Wooden Hand Plane for My Son

Sean Wright

Member
Messages
902
Location
WNY, Buffalo Area
With the recent arrival of our second child, I wanted to make sure I spent some quality time with my 3 year old son (the one in my avatar). i decided I was going to make a toy tool for his "play workshop". I asked him if he would like me to make a wooden router or a wooden hand plane. Much to my surprise he choose the hand plane over the router. Part of me making it for him, included him helping me with various parts of the project. He was thrilled as usual to spend time with me in the shop.

This plane is patterned after my No.3 Stanley plane. The tote and knob are walnut. I glued up a small block of walnut and turned the handle as close as I could get it to the original. He loved watching me use the lathe to make part of our project. The body of the plane is glued up maple, for durability. He helped with the glue up too. The iron is a thin piece of birch plywood. It is made so he can take out the iron and replace it with a second one that I made. The entire thing is finished with mineral oil, to make it a child friendly finish. He also helped with the mineral oil too. Some how we managed to keep it off his clothes.

We worked on it on and off over the course of the past 4 days. It was a fun little project, and it made good use of some of my hardwood scraps, too!
 

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youre a good daddy, its a nice project, you did a fine job,its extremely important to always let the older siblings know they are still just as important as the new arrival. perfect way to show him

your toy project looks better than most of my projects
 
Sean,

Way too cool. It's been quite a few years since my kids were that age. Always enjoyed making things with/for them and seeing the look on their faces. Nothing beats it. Keep up the good "Dad" job. Sounds like you're doing great.

Regards,
 
Hey Sean,

That is really cool! My little one is 2 1/2 yrs old and has started to express an interest in my 'shop' - always asking to see it! :) I'd love to make him a hand plane - if you get the chance, could you post some notes on how you made it?

Cheers,
Gari
 
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