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Sometime back a neighbor borrowed a specialty power tool to trim the bottom of a door in place. He learned when at my shop of my interest in planes and when he brought the tool back he handed me a Bedrock 608C and a Bailey 5 1/2 C. Said he had a garage sale and no one bought them! (I was having a garage sale at the time so I never saw them.)
Anyway both planes (lever cap too) were painted black and the iron/chip breakers were painted silver. The tote and knob on both were black plastic. So I found a template on Lee Valley's site (thanks Mr. Lee!) and set about making a tote for the Bedrock and it turned out very well (rosewood from Woodcraft).
The reason for the post is that the template orients the grain more or less perpendicular with the slope of the tote rather than parallel with the base of the tote. So the grain on my new tote is obviously different than Stanley made them. Perhaps some with swirling grain would not be obvious.
I'm thinking Lee Valley, innovative folks that they are, believed that their grain orientation results in a stronger tote. The grain seems to be that way on my Veritas planes. Totes are sure prone to breaking. Do those of you who make totes follow Stanley's practice or the Lee Valley template? Any difference noticed in strength or opinion which is best? I need to make a few more totes.
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it doesn't really seem to me that there is a lot of difference. I'll have to draw a free body diagram
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I orient the grain parallel to the base of the tote, not the horn like the Lee Valley pattern shows. I doubt it makes much difference, but the Lee Valley pattern puts the weak short grain on the tote's toe, which seems like a bad idea to me. If something is going to break, I'd rather it be the horn than the toe.
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Being a total noob at this, I'll be interested in the responses as well.
I tried my hand at making totes for a couple transitional planes of Dad's that I fixed up. They are strictly decorative and sentimental pieces, so I wasn't terribly concerned about usability or even period correctness. I just wanted to see of I could make them. I oriented the grain parallel to the sole and just kind of copied the shape and hole locations on the originals. Turned out OK. It was later that I found the pattern on Lee Valley's website and noticed how the orientation of the grain was different. I figured they must know what they were doing, so when I needed a tote for a flea market find, I used their pattern. It was definitely easier process than trying to lay out the angles and hole locations on my own, but I'm curious to hear what the brain trust thinks about the grain orientation.
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I found a turning blank (same source IIRC) and used it to make this tote with the LV pattern. The grain worked out very well with it running almost parallel through every thin part of the grip.
Not going to happen every time, but occasionally you get lucky.
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It comes down to the thin sections - if the grain runs across a thin section (cross grain), it will be weak and liable to break. On the other hand, if the section is thick, this vulnerability is reduced.
The vulnerable sections on a Stanley handle are the horns and where the reinforcing screw/tenon goes.
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Derek
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Parallel to the horn of the tote, for the reasons Derek stated. That said, in most vintage and modern planes the grain is horizontal. The horns on hand planes don't get as much abuse as the horns on hand saws, where the grain ran parallel to the horn. The horns on plane totes also tend to be thicker than on hand saws,
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Allan Hill
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No wooden tote is unbreakable, but Stanley and the other old plane makers oriented the grain correctly: parallel to the sole of the plane. That orientation won't break in regular use, though you may break a horn off by dropping the plane or otherwise banging it into something hard.
Same with handsaws.
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Bibliophile 13 said:
No wooden tote is unbreakable, but Stanley and the other old plane makers oriented the grain correctly: parallel to the sole of the plane. That orientation won't break in regular use, though you may break a horn off by dropping the plane or otherwise banging it into something hard.
Same with handsaws.
I agree. That's how I make all of mine. Stanley did it that way for a reason.
