Well this video is a little is a little bit different to our usual videos, is it?
Yes it is.
I wanted to talk a little bit about a little series that we've got coming up, it's going
to be on YouTube, a free series on getting started with wooden planes, because I think
that so many people are just missing out on how wondrous these bloody things are, they
have no idea.
So the series is gonna touch on getting started using them, how to set them up we're hopefully
going to restore some planes and then at the end, which this video is going to be a bit
about, we're going to make a plane.
Now I want this whole series to be very doable so I've come up with a few plane designs that
are very doable, very easy to make.
So the first prototype, and this one I'm quite fond of now it's just made out of a bit of
pine, I just wanted to test out the principle of it, and it actually worked very well, and
what it is it's the traditional, it's the classical pattern in the cut out, which as
you can see in this plane, let me take all this out and you'll be able to see what I'm
talking about.
This is basically a solid piece of wood and someone has skilfully cut all of this out,
I mean this is masterful work it really is and the plane makers today that are still
employing this technique my hat goes off to you it's a phenomenally skilled process to
do by hand, and any amateur who has tackled this or has attempted this, again I applaud
you I really do.
But what I wanted to do, for a beginner this has no place you're not gonna touch it don't
even begin to it's just gonna be another kick in the balls and you're just you're not going
to pick yourself up.
So to get this what I come up with was a, just a three part lamination it's probably
been done a thousand times, but I don't know.
And basically all the bed and the throat have been cut hand sawn and then planed so they're
very accurate.
Far more accurate than probably the best of planes today are done with floats in the traditional
methods.
And then the side pieces have all the cheek and that lot cut in just with a saw and a
chisel and then we fold it all back together and glue it again.
Then we just have to do a bit of fettling, so the build itself was so simple and it yields
a very impressive looking plane, it would fool your friends, but that's not the point
the point is that we want a user plane we don't want to just be showing off.
I did come a little bit stuck though when I got to the wedge because whilst we did,
I could cheat with the design, this cut out, the wedge still had to be very skilfully made
and that's just part of the design of these type of planes.
If we take a look at this one, you see the fundamental part of the wedge is that it matches
the cut out perfectly.
So this piece here has to follow down the wall inside here to the 't'.
And the secret to a nice adjusting wooden plane is all in that wedge and even on a very
well made plane, a new plane you may find yourself still having to tweak that wedge
from time to time.
I have since I made this I've come up with a little idea that might get me round that
problem of basically making a dead easy wedge that anyone can make but I've got to test
it first I've got to prototype it and I'll let you know soon as I've done it how I get
on.
I think it'll work, it's pretty simple but we'll see.
The next prototype which actually turned in to more of a final plane is the much simpler
version, it's just the peg system, the Krenov system I suppose we could call it.
Again it is laminated so three part lamination, so all the bed, all the important stuff is
dead easy to cut.
This plane through, rather than the usual sort of Krenov pattern planes you see or type
of planes you see I want it to represent more of a traditional bodied plane this is just
a coffin smoother, because I favour them I think they are the best designs and the same
goes for any of the wooden planes, planes like this I just like that handle, it's designed
for purpose.
I don't want anything fancy.
Now this plane it's a bit rough round the edges it was a prototype I'll probably, I
say it's a prototype the thing is I'm one of these that says I'm gonna make a better
one but I don't I'll keep this until the day I die probably.
It took only an hour to make and you know we've got a smoothing plane here that is running
alongside the best of my planes and it took me one hour to make and it was relatively
skill-less.
Now I could spend an extra hour on this on finishing it refining it, and I tell you what
it would stand up to the other planes looking at it as well.
The difference with it is, as you can see there's a big rectangle hole and it just has
this peg and that aids us in so many ways, obviously it makes the cutting out considerably
easier but it also means that the wedge can be made very inaccurately basically any wedge
shape is going to go in there and work, jobs a good'un.
Now I've been using this for about, what, a few days now I've absolutely give it some
hammer I've been testing it the best I can.
I pretty much smoother an entire workbench with it I've just done the top as well and
it was rippled ask, oh and it performed lovely.
Like I say it's up there with the best of my planes, it's shocked me.
And the most shocking aspect of it all was actually the adjusting, I've never had a plane
that's responded so well to the hammer.
And it's funny actually because Helen started woodworking last year, she wanted to get in
to it so I set her up and I made sure she started with wooden planes, I didn't want
her to miss the wonders of wooden planes.
So I pretty much confiscated ever metal plane from her and she's doing very well.
When Helen first had a go with this it was the first thing she said to me how well it
responded to the hammer, how easy the adjustments were made and then again, that is just a,
it's another perfect reason for this to be your first introduction to wooden planes because
the setting up the adjustment it's so much easier.
Something that so many people struggle with.
Now what I'm working on at the minute is I'm trying to refine the building process, I want
to just simplify that a little bit extra I want to really make it easy, particularly
with hand tools.
Unfortunately I can't quite eradicate the whole needing a plane to make a plane thing,
I'll have to work on that one but I've got a few more in the clamps at the minute a few
bodies laminated up, this is one that I took out a bit ago.
It's just a little jointer plane and I tell you again I've used it a bit without the handle,
I've got the handle to make that's the job I'm doing after I turn the cameras off.
Even though it's the middle of the bloody night, that's just how it works round here.
But again to think that you can make a plane of this size and this calibre in a Sunday
afternoon easily, you know anybody could build it easily in a Sunday afternoon it's just
a lovely feeling.
Now this one I spent a little bit more time on the wedge to try and resemble a bit more
of a traditional plane, this one bloody hell, look at it, it's shoddy as hell.
But no it really is, it's impressed me both of them have really impressed me so I'm, I'm
looking forward to working further with them.
Now I've got a Jack plane in the making and also a mitre plane, so I don't know which
one yet we'll do for the actual build, but the principle of the construction will go
through all of the planes.
And this one I will do a video to touch on how it goes and how it works and how, you
know just the instructions on making it I suppose, but it is still a little bit harder
than that so I think for a beginner this one's probably the winner.
So that's a bit of a quick progress report, it's a little bit different like I say to
the rest of the videos we've done but if you're interested in these sort of videos just let
me know because we've always got things to report on and we can probably get more regular
content as a result.
Now I've got a minute or so of footage of these being used on our Facebook page, it's
a little video we put together so there's a link in the description if you click on
that, it should take you there, you might just have to scroll down a little bit.
And like I say if you wanted more progress reports I can get another video on soon as
this handle's in action we'll see this plane in use.
So the series will be up soon it's a bit off yet, don't expect this thing next week you
know this is just a bit of a talk, some thoughts on it.
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