My Book on Handplanes

I just published the book "Pialle che Passione", available on Amazon.

I would be glad to provide an English edition, too, but I have not the necessary language skills for writing a book in English. 
However I wanted let you know my work, product of my passion for handplanes. Moreover someone of you around the world could know Italian language and so enjoy fully the read.










This is the presentation video:

Ciao Giuliano

 
 

Pinch dogs

In the pic above (1933), an odd double nail is described and intended for joining wood elements for which a classic clamp would be inapropriate. Its name is pinch dog. They have a squared section and a shape with two parallel tips; each tip has a chisel shape, the bevel being toward the internal side. When the pinch dog is driven in the wood, across two parts to be joined, the opposite bevels push them one against the other.    
The dark side are the holes they leave on the wood, so can be better used on surfaces not shown or those to be painted.The pinch dogs are available on online sites and their price is around 3-4 $ each (depending on dimensions)
 So, I tried to build some home made pinch dog, using iron fence staples I took (for free) at my hardware store.
Differently from pinch dogs these nails had not parallel sides, but they work.
The first job was to cut the tips and grind two new inner bevels by a file for obtaining the shape you can  see in the pic above on the right. 
A dozen of home made pinch dogs required half an hour ca.

I had my first try for gluing up a panel.
It will be painted, so no matter for holes.
Being its thickness only 10 mm, this is a case where metal clamps do not work well: the grip surface on the edges is restricted and it is easy to cause distorsions when the clamps are tight; sometimes the panel needs a new flattening job when the glue dries.



One main advantage of pinch dogs is that the elements to be glued, stay simply on the bench; it offers a solid and flat surface for a good gluing up (only you have to protect the bench with papers).

A necessary condition to permit to the nails of working properly is to have perfectly jointed edges, so the planing job must be done carefully. In this case I used my type 7 Stanley #8 (1893-1899), a fast and accurate workhorse.

 Glue up.

When the "pinch dogs" are nailed across two panel elements, the glue squeeze out is evident.

The result is definitely great, the job really easy.















When the glue dries, remove our home made "pinch dogs".

The panel is ready for the next steps.

Johnny, sleep like a god tonight!

A couple of months ago has arrived in our family Johnny, a four months old Beagle. 
I always thought, if a new born was arrived a day, I should have to make a cradle but never I would have imagined I should have build a dog kennel! 

The job was easy; I utilized mainly recycled wood and pine wood paneling (2 cm thick) for sides and roof.
Simple joinery by lap joints, some brass screws and dowels make this project really easy to realize. 

The pitched sunroof (slightly asymmetric) helps to access to the internal zone. The panels are not glued and are stopped by a thin internal nailed frame. The rebates are obtained by gluing 30x10 mm elements to the external frame (6 mm dowels secure the frame in place).     

 This kennel has been built thinking for an external collocation. The roof is impermeable, being treated with a special plasticized varnish; a ridge avoids to the rain of penetrating between the two movable roof panels.
The entry door is decentralized, so the dog can find more repair from wind and cold. Some gum strips cover the opening, offering more repair but easy access.
I added wheels to the structure in order to move it easily.
Here in South of Italy the temperature is not too low, even in winter.
However, in the case it lowered overnight, a small fan heater and a thermostat avoid too much low values.

The wood has been treated with two coats of cementite and two coats of covering paint.
The flag is a tribute to Beagle origins.....

Here he is, shooted by camera....a little bit confused, but after awhile the kennel has become his preferred shelter.
Johnny, I am sure, you will sleep as a god, tonight!!

The project sketch up file can be downloaded here:

 https://app.box.com/s/tiq5j7wvejrf9srprxh9

Plane Cabinet

When I did my workbench I enclosed a shelf for most utilized planes. The shelf became full rapidly and several planes had not a dedicate place. 
The solution was building a new cabinet for hand planes, a good way for keeping them in order and ready to use.

I used the frame and panel technique, with panels inserted in grooves cut in the frame inner edge. 

on the bottom are the long planes boxes

The loop screw engages a chain for keeping the mobile shelf

the cabinet is anchored to the wall for avoid its tipping

For a better use of available space, the long planes are held in vertical position in the back side of cabinet


The smaller planes are on a mobile shelf; this rotates, permitting the access to the back. 

Long planes are available after the shelf is tilted forward

The wood was mainly recycled Douglas, coming from old windows and some piece of silver fir. 

By utilizing recycled wood, we'll have to accept some defects it will show, if we want to avoid of discarding too much wood.
In this case the wood was varnished and exposed to sun (windows) during some decades; this caused tone differences you can see mainly in lateral panels.However this is a shop cabinet and I think some defect is acceptable.

The building  details are shown in the video in the previous post.

The Jointer Man

This photograph was taken between 1932 and 1934 and portrays some members of Macagno family. The photo was kindly provided by Giuseppe Macagno, who did not follow his father (center), grandfather and uncle steps, but he kept inside a terrific passion for woodworking.

The Macagnos were carpenters, descended from an ancient lineage of lumbermen and carpenters, dedicated to all types of woodworking. That big wood piece was probably a barrel stave, or maybe a carpentry piece. The ax the man on the left holds in his right hand, has an arcuate shape, more suitable for working quickly with curved surfaces.

Of course, what most attracted my attention was that big jointer plane which supports Giuseppe's uncle. Although the man had not been very high, the big plane exceeded one meter in length and 10 cm in width. Coopers are famous for using huge planes, so large to have to be placed on stands and on which the staves were moved to give them the typical curved shape.

The plane in the pic above has a handle and then, most likely, was used in the traditional way, perhaps to prepare the boards that would become staves? But why use a so long and wide plane? It is true that more the plane is long, easier and faster will be obtain  a flat surface, but the effort increases significantly.

Perhaps the word "fatigue" should not be so frightening to those men for whom everything depended from their hands and strength of their arms and who, like "the jointer man", was able to manage with skill that enormous plane, was designed to arouse admiration and respect.