Hand made Infill plane (woodwork)

[famas]

Progressing on with the handles and the vision in my mind I needed to add some brass bows between the contrasting woods.

I mark them out on an off cut of brass from the last plane I made glad I never throw any thing away, I knew that tiny strip would come in useful

After setting several out I start to carefully file them

Delicate work trying to get them as uniform as possible while keeping the edges square.

Once happy with the shape I roughly cut them to length with a junior hacksaw.

Then refined them with needle files to finish off.

Next up was the painstaking task of cutting them into the wood. I used a modified chisel and stanley blade to carefully cut away the wood little by little.

I feared the open grain of the ash and wenge would cause issues cutting such a small detail but fortunately the wood worked in my favour.

Just for a little context the bows are 14mm long and taper down to 1.5mm in the centre

I then fixed the bow in place with epoxy. One down 7 to go...

 

[famas]

With all the brass bows cut in I could add the last brass detail to the handle which also acts as a counter weight to the brass back.


I cut a piece of brass and flatten one face so it fits tightly to the bottom of the handle.

As the brass backs are heavy this adds some much needed weight back to the grip end of the saw.

I temporarily fit the brass to the handle with super glue then cut the final taper and sand flush with the disc sander.

The brass is then permanently fixed in place with strong set epoxy, threaded inserts and bolts.

Lastly I could dry fit the backs into the handles to feel the weight together and the see how the saws looked.

 

[famas]

Thanks Vanpeebles. I've used a fair few wooden moulding planes over the years when needing to mould a small piece, sometimes its quicker to do it by hand than set up the spindle moulder.
My old boss collected wooden planes and had thousands of them so we had lots to choose from

 

[famas]

With the handles partially done I turn my attention to the saw plate.


I picked up some 0.5mm thick spring steel, hardened and tempered to Rockwell 50-52c

I went with a thinner plate as I thought it would suit a gents saw batter and give a really fine cut.


The steel came blue so I used some Harpic to remove the bluing process.

I poured plenty on and let it sit for a few moments before rubbing off with fine wire wool.

After cleaning the plate with WD40 I gave it a very light sanding.

I don't have a proper saw vice so just made a quick one from wood, screwed to the bench and held shut with a variety of cramps.

I bought larger saw plate than needed to give myself plenty of chance to practise on before cutting the real thing.

I wanted to replicate my 22TPI rip cut paxs gent saw on one of my saws and then do a slightly lower 16 TPI cross cut pattern on the other.


I tried several approaches to cutting the teeth after on-line reading and watching tutorials.


While the 16 TPI plate was coming out acceptable after a bit of practise the 22 TPI plate was proving more difficult.



Using a double extra slim saw file I tried cutting the teeth free hand, using a printed paper template and even using wooden guide sticks. After several attempts each one getting progressively better and with more confidence in my filing technique in the end I was unable to attain the accuracy in the teeth spacing I was striving for.


I was finding that with such a high tooth count it was leaving zero room for correction if the teeth spacing was not perfect. A fraction of a mm off in either direction would leave a small out of place tooth. In the grand scheme of things a few miss shaped teeth on a plate wouldn't cause much of an issue but I couldn't let it go, I was aiming for better.


So after a few restless nights trying to come up with ways to improve the accuracy I had a light bulb moment and a very simple idea came into my head.

The next day I made this simple jig from scraps and was amazed by the results.

I don't want to go into to much detail about it at the moment as I'm currently working on a final version of the jig that I'll cover in this thread once it's finished. It probably isn't a unique idea (those are hard to come by) but after some searching I've not seen any thing like it for hand cutting teeth.


With much care and attention I used an old saw set to set the teeth.

too little set and the saw will bind in the cut while too much set will cause the saw to wander.

Being a gents saw I tried to go with as little set as possible. I wrapped masking tape around the plate to stop the saw set from marring it.

A colleague saw what I was up to and came back with this. Not seen a set like this before. He asked if I wanted to give it a try but I passed on the offer

With the teeth set I gave them one last very light sharpen before cutting the blade to size with an angle grinder and hand filing to final dimensions.

lastly I filed a little cupids bow in the handle end of the plate for decoration.

 

[famas]

Cheers Efour

 

[famas]

Not much of an update today but with all the parts of the saw partly finished I could start to assemble them


The saw backs are glued into the handles with strong epoxy and securely bolted from underneath the handle with stainless steel bolts.

The brass rod was also glued in place and a cramp pinched the handle up tight.

Once the handles were dry I could fit the saw plate. I used the same epoxy to glue them in place.

The curved front end on the plate is because I didn't want to see the saw plate passing through the front of the saw. Hopefully this won't be detrimental to the blades rigidity as there is still a good amount of the plate inserted into the brass at that point.

After watching the bench talk series with Shane Skelton recently I'd really like to experiment with tensioning a blade in a future saw and have a few ideas in my mind of how I could incorporate it into this design of saw, but that won't be for a while
Like I keep saying he really is a master of his craft.

With the saws assembled there is going to be a lot of cleaning up to do once they are dry. In the meantime I can make a start on the saws sheaths.

 

[famas]

I should have elaborated more on fitting the plate.
While doing research prior to starting the saws I found that folded backs grip the plate in a way to tension it as it is inserted.
This was something I was unaware of.

Earlier in the thread I mentioned that the slitting saw I had made a slot that was "about" the right thickness for the saw plate.
As I was cutting the slot on a pillar drill a certain amount of deflection was introduced while cutting which made the slot a little bigger.

To overcome this I found a thin piece of veneer backing fibre which measured by luck exactly that of the saw plate.
I fitted the fibre into the slot and used a large engineering vice to pinch the slot tight at the toe and heel of the back leaving the middle a snug fit.
As the fibre can be crushed a little this made the fit on the blade very tight.
In doing this I hoped the slot would act like a folded back and add a little tension to the blade as it was inserted, the glue was there for "belt and braces" as my old boss would have said.
I don't know how much, if any tension was added to the blade as I fitted it but if any the glue would hold it in place. Obviously this means the blade can't be removed but it never really should have to be on a gents saw.
That was the idea any way.

 

[famas]

Fingers crossed they actually work after all the effort

Cheers.

 

[famas]

Just a quick update this evening, been putting in some late nights so project work has taken a back seat.


I made a start on the sheaths for the saws.

I've been sitting on a nice bundle of birds eye maple and rippled sycamore veneer waiting for the right time to use them.


I make a start by machining some maple into 5mm thick strips. Thankfully work has a large drum sander so processing thin material is made easy are tear out free.

I then drill two shallow holes into the maple and epoxy in some 10mm neodymium magnets.

These will hopefully hold the saw nicely in place when inserted and stop the sheath from falling off.


I then roughly cut some 1mm thick veneer to act as a spacer to separate the maple strips, one at each end and one along the bottom.

Simply butt jointed and glued on with PVA and cramps

I'm not being overly fussy with this stage as all of this will be hidden once the two halves come together.

Lastly I glued the top maple strip onto the spacers and used cramps....lots of cramps to hold it together while the glue dried.

I put a little message inside the sheath, though the only way to find it would be to break it apart.


Once this is dry I can start preparing the veneers.

 

[famas]

Another small update.


Now the sheath cases are dry and cleaned up I started to work on the veneers.


I cut Thin strips for the edges of the sheath and larger pieces for the front and back.

I carefully spread pva glue onto the edge veneers and used a flat surface to cramp against to ensure the veneers laid flat.

Careful application avoids unnecessary glue squeeze out.

I repeated the same process for the ends of the sheath.

Once the glue had dried I planed any over hanging veneer flush with the sheaths surface and proceeded to glue the front and back veneers in place one at a time.


I use a piece of foam matting to ensure even pressure on the veneer and to compensate for any inconsistencies in flatness on the sheath body.

I repeated the process for the figured sycamore veneers but in my haste I had forgotten I needed to cut a relief in the back of the sheaths so the saw blade can be fully inserted.


Annoyed!


I cut and filed the relief notch then soaked some strips of veneer in boiling water before wrapping them round a similar sized piece of dowel.

Soaking and pre-shaping the veneer is critical as it would likely crack/split if applied dry.

Once the veneer was slightly dryer I glued it in place.

Not the end of the world but ideally I'd liked to have had all edges glued in place before the front and back veneers are applied, this hides any joins on the face of the piece being veneered.

I'm hoping I should be able to blend these small bits in when I come to sand up the sheaths.

 

[famas]

With the sheaths veneered the final touch was to add my initial mark.


I had a few vinyl stencils left over from the last plane build which luckily where a perfect fit on a small piece of brass round bar I also had left over.

I'm currently working on a new name stamp so hopefully I'll get that sorted for the next project.


I carefully squared off the brass round bar then degreased it with rubbing alcohol and fitted the stencil.

I secured cable ties to the brass with masking tape and used a piece of dowel to suspend the brass in a measuring cup.

I then filled the cup with ferric chloride to slightly above the stencil. The reason I suspended the brass with the stencil facing down is so that as the acid etches into the brass the waste material will fall away rather than clogging up the stencil, this should hopefully result in a better etch.

I left the brass to etch for around an hour after which I removed it from the acid then used baking powder to naturalize any remaining acid and rinsed away the surplus with cold water.

Thankfully the vinyl stencil remained intact and was unaffected by the acid, I'm really pleased with how the etch turned out.

I then left the brass to fully dry before giving it a coat of black paint, again leaving that to dry then sanding off the face to leave the etch blackened.

I needed to cut the mark from the bar and flatten it to a uniform thickness. I used a hacksaw and did my best to cut a straight line. I then drilled a tight fitting hole into a piece of MDF to the required depth and used the linisher to sand the mark down. I rotated the MDF every few seconds to ensure I was flattening the brass evenly. As soon as the MDF was touched I stopped and removed the mark.

One down, I then repeated the whole process for the other mark.


I then carefully marked out and drilled both sheaths with a tight fitting hole to the same depth as the mark.

And finally fixed the mark in place with a little epoxy and a G-cramp with a buffer to protect the mark from scratches.

I had this design in my head from the beginning of the project and I'm pleased with how the sheaths have come out. Originally I had planned to have my mark slightly smaller but the lack of a lathe now means I have to go with the materials I've got.

I've been looking into mini bench top lathes which would be perfect for my needs but even the dubious Chinese ones which require a lot of fettling are quite expensive, second hand branded lathes seem to be holding there value extremely well to, most of which go for well over my budget

 

[famas]

Thanks for the thought Acme.

I think a small lathe around 7x14 would be ideal but to be honest it's just a pipe dream at the moment. I've nowhere to keep one at home, ideally I'd keep one at work but I'm not sure that's a possibility at the moment either.

The cheapest Chinese mini lathes around the 7x14 size go for about £450 but from what I've seen they require a lot of work to get running well and a bit more expense, though it could be a nice project for a beginner like me.

Branded lathes of similar size are around £700-2000+

Older model makers lathes from the likes of Myford and Emco unimat seem very popular and always go into bidding wars well in excess of £500.

A lathe for me would just be a toy to tinker around on, I can't justify the expense at the moment but maybe in the future, I've always wanted one of my own.

If you hear of a bargain let me know

 

[famas]

Thank you pp111.


Finally after a lot of sanding and waxing the saws are finished.

I took the handles up to 320 grit and the sheaths to 500 then finished them with a few coats of diluted linseed oil and buffed them to a nice sheen with neutral bison wax.

I'm really pleased with how they have turned out. They have stayed true to the vision I had in my mind with only a few minor changes along the way.

While initially they feel a little strange to hold (the solid brass backs add a considerable weight over a folded back and the angular handle while not uncomfortable takes a bit of getting used to, though I quickly learn to hold the saw in the same way every time I pick it up unlike a rounded handle gents saw which can take a few repositions to feel right) after a little use they start to feel more familiar to my hand.

I've not had the chance to use them a great deal as of yet but I'm looking forward to giving them a good work out to see how they shape up.

The 16tpi blade seems to be performing very well but I want to get hold of a decent needle file to dress up the 22tpi blade as I feel even my double extra slim saw file is a little to large, I'm curious to see the difference it could make.

Lots of pics incoming!

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I didn't manage to capture much video of the build unfortunately, I actually started this project this time last year but had to put it on hold for reasons I've mentioned earlier.
I'm very fortunate to be able to carry on doing something I really enjoy especially with the way things are at the moment.

I have put a video together of the footage I did get if any one is interested.

Cheers
Dan.

 

[famas]

Thanks Touch

I'm getting a small collection of tools now, still a few more to go though
Need to get into blacksmithing next!

 

[famas]

Cheers Chroniclard appreciate the comment.

 

[famas]

If you're not into wood working in general this maybe won't be as interesting as my other projects but I thought I'd post it just to keep this thread up to date with what I've been up to lately.

January has rolled around again and for most of us It couldn't have come soon enough.

Hopefully 2021 will be a brighter, happier year…..After this lock down......we'll see!



You may remember a jig/idea I had mentioned when making my gents saws to aid in the filing of the saw teeth.

Well, finally I've had the time to work on this project and have eventually managed to get it finished.



I started making those saws and hand filing the plates back in Dec 2019, the first jig I made to cut the teeth was pretty simple but it worked so well, far better than I ever imagined it would, so much so that I wanted to develop the jig further.

After a lot of deliberation I finally settled on a design and set about making it, but before that I did some searching on-line to see if there was anything similar already out there. I couldn't find anything quite like it, perhaps for good reason, it maybe totally unnecessary but I've found it works really well for me and I really enjoyed making it, so why not.



I'm calling it a "handsaw re-toothing guide" and is used with a hacksaw to accurately cut notches into a saw plate, these notches can then be used to locate a saw file to begin shaping the teeth. I’m aware this isn't a new idea but does have some benefits over cutting the teeth with a file alone.

For someone like me who only re-tooths saws occasionally it's made the process much easier with consistent results. I have used it on 4 saws now and they have all come out great.
It’s mainly intended for smaller handsaws in the 24 to 12 tpi range, though it could possibly be used for small panel/rip saws as well.


I didn't get any video of the build process but did take a lot of pictures along the way which I'll go through first, I've also made a video of the guide in use which I'll post at the end.


I'd be really interested in your thoughts on the guide.
I managed to get some video on the first version of the guide which if there were any interest I could post if people wanted to make their own.



I started with a piece of brass flat bar. I ran a shallow groove in the centre of the bar using a router.

The bar will later be cut in half and fixed back together, I cut this groove in the hope it would act like a pilot hole, as I needed to drill a straight hole through the brass and feared the drill bit would wander when drilling on the pillar drill.

Here I have cut the bar and drilled holes ready for some brass rod to be inserted and peened to permanently fix the halves together.

I cut the brass rod to length and add a small countersink to the holes so the brass can mushroom into it when peening.

Next I remove the surplus peened brass and drill the centre hole through the middle of the block. The groove I cut at the beginning worked as intended though in hindsight I needn't have cut it so deep.

This smaller piece of brass will form the front slide, and will sit at the front of the guide to hold one of the guide plates, this plate is what the hacksaw will ride against.
I drill two holes

And file away the center to leave an elongated hole that will let the front slide move forwards and backwards on the locking bolt.

Next I removed the head from a bolt and drilled and tapped for a smaller countersunk bolt to fit into it’s centre.
This will secure the front slide to the bolt. The threaded end of the bolt will hold the guide adjustment thumb screw.

A dry fit of the main components to see how they fit together, temporarily held in place with a cap bolt.

Next I needed to make the locking thumb screw for the front slide.
I’ve no access to a lathe so had to get creative with the pillar drill.
Not ideal and quite limiting but it did what I needed to do...just about.

I cut the shaped piece from the rest of the brass and began to file the finger indentations.

And then tapped the centre

Next I threaded a short piece of brass rod, this will later be peened permanently into the thumb screw.
This thumb screw will be used to lock the front slide in position once the guide has been set using an indexing plate.

Here I’ve drilled two holes in the front slide and two corresponding holes in the main body of the guide to accept compression springs.

Next I mark out the guide plates on a piece of high carbon steel.

I drill holes in the front slide and main body and then tap them

The holes accept bolts that fit through the guide plates, these will later be peened into position.

Next I fit the body of the guide back together and square the sides. I then mark out a bevel on the top of the guide.

---------------------------------------------------
I use the disc sander to remove the bulk of the material then come back to finish with hand files.

I cut a circle from a piece of flat brass stock and shape it with the disc sander to form a collar. I used superglue to secure it to a piece of MDF and drilled the centre.

I tapped the centre to accept a threaded insert.

I then used the threaded insert to secure the brass collar to a piece of rosewood, I also used a little epoxy to help hold it in place. This will be made into the handle for the guide.

Back to the dubious pillar drill to start shaping the handle. Really missing the lathe,

but after a little perseverance the handle was done.
I buffed it with shavings

Then added a coat of sanding sealer. I’ll later finish it with resin epoxy.

Next I make out the handle support on a piece of 01 tool steel.

I cut it out with a hacksaw and shape it with hand files.

I then drill and counterbore the holes to accept cap headed allen bolts.

And finally I drill and tap the fixing points in the main body of the guide for the handle support to secure into.

Back once again to the “pillar drill lathe” this time I have a piece of brass round bar which I have drilled and tapped the centre to accept a bolt. Using this bolt I can mount the piece in the drill chuck and start to shape the adjustment thumb screw which will sit at the rear of the guide.
I had to add a supporting piece of MDF at the bottom while shaping the thumb screw as there was a lot of deflection.

The deflection meant I couldn't finish the end of the thumb screw as desired so I turned to the disc sander with a simple jig to add a bevel.

All of the main components to the guide are now complete. They still require a lot of work to clean up and finish.

But I can fully assemble the guide for the first time.

Lastly I could add the guide plates. I inserted the bolts and used high strength lock tight to hold them in place.

I then cut down the surplus bolt and peened the plates into position.

With the majority of the guide complete I could start work on the indexing plates.
These are used to set the guide to a desired TPI.

I start by cutting and rounding some brass flat bar.

I needed some precisely thicknessed metal for the indexing plates that was strong and durable. I had no way of making such pieces myself, so my first thought on what might be suitable was feeler gauges.

I bought a large set of gauges and after a lot of testing found the right thicknesses to accurately set the guide at 22, 20, 18, 16 and 14 tpi, these can also be used in combination to set the guide at smaller tpi ranges. I also included a 0 indexing plate that can be used to finely adjust the guide.

I then marked out and carefully drilled holes through the brass plates and gauge

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I cut small pieces of brass rod which was used to peen the plates to the gauge.

I used the disc sander to remove the surplus brass, then finished by hand before finally buffing with a loose mop.

Lastly I stamped the relevant numbers into the brass plate. I would have liked to etch these numbers instead of stamping to achieve better accuracy, however lock downs where in place so I was unable to see my friend to arrange the needed stencils.

With all of the work done I could finally start to finish the individual pieces.
I used wet and dry sandpaper, working up through the grades on each piece.
It was a messy process!

I used a combination of stitched and loose mops to buff everything to a gloss finish.

With everything finished and polished I could finally fully assemble the guide, but before that I had to make a box for it to live in.

I had some pure black Corian left over which I was able to cut 4 sides and a top from.
I mitred the corners of the box and also the top edges in the hope to make the box seamless.

I used masking tape and Corian resin to fix the box together.
The masking tape hides the joints while the glue is setting so I had to wait until it was fully cured before I could see how well they had turned out.

Thankfully they had turned out nicely so I set about sanding the box from 120 grit all the way up to 3000 grit. This was a bit of an experiment as I wanted to see if Corian could be polished to a very high gloss finish.

After sanding I used the loose mop and a jewellers compound to buff the Corian.

Thankfully after all of the effort in sanding the Corian buffed up to a nice high gloss finish, I was relieved!

I added an oak interior to the box and made a matching oak base which I rebated to allow the box to fit snugly onto.

Lastly I needed something to secure the guide inside of the box.
I bought some high quality 350gsm card to make an inner box for the guide.

I marked out and cut away the relief angles

I then started to fold the box into position and used double sided tape to hold it together.

With the card box held together I made another piece of oak to sit in the bottom of the box. I made this with a cut out so the guide could sit tightly inside of it.

I then glued the oak into the card box using scrap pieces of MDF to hold the box in position.

I then screwed the card box securely in place to the oak base.

I made a smaller card box in a similar fashion to hold the indexing plates and then added some foam to the box to hold the guide in place.
I later covered the foam in faux suede to finish the inside of the box.

And very lastly I could assemble the guide!

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After a final polish up I had to take some pictures before its first use.

This project turned out to be a lot more work than I had anticipated but I really enjoyed making it.
It threw up a few challenges along the way but I like to come up with ways to try and get over them, that's part of the fun!

Thanks for taking the time to read through this post and I hope you have found it interesting.

Below is a video demonstrating the guide in use if you’re interested to see how it works.

https://youtu.be/fNH6ENBccOk

Cheers
Dan.

 

[famas]

Cheers Osprey

 

[famas]

Thanks for the comments guys I really appreciate them.

I'm the same as you touch, if a video is too long I tend to skip through it unless it's something I'm really interested in.
I try to keep the videos under 30 mins but struggled to with this one, it was closer to an hour when I first edited it.

I'm not really dedicated on the youtube thing at the moment, I don't have the time or personality to invest in it fully. I'm using it as a kind of diary of my work and if others are interested to then that's a great bonus.
Obviously want the videos to be interesting and not bore people to death, so I will work on keeping them shorter and concise.

Thanks again for all the praise and suggestions chaps I really do appreciate them all.

 

[famas]

Cheers chinchilla

Sadly not many people hand sharpen saws any more, disposable hardpoint saws have taken over so I guess my guide will be pretty niche.
I could make more but I doubt many people would want one and they would have to wait a while, I only get to spend 30 mins a day on projects so they can take months to finish.

 

[famas]

Thanks Andarial.

Funnily enough It's because of a saw doctor that I got interested in sharpening my own saws.

I was given a lovely 20tpi dovetail saw by a retiring joinery near the end of my apprenticeship, it handled beautifully and cut well but it did need a sharpen.

I sent it off with the saw doctor and said I just wanted it sharpened. when it came back it had been completely re-toothed to crosscut with a massive set. Doctor said it was the finest his machine would do, basically he couldn't be arsed to sharpen it by hand I think.
It was like using a 6tpi panel saw, it never cut right after.
Even since then I started to sharpen my own saws