A few people have by now, built their Shoulder Plane kits and have posted work in progress threads on the UKWorkshop forum. If you’d like to have a look at a couple of these WIP’s check out the link below.
http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34955
The thread was started by Rod (Harbo) and Jim (Jimi43) has added his WIP to the same thread. Both have made a cracking job of their planes, I’m really proud of both of them. Well done guys!!
Cheers
Aled
Hi, following a few requests on the UKWorkshop forum for a copy of the instructions of the Small shoulder plane, I’ve managed to produce a PDF version of that document.
If you’d like a copy of the instructions to have a look at, and to dispel the myth that infill planes are out of the comfort zone of most woodworkers, contact me with your e-mail address, and I’ll send you a copy.
Cheers
Aled
P.S. I would offer the instructions as a direct download from this site, but I wouldn’t know where to start. I’ll get my techie mate onto it.
I’ve decided to drop the price of my Small Shoulder plane back to £65 inc Shipping to the UK. Worldwide shipping usually adds £10 to the cost, but contact me for an up to date cost. The cost was initially raised due to the increased cost of water jet cutting, but I’ve found a new (cheaper) supplier, so I can pass on the savings to you.
I also made some progress on the Small Smoother today, so it shouldn’t be too long before this kit is available also. I’ll post some pics towards the end of the wekend
Cheers
Aled
Small Smoother Progress
I’ve been doing a little work on my Small Smoother this week, but unfortunately made no real progress.
As I thought, the laser cut blanks for the soles of this palne turned out to have been hardened by the process of laser cutting – something that the profiling company ommited to tell me about. It’s quite amazing how hard O1 steel can be, the sharp corners of the plane’s sole took the teeth right off a brand new Bastard File!! The teeth on hacksaws just whimper and give up, and scribes just skate on the surface.
As with the development stages of the Small Shoulder, I tried to anneal a sole plate to “soften” the hard edges. The annealing worked to some degree, but there were still a few areas where the steel had not reached the required temperature, or cooled too quickly, which resulted in a few localised hard spots. Bugger!
I grudgingnly decided that this was just not good enough and ordered a new set of sole plates. These should be with me by the end of this week, so I can carry on with getting these smoothers off the ground.
On a brighter note, I’ve started to think about where to go next on my plane making journey. The wife was away on a hen night last night, so I had some peace and quiet to put pen to paper (pencil actually, but “pen to paper” sounds better than “pencil to paper”), and started sketching out a full sized shoulder plane along the lines of a Norris A7
I also have a full sized smoother project on the go, but it’s been put on the back burner for a while for a number fo reasons. Firstly because I don’t have the time to spend on it, and also because that I’ve gone down the route of screwing the sides to the sole. Tapping 20 odd blind holes in O1 steel is a painstaking and time consuming task!! (especially if you break a tap, and fail to remove it). I’ll post more on this project later in the week when I have some photos to show you.
Cheers
Aled
