Making a Wooden Plane
Glue Up
The Pre-Glue Test Fit
You're getting close, but there's one more thing to do. Test fit everything! Put it all together. Use the dowels to get everything lined up and clamp it solidly together. Don't put the dowels in too far - you'll need to be able to remove them (with pliars if you have to).
The surfaces look parallel! |
Sight down the bed (ie. ramp) and see if the pin looks parallel. Check it with a ruler. If it isn't parallel, remove it from the body and plane off material to compensate. Test fit it again, and check the parallelism. Remove more material, if necessary. Mark the tenon that will go into the left side, and which will go into the right side. You don't want to be guessing or figuring it out while the glue is setting.
Put the iron in, and see how the mouth looks. If the iron protrudes, I'd recommend shimming the iron after glue up. There are other options, but we want to keep this simple. The solutions are not bad ones, but they're not simple. You're getting anxious, so I don't want to hold you back too much.
If the test fit checks out, break it down and prepare to glue!
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Steve Spodaryk
Medford, MA
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article
12.10.2008
- Making a Wooden Plane
Introduction
Tools
The Iron
The Chipbreaker
Wood
Marking Out the Blank 1
Marking Out the Blank 2
Forming the Plane Bed
Drilling the Pin Holes
Making the Pin
Test Fit
Glue Up
Post Glue Cleanup
Adjusting the Mouth
Making the Wedge
Test Run
Shaping the Plane Body
Troubleshooting
Advanced Topics
- Making a Wooden Plane
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