(05-08-2022, 08:21 AM)Timberwerks Studio Wrote: So, what's your opinion on pin rod choice, aluminum or brass? I do like the contemporary look of the aluminum pin on the all Ebony planes but the brass is a much nicer material.
...
Thoughts?
This is just my opinion, and we all have one, so I don't want you to think that my way if the right way, it's just a way I tend to work.
I pretty much agree with your choice, but one thing that bothers me is if the plane blade is steel and you use brass and/or bronze (my choice being the later, just much better material) you have the color difference in the blade and/or pin, and I normally don't care for silver/brass being in contrast like that.
Some stuff doesn't bother me, but you really need to be concerned with the overall appearance and you know better than people out here on the Internet, all of our monitors are most likely
NOT the same color and do they
DO NOT show colors in the same always. So be careful about how you ask for opinions, again IMO.
In this case you have the cover so you won't see the pin, only the ends. It might looks ok in front of me, that I don't know for certain though.
However, being a craftsman often requires we make the best choice we can and if we decide it wasn't the right choice we can always change it.
I suggest to first go with your gut, look at them and decide how you feel with different colors. Sometimes different tones work well together.
For me ebony is such a special wood I would want both the blade and the pins to be the same, not only color wise, if the blade was made out of 01, I'd probably want it made out of the same steel. You could always turn different pins out of 01 or other high carbon steel, and depending on the plane blade it might be difficult to tell what the steel is. As an example, Japanese laminated blades use different steel, so whatever is exposed on the top while the plane is in use would be what I would try to match the steel to. I wouldn't use aluminum for the pins, but I think they will last for anyone's lifetime, it's unclear what may become abrasive inside the pivot and cause slop in the future. I don't currently use a lot of wooden planes with exotic woods, most all of my wood planes are old beat up molding planes and a few for small to medium surfacing. I use iron planes for that mostly, but love wooden planes, and the Krenov plates are just a great size to have close by always as they are so useful. HTH, although probably muddies the water.
Definitely get other opinions and/or go with your gut, you do good enough work that you should trust yourself. Nice work, btw!
