# Home made plane adjusting hammer



## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

I've been too busy with work and other things to get any large blocks of time for my Shaker cupboard project. But in the mean time I've built a small handplane, smoother size and I decided it needed a blade adjusting hammer. Wood handplanes with wedges to hold the blade/breaker don't have mechanical adjusters. You use a small hammer to set the wedge and then by tapping on the back of the blade or on the heel of the plane you can move the blade in or out. Works slick. 

I had been using a small finishing hammer but this will be nicer. About 2-1/2" long, brass is 7/8" diameter. The flat face is white oak (endgrain) that I soaked in CA glue to make it "plastic". The handle is also white oak. The handle may get replaced with some ash. I'm calling this a prototype.

Harry will be proud that I did the brass work on a lathe (except for drilling the through hole for the handle). No 3-jaw chuck, made a jam chuck instead. Harry will also be disappointed in me because I didn't take the camera out to document things. :sad:

p.s. No routers were harmed in the making of this hammer...


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## westend (Mar 31, 2009)

Nice looking tool, how does it feel "in hand"?


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

westend said:


> Nice looking tool, how does it feel "in hand"?


It passes the test for functionallity. I need to do some more shaping on the handle. I left it round so until I put some flats on the sides, you can't tell by feel which way the hammer is pointing.

You can tell which face you have "forward" without looking because the ball end is a bit heavier than the wood face. Not sure if I like that or not. I may try making a second one with a piece of leather epoxied on the flat face instead of wood.

The bit of oak has a 3/8" tennon that fits into the face of the hammer, it isn't just glued on. I think that does help the strike feel, it didn't feel bouncy. Felt solid but still light enough to just tap-tap-tap.


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## jd99 (Jun 17, 2009)

I made one like that years ago, they come in handy. I couldnt tell if the ball end was part of the body or not; I made one end of mine to accept wood, or leather inserts (Flat end), and the other end (Ball end) I have a Alumimum ball that threads to the body instead of brass, and when it get worn out I just screw in another Alumimum insert. 

Maybe that would change the ballance of the hammer.


Looks good.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Very nicely made Rob BUT, how about reworking the bottom of the hole so that the handle sits up into it, I don't expect anything less than that from YOU Rob.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

harrysin said:


> Very nicely made Rob BUT, how about reworking the bottom of the hole so that the handle sits up into it, I don't expect anything less than that from YOU Rob.


Yes! I'm working out how to make the compound shape for the shoulder next time. My current idea is to just file it into the endgrain of the handle but unfortunately I don't have a small enough file with an aggressive cut. Time to buy more tools I guess. :happy:

Also on the list:
Threading the wood face and brass so it can be changed out. This gives me options for a wood face, UHMW face, leather pad, etc.

Figuring out how to turn an oval. I know in principle how to do this but I've never tried it. It would make a more comfortable handle.

Please add to my list!!!


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Rob, what's wrong with simply boring out the bottom of the hole and pushing the handle up into it, the handle looks round and even if it's oval, stick it back in the lathe and turn about a 1/4" round. I'm looking forward to logging on in the morning (our time) and seeing how you went about it.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

OK Harry, you lost me a bit. Are you talking about making the hole in the hammer head larger? I was thinking of shaping the shoulder of the handle so that the wood "flows" around the brass.

For reference, the tennon into the hammer is already at 3/8". The shoulder is near 1/2". The brass is 7/8" diameter and the head is about 2" long.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Yes Rob, open the hole in the head about a 1/4" or even an 1/8" deep and tap the handle up into it for a seamless joint. You remind me of the engineers at SONY, if a motor has to drive a mechanism and the choice of method is between a precision ground rubber belt or a complex epicyclic gear train, they will always choose the latter, giving the service industry lots of profit replacing broken plastic gears!


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Hmmm, not sure how to take that... 

OK, I think I understand. Prototype #2 will likely have different handle attachment.

Meantime I want to use this one to experiment with and test the durability of the wood face + CA.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

I simply meant that you are an engineer, and like the ones at Sony, often look for complex answers, missing the simple ones. It wasn't meant as criticism, just as a matter of fact. I have a friend who is an electronics technician and for a while worked for a company developing airport equipment for detecting minute amounts of explosives. Several physicists worked there each one from a different part of the world. On a number of occasions they struggled with problems for which my friend suggested answers, to their amazement.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

I know you weren't critizing Harry. And I have a pretty thick skin, as you know in engineering, you really should develop one. A thick skull helps too for butting heads... 

I see what you are talking about with the handle. I was thinking more of a flowing shape that looks less like the wood goes through and more "around". Trying to stretch the old creative side you know.

But thinking more about the stepped hole, I wonder if I could adapt that for use on both the top and bottom. On the bottom it would hold the shoulder of the handle. At the top, it would be inlaid with the same wood as the handle. But not be structural, just decorative, looking like there were two concentric handles passing through the head. I'd cut the large hole, fill, turn round again then drill the smaller hole for the handle to wedge into.

Hmmmm... Need to save up for that 3-jaw chuck first. Make this much easier on the next one.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

"Need to save up for that 3-jaw chuck first."

An independent four jaw chuck will be far more suitable for holding the mallet head Mike.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

harrysin said:


> "Need to save up for that 3-jaw chuck first."
> 
> An independent four jaw chuck will be far more suitable for holding the mallet head Mike.


Even better! :happy:

Now what did I do with my jar full of pennies...


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Would you like the forum to start a collection for you Rob? I didn't realise that you were a "between jobs" engineer.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

harrysin said:


> Would you like the forum to start a collection for you Rob? I didn't realise that you were a "between jobs" engineer.


Ha! Not exactly between jobs but as I work for a state university (that is to say, the majority of their funding comes from state tax revenue) and they have demanded a 12% cut in the university budget, I'm pretty much at the tipping point.

Salary frozen, equipment budgets stripped, furloughs on the horizon and a proposal on the table to change my salary from 50% "hard money" / 50% "soft money" to 20/80. Hard money is the stuff in the state budget. Soft money means what we can get through research grants, etc. While it isn't terribly difficult to get a grant funded, the change in the ratio means that the line items in a grant get pulled toward the salary column and away from equipment and supplies.

I will say though, that having worked for 12 years prior to this as a self-employed contract engineer, a little financial hardship is no big deal. I've discovered it is actually pretty easy to get/find/earn money. Everything else in life is the hard part.

And last time I cashed in all my change from the jars it was over $70.:jester:


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Sitting here comfortable in retirement that I paid for during my 50 year working life, I do sometimes forget that times have changed, especially in the US where the current recession has hit so hard. Having made friends with guys in Detroit, I have a good idea of how bad things are with unemployed skilled engineers applying for the most menial jobs in order to earn enough to keep things together.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Well, I know I'm nowhere near as troubled as those working for the auto industry! As a rule I live within my means so no debt beyond a mortgage and that is well in hand. I didn't let a sales agent or mortgage broker talk me into something bigger than I could afford.  

If I had, I would be making a bigger hammer so I could go play whack-a-mole on the banker's heads who started this mess...

In all seriousness, I'll probably get my chuck next month. Already spent my tool "allowance" for the month of July on some antique moulding (spelled that with the extra "U" for Harry) planes becase I want to study some up close in an effort to figure out how to make one. They are really quite inexpensive on the whole. I got four of them, each for less than the cost of a good router bit. And all in good working order except the blades need some honing.


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## TRN_Diesel (Feb 24, 2009)

harrysin said:


> Sitting here comfortable in retirement that I paid for during my 50 year working life, I do sometimes forget that times have changed, especially in the US where the current recession has hit so hard. Having made friends with guys in Detroit, I have a good idea of how bad things are with unemployed skilled engineers applying for the most menial jobs in order to earn enough to keep things together.


No job is menial Harry. We all do different things and it doesn't mean one is better or worse than the other. Mind you some require more training but if we all thought the same or wanted to do the same thing then the world would not run too smoothly.

Sorry even thought I have two degrees I consider myself a "blue collar" stiff trying to make ends meet. In reality that is all what were trying to do now isn't it?

P.S.

Nice looking hammer!


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