
    Hey Derek, I did know that Konrad relied on his usual process of bandsawing waste, etc and the finishing and fitting process was done as usual. There was a surprising amount of handwork that seemed to be easily done which you can see on his Instagram. He hand cut and filed all the mating to shell parts with his usual Wenzloff and files. A quote from Konrad's instagram "So far, I am pleasantly shocked at how much this feels like wood... or at least, how much it feels like the typical infill woods I use. So far so good. ."

    All that being said I am increasingly resigned to the the fact that the knife maker and you are right. I have confidence in chopping out exotics; particular in something like a Kanna dai which are much easier to make than a traditional western type woodie. Yet I just can't really imagine my chisels surviving such a task as the stabilized wood. You have one of those PM HSS Japanese chisels from Stu, I remember him saying somewhere that he might have to find some aluminum to see some wear and tear on these sort of chisels. Do you think the construction of those chisels could take a wallop from a 1 kg hammer? or a 4 pound one? Or survive an encounter with a piece of stabilized? I usually would hesitate to use these hammers outside of smithing but there is a neanderthal in me that would like to try everything by hand no matter how ridiculous at least once. Having seen Dai makers go through ebony like butter doesn't help. Don't worry there's a rational modern side that wants a full fledged machine room. Well, maybe not rational but you get the point.

    Thanks,

    Vincent

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