Monday, April 15, 2013

Together for Ever!


Should have more than a one hundred years these tongue and groove planes. I picked up them from ebay, maybe they come from Austria or Germany. No marks on the plane body, neither on the blades.
They cut a 8 mm tongue and groove.


When I had them I noticed they needed a restoring job. The plane body showed numerous worm holes, although the wood was solid enough.



The main problem was that the wooden screws was blocked into the body and for two of them I cannot unscrew. The only solution was sawing the plane body for reach the thread and release the screw.
The damage was inevitable and a repair needed!
I dislike to have these tools only for collecting them; I love to use them too. So I attempted to a structural and functional recovery, preserving, if possible, their lived-in look with some sign of aging







After washing with soap and treated with an anti-worm product (although the old holes seemed empty), blades and steel skates received a anti-rust treatment.


The pieces were then re-glued and veneers were used for closing the saw grooves.
Then I closed the worm holes, leaving some intentionally.



The functional recovery concerned after all in to steady contact points (soles and fences). For this job I used mahogany strips. This wood is also present in the wedges and regulating screws.
The skate bed and sides were rectified by a big file and by sliding the plow on the abrasive paper while keeping it square.

The two half-skates are inserted into a groove of plane body. At heel ant toe, the skates have dovetail shape and are firmly held by a nail driven into the body.


One wooden screw has split while removing it and I had to repair by gluing.



All screws had difficulties to move in their threads, so I used a thin cylindric rasp for easy their action.






Blades are hand forged; the plow plane blade was worn-out, so I had to substitute it.




I started from a 32 mm single plane iron, cut by a angle grinder (cooling often) and refinished at bench grinder.


By looking at old blade, it shows a trapezoidal section and slightly tapered sides; this avoids the cutter binds into the groove walls, even if the plane rocks a bit.







Moreover, the original blades show a convex shape for a stronger holding of them by wedge; I imitate this for the new blade and it works.
 


Finally, I rectified the contact surfaces (soles and fences) for having the cutting edge square to the fence and parallel to the sole. Of course I tried to cut a joint.








 


Sunday, April 14, 2013

N°1 Spiers Dovetail Plane

This post has written by Vittorio




Thinking of metal planes I often think to Stewart Spiers







I like much the side profile and handles, so I searched for a model; I found it on the Handplane Central website, so I adapted the draw for a 2 inches blade and tried to building the plane.





I used Fe 430 steel bars (5x70mm) for sole and sides, joined the two sides in three points by countersunk screws (in this way the screws do not interfere while the pieces are clamped in the vice) and cut the tails.







  The mouth is opened by boring it with a 3 mm tip, hack saw blade and a 2,5 mm file. I obtained two angles, one of 47° (seat angle) and the other of 45° (wear angle).









The blade support (47°) is fixed by 3 iron rivets (dia. 6,5 mm)







The sole is prepared for jointing and the classical Spiers profile is cut. Beautiful but a little bit laborious.






Sanding by 80 grit abrasive paper (sides are screwed to a piece of wood)







During the tail peening, if joints are precise, 2 mm of extra length are enough, otherwise 3 mm are necessary for closing all gaps. 







Lever cap: I could not imitate the original because had not a model; however the job was acceptable for me.









The chipbreaker showed some rusted areas, so I sanded it (80 and 120 grit) and created the profile for a good adherence to blade at cutting edge.







The Sorby blade is 2" wide parallel iron (from e-bay); 25° bevel, 30° microbevel.





The cap iron screw (M8, 16 mm head) was built by welding together a rectangular nut with a screwed rod. 






Bun and handle are ash wood, stained and treated with shellac.
The M6 threaded spacers are inserted.  










I decided to fix all by screwing and rebating; unfortunately some trace remains after the sanding job too.







The sole is flat, the mouth is tight





I tried the plane on fir and beech, along the grain as well as across the grain. The results are very good and the plane does not get clogged.









Finally, I have got a Spiers





length 345 mm
Width 65 mm
Weight 3,366 Kg

Vittorio