Comments on: Making a Brass Hand Plane

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 17:56:37 +0000

I too would like to applaude Dave on his interests in the old ways. Like Phil and probably the rest of you too I really do prefer a hand planed or scraped finish to that of the orbital sander. And the pleasure that can be experienced while planing a board by hand is second to none. I’d take it over shootin’ smak any day.
Also, I’ve made a few of these old hand tools as well but only with wood construction(well besides the blade). But I too have found the pleasure of using and making one’s own hand tools and again what a joy. It really gives you a sens of empowerment. For all interested more in this subject checkout this book by author James Krenov titled “The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking”. This old timer is so sensitive to his woodworking it just might make you weep.

By: phil

phil — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 05:41:52 +0000

this is very interesting to me in the aspect of restoration work of old furniture. i’ve had some stressfull weeks with once reliable personnel becoming a problem. we’ve slimmed the shop down and are now left with the task of cleaning up and streamlining. throughout all off this the thing that has pissed me off the most (besides shortcuts and poor attendance) had been sanding swirls left behind by orbitals with no hand sanding to fine tune the pieces. for those of you who are not finishers this may seem like a moot point. however, it is very relivent to me. in antique furniture restoration (and by antique, i mean aproximately 100 yrs old) the is a very fine line between stripping and sanding a piece too much or too little, while trying to maintain the wood’s patina. with all of this in mind, the old world traditions have been on my mind. planers for building, but scrapers for restoration. tecnology that should and could have been used to build spectacular furniture have become a downfall, the epitomy of laziness. how many countless hours were spent making dovetail joints by hand in the 1700’s. and how many empty hours were spent using a C & C to produce poor frames that never fit together right in the first place. dave, i applaude your interest in old, yet proven hand tools.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 23:55:42 +0000

Yeah, the wood piece holds it in place. That’s where I goofed this one up, actually! The pin should be higher relative to its distance from the blade, which would allow a thicker wooden wedge. This one is very thin. It’s about 3 inches long or so.

By: Gabe

Gabe — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 23:14:29 +0000

Looks like it was an interesting experience. Is the blade held in place by the wood wedge? What is the length? It looks fairly small.