Willow Wood Shop: February 2016

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Quarter sawn beech and why it's used for planes

I've been asked many times what material to use for planes and I usually respond with "beech, boxwood, hard maple and white oak (maybe hornbeam as well) in that order all of which should be quarter sawn". And of course the next question is "why"?

Let's get this out of the way first, it doesn't have to be the hardest wood on the Janka scale. In fact, there are tons of species far more Janka(-y) than beech and hard maple so why not use them? The first choice is a simple one: what's available in your region and what's close enough that shipping isn't going to bankrupt you? For me that's beech and hard maple, the latter being very (very) local and the former being quite affordably shippable to my shop. Sugar maple trees are all over my street second only to oak, heck the street I live on is Oak St.

To help bolster my recommendation, I think Mr. Sellers sums up the material choice quite well here. But it boils down to this: you want a material that is dense grained, stable when it dries and perhaps most importantly, has consistent grain density throughout the material. The hardness needs to be uniform so it wears evenly so you don't get pieces of the sole with hills and valleys. Sure, you can add boxing to ease wear in the most crucial of spots but you first have to start with a solid and stable material (note I didn't say hard).

Caleb James pushes beech even more so than I do, almost to the point of saying don't bother with anything else. My issue is when you need wide pieces for large moulding planes, say chunks that need to be close to 3" wide to accommodate an iron that's 2 1/2" wide. Every lumber yard that I know of who sells quarter sawn beech doesn't carry 16/4 or even 12/4 rough quarter sawn beech. They say when it's that thickness it cracks too much during the drying process. The only way around that I know of, due to the way the grain needs to run, is to glue up a few pieces (laminate) and use that for the blanks. Now, people do say this is a no no but I'm not sure what the alternative is given how our forefathers chopped down all the big ole beech tree here in the U.S.

Ok, so why quarter sawn? First do you know what quarter sawn is? If not please start here. I think Caleb James explains it pretty darn well, and again to boil it down: it's less prone to movement long term, i.e. "stronger". Will flat sawn work? Absolutely yes but don't plan on it staying true for years to come and if you're gong to take the time to make a plane, make it right the first time.

Which brings me to the last recommendation, white oak. I'm in agreement with others that it should be the last choice, even in quarter sawn form. While it's less porous than its red brother it's still far more porous than beech or hard maple. Those open pores are just going to cause problems so I'll again concur with Mr. James here as well.

Another .02 from me to you.

Planemaking links

Here are some interesting links to various pages I have found useful for planemaking. While some of these specifically help with making a plane others offer advise on use. It's almost mandatory to understand the physics of using the plane in order to make them, especially if you want them to be useful.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Plane Making DVD's

Here's a list of planemaking DVD's I've discovered so far. A few of these are offered in digital download or streaming formats so you don't have to wait on a physical DVD being shipped.

Moldings in Practice - Matthew Bickford
Making Traditional Side Escapement Planes - Larry Williams
Classic Plane Making Volume 1 Hollows & Rounds - Tod Herrli
Make a Wooden Smoothing Plane - Scott Meek
Make a Custom Ogee Molding Plane - Tod Herrli
Building a Traditional 18th Century Jointer - Bill Anderson

If you know of others by all means let me know, I'm always looking for more ways to learn about making planes.

The Planemakers

As I push harder and harder into the world of making planes, especially wood ones, I can't help but be humbled by the people that are out there today keeping up this timeless craft. Unfortunately in the day of modern power tools we have seemingly lost the respect for the toolmakers themselves. There was a day when the toolmaker was as well respected, if not more, than the craftsman that used their works. Nowadays the tool maker is just another supplier that takes manufactured parts, assembles them into something larger and ships it to an unknowing customer. That customer simply repeats that process, taking other pre-made parts and assembling them into something else larger.

I myself am slowly, and seemingly in a methodically unstoppable way, becoming more toolmaker than woodworker. Sure, the two are related as I do make tools from wood, but at some point you're more one than the other, at least in my mind.

This is a craft that must not be lost to the ages but unfortunately much damage has already been done. The century long decades of disposable tools from mass production effectively killed several thousand years worth of knowledge, trade, craft and art. Below are some of the modern plane makers that I have come to deeply respect and hope to learn all I can from. The people here are doing more than their part to keep this craft alive and I intend to help them.

This is by all means not a complete list, if you know of others that should be included here by all means let me know, I'd love to see more people that are committed to this work. If you have the means to do so, please support them by purchasing their tools, I can guarantee you won't regret it. I've heard people balk at the price of a new, hand made, wood plane but it comes down to this: instant vs. long-term gratification. Remember these are hand made tools from quality craftsman, you get what you pay for so buy the best tool you can afford and do it one time.

And remember, without the toolmaker how will you work that piece of wood?

James Krenov. I'm not sure any list would be respectable if it doesn't mention Mr. Krenov, perhaps the original modern planemaker. Not only did he bring laminated planes to the forefront (some believe he invented them) but he introduced that entire class of plane to us: the Krenov style plane. Even though he's passed his work and style lives on through people such as David Finck who I might add is a fine planemaker in and of himself. If you don't have his book on making planes, go to Amazon and buy it now. Immediately. Really.
Karl Holtey. Perhaps not entirely a wood planemaker but he is generally considered a living legend amongst the trade members. I have never personally touched one of his creations but quite often have dreams of doing so.
Old Street Tool, formerly Clark & Williams. These two gentleman helped to create the current renaissance in hand tools and especially in wood planes. Their classic design, choices in top notch materials and seemingly fanatical attention to detail have landed them in the modern plane maker hall of fame (if there were one). One only has to look at Chris Schwarz's writings on them to understand the deep respect they have earned. Unfortunately these gentleman are gathering years of age as much as they are knowledge and are not accepting new orders. THose of us that don't have one of their planes might not ever get to purchase one from them.
M.S. Bickford. Another fine example of a younger gentleman that's continuing the age old craft. Another DVD here that's on my short list to get my hands on. If I can't wait for shipping there's always the streaming option from Lie-Nielsen...
Philly Planes. Boy do they make some fine tools, and rightfully so given the background of hand plane toolmakers across the pond. They have about the most "complete" product line I have ever seen from hollows and rounds, to ogee and moulding and rebate planes. Just looking through their gallery is a delightful experience.
Tod Herrli. I recently purchased his DVD, "Make A Custom Ogee Plane" and must say that I learned a ton from it. From the design to bringing it to life in wood he exudes planemaker through and through. He's not as well known as some other mentioned but he's earned an A+ in my book. I plan on buying his other DVD very (very) soon.
Caleb James. Another relative newcomer to the trade but producing fine work none the less. In addition to his fine planes he has made measured drawings available to the rest of us. I have yet to try one of his designs but it's certainly on my list of planes to make.
Jeremiah Wilding. Here's one to keep an eye on, the Schwarz wrote about him recently and has nothing but good things to say. I don't see any prices listed on his site but I'm sure they're representative of the time it takes to make wood planes by hand but is still fair to the rest of us.
Scott Meek. And another relative newcomer to the trade that also has a DVD on making smooth planes. I have that one and it's good if you want to learn more about making Krenov style planes. I'm not sure how his traditional wood planes are since I haven't seen much from him in that area, he seems to make more Krenov style planes.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Planemaker's floats

For those of you that make your own planes, or want to make planes, you'll soon discover that floats are one of the essential tools for this. After scouring the Internet here are all of the links, articles, videos and howto's that I could find. This is for my own long-term memory but if it helps others, great!

And one of these days I'll post reviews on the various methods of making them and if it's worth it compared to just buying them. If you find other sites that are interesting and should be added here let me know in the comments section below.

Now on to it...

Commercial floats to buy

Lie Nielsen - They list both planemakers and joinery floats but they're all useful for plane making.
Lee Valley - They sell the Iwasaka floats as well as the files that are actually floats.
Philly Planes - They sell their own floats.
Liogier - Seemingly nice floats for sale here.

Articles to help you make your own

http://norsewoodsmith.com/content/pair-planemakers-floats One of the best articles on making floats.
http://www.wkfinetools.com/tMaking/floats/floats1.asp Geat article on Wiktor's site for making your own.
http://planemakersfloats.blogspot.com A fellow blogspot on making floats. If you haven't picked up the trend on coating the steel in blue to see what you're doing... Buy some Dykem layout fluid.
1992 article from American Woodworker on making floats. It has dimensions.
Someone else trying to make floats, look at his other posts, they have a bit of info as well.

General info on floats

http://craftsofnj.org/index.php/the-planemaker-float Someone's description of floats.
http://www.planemaker.com/planemakers_floats.html these are the ones Lie Nielsen sells now. Useful to understand the different types.
http://kapeldesigns.blogspot.com/2014/01/what-planemaker-floats-do-you-need-for.html Caleb describes a basic kit for getting started.
http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/pmakersfloats.shtml Another useful description on how they started making their own floats. I learn quite a bit from other people's failures, though I do enjoy my own failings as well.
A nice YouTube video from Larry Williams on sharpening floats. If you don't know, he's the Williams from Clark & Williams planes. I wish they were accepting new orders for planes, I'd love to own one. Better yet, I wish they had an apprenticeship program, I'd take a leave of absence from work and go inter for them in a heartbeat.

Other stuff

While not about floats it's a massive thread that claims to be everything you ever wanted to know about making moulding planes. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?139219-Every-thing-that-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-molding-planes-but-were-afraid-to-ask!

Plane making classes

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