- Joined
- Jul 26, 2011
- Messages
- 4,139
This is a plane I made completely from scratch. I made a gas furnace,and a wooden model for this plane and cast it,making up the alloy myself. The alloy is 90% copper and 10% pure tin.
I made several of this style plane,but this one was a presentation piece,so I engraved it. Unfortunately,I am not a very good photographer,plus this was scanned from a slide,but you can get an idea of it.
The plane is 4" long. Called a chariot plane because coach makers used it. It is fine as a general purpose block plane,though. The wedge is rosewood,and the iron is 01 steel. I left the tempering colors on the blade,so you can see the nice fire blue coming up out of the body. Near the cutting edge,this color is straw,though.
The steel toe is typical of this style of plane. it enables one to get the very thin throat desired in these early planes made of metal. Notice that the screw slots are "timed" to come out at the same angle on both the screws holding the toe on. The screw that goes across the wedge is timed to be horizontal. This is accomplished by making the screws with too tall heads. When the screws are tightened down,you mark the sides of the screw heads where you want to orient the slots. Then,saw off the too tall part,turn the tops true,and re slot using your side marks as guides. Fine gun locks were made with all the screws timed like this.
The bar across the wedge is the old Roman style of holding the wedge down. I only use it on smaller planes.
I made several of this style plane,but this one was a presentation piece,so I engraved it. Unfortunately,I am not a very good photographer,plus this was scanned from a slide,but you can get an idea of it.
The plane is 4" long. Called a chariot plane because coach makers used it. It is fine as a general purpose block plane,though. The wedge is rosewood,and the iron is 01 steel. I left the tempering colors on the blade,so you can see the nice fire blue coming up out of the body. Near the cutting edge,this color is straw,though.
The steel toe is typical of this style of plane. it enables one to get the very thin throat desired in these early planes made of metal. Notice that the screw slots are "timed" to come out at the same angle on both the screws holding the toe on. The screw that goes across the wedge is timed to be horizontal. This is accomplished by making the screws with too tall heads. When the screws are tightened down,you mark the sides of the screw heads where you want to orient the slots. Then,saw off the too tall part,turn the tops true,and re slot using your side marks as guides. Fine gun locks were made with all the screws timed like this.
The bar across the wedge is the old Roman style of holding the wedge down. I only use it on smaller planes.
