On the morning of my birthday, I woke up, made some coffee, and gathered up my tools. Sarah dropped me off at the door of 1002 SE 8th Street, home of the Northwest Woodworking Studio, where I had enrolled in a class on making brass handplanes. I hoped that by the end of the day, I’d be walking out the same door with a small brass handplane in my pocket, a birthday present I’d made for myself.
Class got off to a start quickly, with instructor Ken Altman showing off one of his beautifully handmade violin bows, then launching into the demo. He’d show one step in the process, and the students would then complete the same step on their own. It all began with solid brass stock. Here, I’ve got a large piece clamped in my vise from which I’m cutting the two pieces for the inside of the plane.
Next, I cut the side pieces, which sandwich the parts I just cut. These were cut using a jeweler’s saw, which I hadn’t used since high school, though I really enjoyed using it again. The blade is so delicate that many students broke blades, but having done it before, I managed without doing so.
Once the pieces were cut out, there was a lot of filing and fine shaping to be done. One of the students made a joke that the studio didn’t sound much like a woodworking shop with all the filing and metal sawing going on. It was pretty noisy at times. Finally, though, things took shape and the next step was putting all the pieces together, which was done by soldering.
By now it was about 2:00, and after letting the plane cool down, I set to work with some more finishing work, filing away like a madman. It was much more rewarding now, as the finished product became more and more visible. And by 3:30, I had a nice plane in my hands! And a real pain in my elbows! I’m not used to so much filing!
I was so busy with the steps, I didn’t take as many photos as I intended, but it was a very rewarding experience, and I plan on making several more planes, which hopefully I’ll do a better job of documenting!
Gabe Says:
February 7th, 2007 at 3:14 pmVisit Gabe
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.
Dave Says:
February 7th, 2007 at 3:55 pmVisit Dave
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.
phil Says:
February 7th, 2007 at 9:41 pmVisit phil
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.
Josh Says:
February 9th, 2007 at 9:56 amVisit Josh
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.