A new old home for the Lewin Universal Plane

Some days ago I finished writing an article about combination planes and their uses for the Italian woodworking magazine Legnolab. Was this an occasion for a job I had in mind for some time, regarding a not so common combination plane, the Lewin Universal Plane.
The Lewin plane was a British tool sold around 50s. 
Very close to Stanley 45 and 50, is featured by an aluminium body onto which steel skates are fixed. Another particular feature are the cam bolts; they permit a faster and easier part fixing. 
The plane I acquired was in excellent conditions, complete of all cutters and original instruction manual.
The original wooden box (it came with the plane too), instead,  came in  poor condition.

The plywood bottom was quite irrecoverable as well as the cover was cupped and with its veneers lifted.
The box sides (pine) showed the time signs too, split in more points.

Clearly, the box was been stored in a very wet site and the moisture was an hard test for the wood, causing the inevitable damages
Either the plane than cutters, instead, came in very fair conditions, rust free, due to a thick grease layer I found onto the plane and blades: someone payed particular attention to the precious box content: Thank you!



So, I decided of restoring the box, preserving as well as possible the time signs which give a beautiful lived look.
The first operation was to disassemble parts. The nails were very thin and rusted, so their recovery was quite impossible.
I provided to repair splits and, where necessary, I added pine wood for restoring original dimensions.

Original side joints were pinned rebates but, due to the poor wood condition at extremities, I preferred simple rebate joints. For the purpose I added a little bit of new wood and nails for more strength.

I unglued the cover upper veneer and reglued it onto a piece of 4 mm plywood.


The new bottom was veneered on both sides with a pine veneer on the upper side and a beech one on the bottom side: the original bottom had a similar structure. 

For veneering I used hide glue and pressed the work between two boards for 24h.

The box inside showed some critical points: the cutter box, obtained from a pine block was glued cross-grained to a corner. This probably contributed to the box splitting. So, I preferred to  leave it free on the bottom but stopped by two little wood pieces, glued with the grain in the correct orientation. In this way is also possible to remove the cutter holder and keep it on the bench.

 
The plane holding system is clever and permits of keeping the plane assembled and lifted, so its  weight does not act on the bottom.
One holder was substituted end increased in thickness for offering more support to the rods. The instruction manual too has its place in the box, protected now by a plastic bag.
On the external side I refreshed the original colour using a water based dye (a combination of cherry and rosewood dyes); a wax coat completed the box finishing.

A particular was still missed:
Looking at a box short side I noticed a little piece of paper, the remaining of the original label with plane description. A lighter coloured area established its dimensions.
I found a scanner of the label on the net. I printed it and did a colour photostatic copy (my ink jet printer does not produce colours resistant enough for the purpose). 

In order to give an antique look, I used a diluted coffee solution in which the paper was soaked for several minutes and a microwave (1 min) for drying it. The final colour was right with some (good) stains due to the fast drying.

The Lewin, is now inside its new old box, ready to work again. 

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.

 

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