Monthly Archives: May 2009

Lapping brass and sanding ebony. Shoulder plane #2 is getting close. Shoulder plane #1 (in the background) is getting finish applied to the wooden parts. You can see how fast brass develops a patina/tarnish, #1 had the same sheen a … Continue reading →

Restarted the second shoulder plane while finishing the wood in the first one. Positioning the ramp isn’t fun as I cut the sides of the sole wider than the ramp (by 0.010”). But I have some 0.005” shim stock which … Continue reading →

Sneck (Wiktionary): 1. A latch or catch. 2. The nose. 85. The lump at the end of a plane iron that you smack to retract/adjust the iron. The wedge on my plane works really well, which means the strike button … Continue reading →

Yippee! Finished the body (final shaping, lap and square) and iron (lap flush to the body, heat treat and sharpen). Now for some test runs: Set the depth of cut to around 0.002” (half a sheet of paper, I’m not … Continue reading →

Arg! So much for ability for epoxy to stick to anything. The sample brass/wood/brass sandwich popped right apart when lightly smacked with a hammer. I don’t know if it was improper surface prep (I sanded (150) and cleaned with acetone), … Continue reading →

After eleven forever’s, it is starting to look like a plane. The second side was soft soldered on and, unlike the first side, didn’t stay square (it canted in a bit). A vise, a screw driver (between the plates) and … Continue reading →

Ever wonder what the inside of a infill shoulder plane looks like? Probably what you expected and yes, pretty boring. Some planes use a metal plate for the wedge to bear against, but I’m going for simple here.

I decided to kill a couple of birds with one stone by making the blade ramp integral to the sole. This way, the entire ramp and mouth are cut at once, guaranteeing everything is co-planer . Cutting the entire ramp … Continue reading →