Making a dovetail plane, Project completed

ken werner

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Derek Cohen has written a very nice piece on making a dovetail plane. I decided to try my hand at this project, and thought I'd post my progress. Derek's article can be found here:
http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Evolving%20a%20Dovetail%20Plane.html

Anyway, here goes:

I began with an old skewed rabbet plane I bought for the purpose from my co-dependent planeaholic pal John Keeton. I know it is heresy to so treat a nice old tool. That is a given. Hopefully the end result will justify my actions. You can see that the plane has been re-soled before. This turned out to be a good thing.


I planed the body smooth. Yes, this removed the lovely patina, but left me with flat sides, which are better than the waves it came with.





Using my dovetail marker, I made lines to plane to, to set the 9 degree angle. I planed to my marks.


You can see the results of the Underhill rite of human sacrifice, when planing the sides of the plane, my pinky got caught between the working metal plane body and the very sharp edge of the hole in the middle of the wood plane. Thought I got pinched until blood started showing up on the work.


I made a sidepiece, which is necessary for the fillister, which comes along later. It is screwed to the body.



I had a piece of 3/16 x 3/16 tool steel. This I ground to a 30 degree bevel, with a rounded tip. It will be fitted into a dado along the side of the plane's body, and will be useful for cross grain cuts.



More in the next day or so.
 
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That's another project on my "to do list" that I didn't dare to start, maybe after seeing this post I get enough courage to make one myself.:thumb::thumb:
Thanks for posting:thumb:
 
Part II

Next in line is cutting the dado for the knicker, alas, I used the table saw, but finished the fitting with chisels and side rabbet planes.





Also shown is the stud placed to hold the brass nut to hold the knicker. I aimed for a flush fit, with the option of shimming it out with paper if needed.


The iron came skewed to match the original sole. Holding it in place, first I marked out the new edge, then ground to it.



Meanwhile, I made the fillister. It is 1/2" thick, and matches the 9 degree angle. I would've liked to face it with rosewood, but my pieces came up short. Hard maple should do nicely though.



It will have some slots cut in it shortly - either with a router table or perhaps neander with 2 holes and a scroll saw.

It will be held in place with these:





More later.
 
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Ken, I want to thank you for posting this. Up until this post I as a newbie had no clue what a dovetail plane was. I never thought about a dovetail being used on the width of a board. Always just thought of them in the case of draw corners where the wood is say 3/4 inch max thick.

Just seeing the pictures made me say Ahhhh now I get it. At first though I was stuggling to make out how a dovetail plane might be used in a 3/4 inch thick dovetail.:huh::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Hey for all you lurkers and non members out there at least I was honest enough to own up and admit it. Now I have seen the light.

Boy one day with a guy like you Ken and I am not sure I would ever get back to my business. I think I would be lost to my shop forever.:thumb::D

I am coming to respect the neaderthral ways more and more. But I do see a couple of trends emerging. Sharpness of the cutting edges and well tuned tools. I guess an apprentice back in the old days would be like a blacksmith apprentice and spend several years just sharpening the craftsmans tools before he got to use them.

Thanks for the post I will watch and perhaps get drawn into making one. Just that the project list is starting to grow out of hand.

Who ever said we woodworkers would ever be bored.;)
 
Part III

Next, I made the depth gauge, and then drilled a hole to receive the threaded insert to hold it. Figuring out the depth gauge made me realize why most knickers are held in place with a flat device. Derek used a screw in a slot in his knicker. So I had to accomodate that brass nut. You can see the results below. I also decided to put in a small wooden stud to help keep the depth gauge bottom parallel to the plane's sole.







Next, an image of the fillister, the groove is cut to make room for the plane iron.



And the first trial run:
15trialrun.jpg




I could not have been happier with the results.
More to come later.
 
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Last Chapter

After making some test cuts, I disassembled the plane, rounded over corners, and rubbed on some BLO. I am very happy with the results. This is a great project for anyone who would like to have a dovetail plane. Thanks go to Derek Cohen, who provided inspiration and instructions on his site.



16planeandDT.jpg








18Lside.jpg





All the best,
Ken
 
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