Shoulder Plane Update

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Well I thought I would post an update to my shoulder plane build. As most of you remember, I am in the midst of building my own shoulder plane. I got the general plans from a Shop Notes Magazine article but changed a few things. One of the things I changed was the steel. This one is made out of Stainless steel mostly, with some brass rivets and a purchased cutting iron.

Well I had to back up and punt so to speak. Some issues came up, but through some careful thought I was able to solider on. As you can see in the latest picture, I got the carcass welded, riveted and epoxied together. I also got the adjuster nut, threaded rod and iron in place. This took far more time than I thought, but I managed to do alright I guess. The tiny hole you see unfilled in the plane is for a brass pin. I do not have that in my possession here at home so that will have to wait. That will be a rivet that holds the stainless steel threaded rod in place that controls the adjuster nut.

Out of fun, and to spice up the top edge of the plane, I added a top brass nut just to have a place to rest my fingers, and as I said, to give it a little flasher look. This is threaded down into an insert so that the nut can be removed if the shoulder plane is in a very deep cut as the nut is wider than the body of the plane.

Other than that I have to take care of some issues with the sole of the plane, the throat and then do some final polishing. That requires some more milling machine time at work, and of course adding the missing brass pin. The polishing will include filing down the rivets and making sure the plane is pretty-pretty and polished up to a mirror like shine. Still, after a long time of considering throwing this plane out and starting all over, I am glad things turned around and its well on its way to making shavings.

Here is a picture mid-way through the build...

Plane-Mid-Build-Small.jpg
 
Travis, that is going to be a beaut! :thumb:

Sometimes when they are "Difficult" it makes the final project that much sweeter!!

Keep at it, waiting for the final shots!
 
Polished Up Shoulder Plane

Well thanks to a slow down at work, I was able to get a lot more done on my shoulder plane this week. It really does not look like it, but I got a lot of the tedious stuff done. Some of that was polishing this sucker up.

I also got the blade razor sharp now (Scary sharp method up to 2000 grit). In fact I learned the hard way that because this plane has a blade that extends just past the sides of the plane, it can do a number on your hands. I got four good slices taken out of me!! While I was sharpening it though, I also polished up the blade to a lot better shine.

I also got the rivets pounded in flush, peened over and sanded down. I also got the brass pin in that locks the adjuster rod in place. I even got the small chamfer radius milled around the outside edge of the plane. Finally I began to polish this guy. Starting with 100 grit, I worked my way up on all four sides until the thing was just gleaming at 2000 grit. After that it was to the buffing wheel with green rouge first, and then white rouge. I was not sure how to display the mirror like shine in a picture, so I placed a quarter beside the plane. You can see the reflected image clear as day on the side of the plane. Now all this was little stuff granted, but its tedious and takes a lot of time. Still its the details that make for a nice plane.
 
After getting everything close to finished, well I just had to take the guy out for a test slice!! It performed well I would say. Taking a nice thin shaving off just as it is supposed to. I did find though that I have a few things to tweak.

The blade is very hard to adjust. Since I used a adjustment knob that was not meant for this cutting edge, there is a bit of slop to it. I will have to get on the lathe and machine a new part to far tighter tolerances. This is important because when you tap the wedge home to secure the blade tight against the frog, the slop tends to make the iron go to far forward. Its just hard to adjust.

Another issue was the blade adjustment rod. I used a 1/4 20 coarse threaded stainless steel bolt. I should have used a 1/4 28 fine threaded bolt. It would have been more precise and if I was to make another, I would go that route.

Another problem I had was with the machinist who put it together. The idiot (that would be me) screwed up on when pounding the rivets. My bench a chip of steel on it. When I pounded the rivets together, that chip put some gouges in the sides of the plane. It won't hurt anything, but it does not look good. Since the dents are close to the top knob however, I can chuck a ball mill in the Bridgeport and put finger dimples in this plane. That will add to the look, give me a place to recess my fingers AND fix my screwup.

Other things to do to finish up this plane is to put finish on the wooden parts, built the adjustment knob over, add the dimples and then lap the sole flat. Then of course it's on to another plane. :)

Plane-Polished-Small.jpg
 
That came out looking very nice, Travis. You weren't kidding about the mirror shine on the sides. :thumb: All the better that you made it yourself.
 
316 L Stainless Steel. Its not the best kind to use for a plane because 316 L is kind of soft compared to say 304 stainless steel. It certainly does not hold a crisp edge, but it shines up so well that we use it all the time on boats. 304 is just to hard and its hard to get any kind of shine to it.
 
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