"Un-believable" handplane tip

[Handplanesandmore]

I flipped the pages of the shop tips in a magazine that belongs to my neighbor.

Published: mount the plane upside down in a vise , and use it to shape pen blanks with a bare hand to make pens.

Wow.....

Is this what happened when there were no more old tips left that could be recycled (for the third time)?

Simon

[C. in Indy]

I have done that technique.... made some 6-sided pens too!    But I didn't send in the tip 

[Handplanesandmore]

So how many pens did you make over the years using a handplane, and how long did it take to shape two blanks? Did you wear a Kevlar glove? (The tip as published is meant to do round pens.)

Simon

[C. in Indy]

Ha ha!    Not a lot done there; I found a picture and it was 8-sided rather than 6-sided.   But it was fun.

   

[Handplanesandmore]

In other words, the so-called tip is impractical, to say the least. Wait, I should try the magazine with my own tip: use sandpaper instead of a handplane......which well is at least safer!!!

Simon

[AHill]

Do you also use the plane to square off both ends? Seems rather impractical and hazardous to me.

[tablesawtom]

If a person didn't have a lathe and he wanted to make a pen then using a plane in a vise is one way of doing it. I wear try- focals and have cataracts so I use a thin piece of pine to set my plane blades side to side. I can feel if one side is taking more off than the other. Putting the plane in a vise is the next logical step. Make a clamp so as the keep the fingers out of harms way and go for it.

Personally I do not care to do any more lathe turning than I have to. I have made some pens and pencils but I think it is boring and if I never made another pen that would be okay with me. The other day I needed (8) 1/2 inch diameter walnut dowels.. The only way I was going to get them is to order then and getting them within week would be streching it. I drilled and reamed half inch hole in a piece of steel about 3/8 thick I relieved the hole so the thickness was about 1 /8th thick . I cut some walnut square stock to 1/2 by 1/2 used a router with a 1/4 round over and got close and then guess what I trimmed it even closer with a small block plane. Then I made my dowels.

anything is worth considering. I try to never look down my nose at a process.

Tom

[wmickley]

I have never made a pen kit, but I have used this technique for decades. It is not unbelievable. It is not unsafe. It is not impractical.We use it when it is the most practical method.

[DCarr10760]

I flipped the pages of the shop tips in a magazine that belongs to my neighbor.

Published: mount the plane upside down in a vise , and use it to shape pen blanks with a bare hand to make pens.

Wow.....

Is this what happened when there were no more old tips left that could be recycled (for the third time)?

Simon

I have used this technique for years making models and other small parts for toys and crafts.  I finally made a very small shooting board for use with a block plane which also works well.  But free-handing it over an inverted plane, like a mini version of a coopers plane works great!  With the plane set for a fine shaving, the danger is minimized.  Of course, like with anything else, you do have to watch what you're doing.

DC

[Handplanesandmore]

Some of you but not AHill have missed my point. What is un believable is not the use of a plane upside down to shave. I have done that many times. What shocked me is that a magazine would pay $100(?) to accept and publish an impractical way of making round pens.

If there aren't enough good ideas around to fill all the pages, better cut the no. of pages than look silly. Nothing is more silly than trying to make x number of round pens with your bare hands!

Simon