03-11-2024, 04:46 PM
Well, the title may sound clickbait, but it is true, LOL
Anyway, seriously speaking: this is a technique I learnt here many years ago and I was amazed it works so well. So the basic problem:
This is how a normal Stanley smoother cuts the kiln dried black locust: this wood has often grain direction changes in it, kiln drying makes it brittle, and even if you set the plane to extra fine cut, it does create tear out. Though they are very shallow, and much more tolerable than with a normally set plane, in case of which you could see massive holes where you can see those light white spots now. However this outcome is not very good for high grade work.
And now comes my plane. I have made one like this many years ago, but it got lost. Credits for the idea go to Norsewoodsmith, whose planemaking articles inspired me to make one. And the technology comes from your comments here from the same period: some here suggested a 60 degree smoother can solve this issue. The interesting is: it does not only make a nicer surface, but something that is very odd: even back than and now these planes that I made myself cut much better than any plane I owned. Blade gets cutting easier, doesn't tend to jump that much on grain direction changes, easier to push, it is pulling itself into the cut. I don't know why that is, but all in all I am amazed how well these home made ones can work, and indeed you can see the 60 degree of blade angle works:
And interestingly it was done with a thicker shaving and large mouth opening than in case of the Stanley smoother. I made a mistake though because I should have create a smaller mouth opening, but it works even like that as it is now, however this way you must be extremely careful not to push the plane too fast because then it will tear the wood out, too. But if you push carefully, it does a nice job even with the oddly large opening. And no chipbreaker!
Here is this toy anyway:
Horn hand carved!
If you are interested in how I made it, I will upload an article about it soon to my website. If the admins allow it, I will post the link here. So check back if interested.
Anyway, seriously speaking: this is a technique I learnt here many years ago and I was amazed it works so well. So the basic problem:
This is how a normal Stanley smoother cuts the kiln dried black locust: this wood has often grain direction changes in it, kiln drying makes it brittle, and even if you set the plane to extra fine cut, it does create tear out. Though they are very shallow, and much more tolerable than with a normally set plane, in case of which you could see massive holes where you can see those light white spots now. However this outcome is not very good for high grade work.
And now comes my plane. I have made one like this many years ago, but it got lost. Credits for the idea go to Norsewoodsmith, whose planemaking articles inspired me to make one. And the technology comes from your comments here from the same period: some here suggested a 60 degree smoother can solve this issue. The interesting is: it does not only make a nicer surface, but something that is very odd: even back than and now these planes that I made myself cut much better than any plane I owned. Blade gets cutting easier, doesn't tend to jump that much on grain direction changes, easier to push, it is pulling itself into the cut. I don't know why that is, but all in all I am amazed how well these home made ones can work, and indeed you can see the 60 degree of blade angle works:
And interestingly it was done with a thicker shaving and large mouth opening than in case of the Stanley smoother. I made a mistake though because I should have create a smaller mouth opening, but it works even like that as it is now, however this way you must be extremely careful not to push the plane too fast because then it will tear the wood out, too. But if you push carefully, it does a nice job even with the oddly large opening. And no chipbreaker!
Here is this toy anyway:
Horn hand carved!
If you are interested in how I made it, I will upload an article about it soon to my website. If the admins allow it, I will post the link here. So check back if interested.
