WWA Info Exchange

Well, yesterday I started making my wooden handplane. I decided on a 55 degree bedding angle because I have a 45 degree smoother and I have a scraping plane... I wanted a smoother that would fill that niche between the two for curly grain, especially mesquite without being too overly hard to push. For this reason I went with a narrow (1.5 inch) blade and a york (55 degree) bedding angle. I chose asian padauk (narra) because it is heavy, stable, hard, and I have plenty of it. Last night Karen, the boys, and I went to the desert museum, where the sunset, mountains, and moon, were simply breathtaking (and not a little inspiring)

This morning I woke at 6 and finished the plane up. I haven't decided if I'm going to finish it or not, but I'm sure this isn't my last plane as it was way too fun to make.

here's a pic of the plane on some d.f. The pics I took of it shaving curly mesquite came out fuzzy, but there was no tearout (very tough with mesquite) and it was lovely and smooth (though tougher to push than I thought it would be)


as an added bonus, here are 3 pics of my inspriation... (additional inspiration is that I'm pretty sure my son took the first pic)
sunset

mountains

moon (yes, it was this clear.. this was taken with a standard panasonic point-and-shoot camera without a tripod...)


Thanks for looking
Lawrence

That looks good! It will likely be a very useful addition to your shop. Try waxing the sole and it may be a bit easier to push.

The plane is something, but that picture of the cheese ball is superb!!


eric

Sweet looking plane and really nice pictures. It looks a tad drier out there than it does down here in Fla.

Very very inspirational .... cept for one small thang ... that "woke at 6" ... part sounded like chalk on a blackboard ... but I sure like the plane!! And, I think I mentioned that those boys have some talents you are going to really enjoy helping them to develop! Don't know if you noticed but some of the photos they took with my camera looked very near professional.

You're making some great memories

Don

Very nice looking plane.

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Great looking plane and some really nice shots. Your son has a good eye.

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Frank
WWACOAUX#1
"I love the smell of Sawdust in the morning, it smells like, victory."
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Nice plane and nice pics, thanks for sharing!

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"To all those who work come moments of beauty unseen by the rest of the world." Norman Maclean

Great shots of the desert.. and sweeter shots of that plane!

I'm gonna have to build me a higher pitched plane... I still tear out curly and birds eye maples...

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Lawrence,

Very nice "woody". It looks like it will be very useful!

Thanks for the pictures of the Desert Museum - brings back great memories of many visits.

The moon picture would be considered good if taken through a telescope - it is incredible taken through a point and shoot camera - I salute you!

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Clay

WWA-MICH-AUX #5
Official "Welcome Wagon" for the SEMIWW

Thanks all, I appreciate the input. I'm in the process of making a "brother body" for the plane out of mesquite with a 45 degree bed. I know some of you will be horrified by this thought, but I may actually do some (SOME) of the detail work for the plane (mouth, bed etc) with my CNC router. I learned a TON making the first plane and look forward to putting the learned lessons to use. One of my next projects is a brass (or possibly lignum vitae) plane hammer as I cringe using a steel warrington hammer on my planes...

Don, you've opened a wonderful can of worms with letting the boys be "your cameraman" as they carry my camera in turns everywhere we go now! Thank you for opening this new world up for my boys.

More to come soon-- I'm actually waiting on some new plastic bushings for my jet chisel jig for the slow speed grinder (don't ask... just know that "oops, there goes a little plastic bushing... I'll pick it up later" turned into "now where did that plastic bushing go....." and I had to order some new ones. I'm putting hollow grinds on my plane irons (including the iron for my veritas block plane which doesn't fit in my cheapo sharpening jig dangit!!!) so that I can more easily hone the micro bevel freehand or with my jig.

Thanks again all,
Lawrence