Fantasy Tool Box - the last plane

[derekcohen]

Trying plane ... smoother .. cooper plane .. moving fillister/shoulder plane .. plough plane .. side rebate/sliding dovetail plane .. router plane ... the last plane is a block plane.



This plane is made with scraps of Beech, with a shop made M2 (HSS) blade, UHMW cross piece, and Jarrah wedge.

The notable feature of this block plane, other than being tiny - 105mm in length and 40mm wide - is the bed, which is angled at 37 degrees rather than the 45 degree common angle. This creates a 37 degree cutting angle, which is the same as a BU block plane (12 degree bed + 25 degree bevel). I did consider a BU configuration, however this would leave a thin, wooden sole beneath the blade/wedge, and it would be at risk for bending out of flat. The BD configuration provides enough stability to avoid this.

The bevel of the blade is 27 degrees. This leaves 10 degrees clearance.

The blade is 23mm wide and 3mm thick. The wedge is is sloped at 10 degrees.





How small is small? This small ...



Taking gossamer edge grain is not much of a challenge ...



It takes fine shaving in end grain Radiata Pine ...



... and leaves as fine a finish (on this soft wood) as a LN #60 1/2. You can see the difference in size here ...



Just enough space to fit in ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Dr.Al]

That's lovely Derek. I went for the same 37° bed angle when I made the little block plane for my tool chest, although I think that's a little bigger than yours - Quangsheng block plane for scale:

 

[derekcohen]

That's very nice work. Where did the blades, adjuster come from? Did you make them?

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Dr.Al]

That's very nice work. Where did the blades, adjuster come from? Did you make them?

Thanks Derek. Yes, I made them. The blades were made from gauge plate (O1 tool steel), the base, clamp and adjuster mechanism came from bits of brass and stainless steel bar stock.