smoothing plane

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smoothing plane
By Philip Marcou
H
ere is an outline for making a
small steel and brass smoothing plane which looks similar in
style and size to the common Stanley or Record No 3 size. There the
similarities end.
The main differences are the
blade is 5mm thick, it has a screw
blade-adjuster but no back iron or
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TH E S H E D
A P R I L / M AY 2 0 0 8
Trial fit of sole and sides.
chip-breaker. The screw-type cap
is bronze and massive. The sole is
8mm thick and dovetailed to the
6mm thick brass sides. The knob
is a refined version of the Stanley but the rear handle is a more
radical departure. There is no
frog. The blade is solidly bedded
on a steel bridging piece which
connects the sides to enhance rigidity and houses the swivelling
adjuster mechanism, allowing for
lateral adjustment of the blade.
Works better
The sides are also united by the
cross-pin which engages with the
cap to keep the blade set on the
PHOTOGRAPHS: JUDE WOODSIDE
Machining the dovetails on a mill.
Blade cap
Blade
Screw cap
Adjuster mechanism
Rear
handle
Dovetails housed.
Front knob
Sides
Cross
pin
Sole
Sides
A perfect fit.
Dovetails
bed without movement or chattering. The cross-pin is riveted flush
to the sides and the bed bridging
piece is screwed flush to the sides.
All dovetails are air-tight – seamless in other words. These are the
main differences which result in
a plane that not only looks good
but also works far better than the
common type.
I like to use gauge plate for the sole
because this is supplied accurately
ground and straight. It is not liable
to distort when further machined
or worked. For the sides, I prefer
to use one of the harder brass alloys. The blade is made from D2
tool steel which is best heat-treated
PHILIP MARCOU
Cabinetmaker Philip Marcou can trace his interest in modifying and making planes exactly to the point here he
bought a Lee Valley & Veritas No 62 ½ plane and a 4 ½ smoother. To suit his tastes and his needs he modified the
handles and the way the cap and knob were fixed. He was hooked and admits on his website that, from his knifemaking experience, he understood the seductive power of working with fine wood, brass and steel. Because he
liked the plane he decided he would make a plane himself, using double dovetails. As a long-time member of the
Knots Forum of the American Fine Woodworking magazine, he explored what members wanted in planes. He was
inspired by the workmanship of Karl Holtey’s classic hand planes and has developed his own style. Several years
ago, Marcou emigrated from Zimbabwe where he ran his own successful woodworking business for 12 years and
continues to make fine furniture in his Waihi workshop in the Bay of Plenty.
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TH E S H E D
41
Plane sides temporarily joined, rough cut ready for linishing.
Reaming hole for the knob.
by a specialist firm. Local hard timbers such as puriri and black maire
are good choices for the knob and
handle.
Tools
When it comes to tools required,
Honourable Members of the File
and Hacksaw Brigade will have
a field day, but I prefer to at least
have a mill drill and a bench lathe.
Good eyesight is useful but vision
enhancement in the form of head
loupes etc is necessary at times. Life
is dull without digital calipers.
Other machines such as disc sanders and a belt grinder save a lot of
bother. A bandsaw that can run at
speeds suitable for cutting wood
steel and non ferrous is highly desirable. Oh, I almost forgot: you
must beg, borrow or steal a surface
grinder.
As far as basic machinist work this is
not difficult, even for woodworms
like me: it is merely a number of
steps which get easier with practice
and use of initiative. Anyone can
make an error and a good fix is one
that is not evident, does not weaken
anything and may even result in an
improvement in design. If you have
learned to peen metal and can do
basic turning, then most mistakes
can be banished. Good luck.
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TH E S H E D
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Linishing the sides on a self-built linisher.
First step
Assuming you have transferred a
“working drawing” from the cerebral melting pot to a scrap of paper, the first step is to cut the gauge
plate (a.k.a. O1 tool steel) with a
bandsaw and refine it to the final
dimension. It pays to be precise
here, otherwise small discrepancies
compound themselves at each successive step. You can either mill it
or use the surface grinder.
The next thing to do is to dimension the brass for the sides. Leave
them rectangular, i.e. not shaped,
and they should be an exact pair.
The dovetails need to be scribed on
the sides with the aid of marking
blue. Be sure that you have a wide
socket at the mouth area, otherwise
the sole will be cut in two pieces
when you cut the mouth slot.
Cut the tails by removing the bulk
of the material with the bandsaw
then milling the pair with a dovetail cutter in the mill. Once this is
done, those tails are the reference
for the joint and the sole must be
made to fit them and not vice versa
– or at least that is my method, and
it has yet to lead to either failure or
a loss of temper.
Plane side pieces linished to shape.
Sole
Now to the sole: use each side to
mark out the joint with a scriber
onto the blued area. Use whatever
means suits to remove the waste: it
could be with a CNC or Bridgeport
machine, with chain drilling and
filing or a combination if you only
have a small mill. The objective is to
have the sides a tight fit to the sole.
Sole, sides and cross pin.
If you are doing the traditional
double-flare dovetails then the flare
can be filed by hand at this stage. It
is preferable to avoid double flares
if you are using hard brass. You
merely leave them square and find
another method of ensuring that
they can’t come out the same way
that they went in. I use tapered pins
set into holes drilled and reamed at
an angle off vertical. Be sure to allow for peening…be sure to allow
for peening…be sure to allow for
peening…
The next step is to machine a slot
for the mouth in the sole using
the mill, or drills and files if you
must suffer a near-death experience. Ditto for the ramp in the sole.
The ramp is easily done by milling,
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TH E S H E D
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Partly assembled planes in production.
Note the cross pin and the adjuster
mechanism.
Screw adjuster mechanism.
provided you have a means to hold
the sole at the correct angle, 45° in
this case. I use a pair of purposemade steel wedges in the machine
vice for this.
Accurate measure
At this stage, take an accurate measurement of the inner width of the
sole so that you can then turn the
shouldered cross-pin for the cap
and make the steel bridge bed to
the same length. You might as well
turn out the following in mild steel
at this stage as well:
* two shouldered screws to attach
the sides to the bed. These fit into
counter-bored holes in the sides.
They will be proud until you have
peened them, then they will be
ground flush;
* one screw similar to the above to
be used to fix the sole to the knob
carrier via a counter-bored hole in
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TH E S H E D
A P R I L / M AY 2 0 0 8
Plane blade.
Philip Marcou with a newly finished
plane.
the sole; and
* one knob carrier.
Drill and counter-bore the sides for
the bed-connecting screws, and drill
the sides for the cross-pin. Make
these tapered holes so that you can
rivet this to the sides. The positioning of these holes is crucial.
Next make the shouldered brass
base that locates the handle and
fix this to the sole by use of counter-sunk machine screws. Fit it and
then remove it. It will go back on
permanently with Locktite later
when the plane is assembled and
you drill the hole for the handlefixing rod.
Sides
Now you can get excited because
all you have to do is to cut the profile of the sides (again do them as
a pair) and refine them with belt
grinder. Then you can assemble the
The front knob, screw cap and the rear
handle and its threaded rod connector.
Note the post on the plane is for the
front knob.
sides to the sole, being sure to include the cross-pin and screw the
steel bed through the sides. Ensure
that this component is at the correct angle in relation to the ramp!
Then you can peen all proud edges at the dovetails and the screw
heads, mill them all flush and there
is the crude plane.
It is all downhill from here and not
really possible to make any lifethreatening errors. The brass base
of the adjuster needs to be turned
to the correct height so that it is in
the same, er, plane as the ramp.
This component has a stub that fits
into the hole that you did not forget to drill in the steel-bed bridge
piece – so that it can swivel. It is
also drilled and threaded to accept
the adjuster stem.
The adjuster stem itself is threaded
at the rear for a brass knurled knob,
and at the front it has a turned
shoulder for the adjuster peg which
engages with the blade. It is useful
to have the blade on hand when
you are making the components
for the adjuster.
Bronze cap
The next major component is the
bronze cap, which will be bandsawn to rough shape then refined
by milling, then drilled and threaded for the cap screw. This needs to
be robust and a nice smooth fit in
the threads of the cap.
Then you can do some woodwork
for the knob and handle, and some
careful drilling for that angled hole
through the length of the handle.
The screw cap and adjuster mechanism on a finished plane.
plus a counter-bore at the top for
another nice brass nut, this time
shouldered and without a slot.
Now is the time to drill and thread
the angled hole in the brass base
under the handle. This is done
with the base fitted to the sole. If
the thread continues into but not
through the sole it will be much
stronger.
The remaining part is the best part
– the surface grinding of the sole
and sides. Be sure to grind the
sole square to the ramp (it is not
a skew-mouth plane) and to the
sides, otherwise those who use
shooting boards will complain.
Check that the sole is flat and lap
it to be sure. Hone your blade and
there you go.
040806 SD_HOLDFAST
The hole needs to be counter-bored
for a nice brass slotted nut at the
top. If you value your finger tips it
is advisable to devise a safe means
to hold that handle when routing
the profile or you will suffer the
use of files, rasps and much sandpaper.
The knob, too, needs to be bored
to accept the knob carrier stud,
Blade cap (close-up).
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