# First home-made handplane



## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

As a tangent to another project I'm slowly working on (blanket chest) I decided I wanted a larger handplane than the crappy little #4 chinese knock-off I have. Something jack plane sized or maybe a little larger would be nice.

So after some though on buy vs. re-build I decided I could make one. And I had a discussion with a guy at the recent Wood Show in KC and he has built a few for himself. Pretty straight forward process to make a Krenov style. Ordered a blade and chipbreaker from Hock Tools. They sell a shorter style of blade intended for use in wooden body handplanes.

The internet has not shortage of plans, opinions and suggestions for building a plane. My design is somewhat of a conglomeration of looking at lots of different plans. The body is sapele (eBay prize) and the sole is caribbean rosewood (another eBay prize). Both were resawn and glued back together to reorient the grain to be as vertical through the body as possible. The rosewood is already taking on a slick shine after just a little bit of use. Neato.

I'll be remaking the wedge, this is just a scrap of oak so I could play with my new toy. Takes a good shaving (at least in my limited experience) from the pine, poplar and white oak I tested with. Fun to tap on the body to adjust the blade! 

Oh, and no routers were harmed in the making of this project.


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## GateKeeper (Dec 2, 2008)

Hi Rob: Thats a nice looking plane man, there is no satisfaction like making your own tools and then making something with it. Just curious what is the angle of the cutting blade?


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## Dr.Zook (Sep 10, 2004)

Rob, I'm glad to hear that no routers were harmed in making your plane. It is a nice looking project tho. Atta boy.


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## xplorx4 (Dec 1, 2008)

Greetings Rob and welcome to the forum good to have you here. Good job on the plane, must be great to make your own tools.


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## Electron (May 22, 2008)

That really is a neat project Rob, it almost makes me want to try hand tools again, almost!

Harry


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

Fantastic job on that plane Rob. Let's see some shavings


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## Gerard_sr (Dec 7, 2008)

*That's not a Plane Rob,*

That's not a plane Rob,

*It's a work of ART!*

Very cool indeed!

Cordially,
Gerry


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

GateKeeper said:


> Hi Rob: Thats a nice looking plane man, there is no satisfaction like making your own tools and then making something with it. Just curious what is the angle of the cutting blade?


Plane support is at 50 deg, iron (bevel down) ground at 30 with a little touch of a microbevel. I did the microbevel less for altered cutting ability (like I could tell the difference anyway  ) than to make it less of a chore to sharpen. Once that 30 degree is established, a microbevel is quicker to sharpen because there is MUCH less surface to grind/hone. 

I'll make some fresh shavings and take a few to work where I have access to a camera that can focus closer.


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 6, 2006)

Rob,
Great job on the plane. Isn't it fun making your own tools? Does she work smooth? I thought you might enjoy my first attempt at "plane making". It's called a "finger plane".


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

It is great to know that we have other hand tool neanderthals on the forum. 

Hand tools are my first love although I have to buy mine as I am not good enough to make them like you guys :'(


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Bob

Nice set of planes 

Have you made your will out yet ?, if not put my name on it for your planes..or just put a tag on them and say pack up in bubble wrap and ship to Colorado... you have my address I'm sure..  

Yep, I can wait 25 years or so..I can always roll out in my wheel chair and get them from the UPS guy.. 

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Bob said:


> It is great to know that we have other hand tool neanderthals on the forum.
> 
> Hand tools are my first love although I have to buy mine as I am not good enough to make them like you guys :'(


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

curiousgeorge said:


> Rob,
> Great job on the plane. Isn't it fun making your own tools? Does she work smooth? I thought you might enjoy my first attempt at "plane making". It's called a "finger plane".


Wassamatter? Your fingers too large and need to be planed? Ha! 

That is a nifty little guy! I've seen a few of those and other "violin makers planes" but never tried one. Good for fine tuning small joints and such?


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Bob said:


> Fantastic job on that plane Rob. Let's see some shavings


I decided to try putting a shaving on the flatbed scanner. Worked out pretty well. Mic'd it and it is around 3 or 4 thousands thick. Some subjectivity in that sort of measurement because you can change it just by squeezing a little too hard!

This was made pretty early in the tuning/testing session and so you can see I'm wobbling my way across the board a little bit.  Just need more practice!


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

That looks like a great shaving to me. Full length and paper thin. It just don't get a whole lot better than that.

Better watch that BJ guy, looks like he is neander wannabe and might come after your plane


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