Thursday 17 May 2012

Mitre plane 81, the finishing post is within sight...

Latest update of the Eight One Mitre plane..

The blade has been sorted out by Robert, 3.5mm tapering down to 2mm at the back, he has done a tidy job of grinding it down and it looks great in the plane. Now the blade is back I fitted the front bun and the rear infill, using the temporary wedge and blade to ensure the infill is bonded into the correct position. After that had cured, I spent a few hours flatting the back of the blade. Using a diamond stone from 200 - 600 grit. Then onto Japanese water stones a 1200 grit to start with, then onto the 6000. The 6000 is a great stone, around 25 years old, the back of the blade has a mirror finish and very sharp.

The temporary wedge has been replaced with a new Boxwood wedge, then fitted between the blade and the bridge, but instead of being just flat up to the hollow before the top bead, I wanted to create more of a feature of this junction. This would in turn make the wedge easier to push in to the plane by having a larger radius. I think it's a great looking wedge that feels really comfortable in use.




Here is the wedge, not as easy to do as a standard wedge, but it works really well and adds to the overall fine detail of this great little plane









Holding the plane with finger on the rear face of the front bun.




Holding further forward..




Having completed the wedge the next thing on the list was to soak the plane in Boiled Linseed oil. My preference is to soak it in warmed up oil, this will thin the oil down and penetrate deeper into the Boxwood. So while the oil was warming up, I found a scrap of Beech worktop, then tried the plane out. It performs wonderfully, nearly there..

I just have to lap the bottom, and polish the Boxwood with some shellac. I'll put the finished photos on here over the next few days.

Then, there are three more planes to start 82 which will be a smaller mitre plane. 83 is going to be the big sister to 82. Then 84..a traditional box type large mitre plane.

All the best

Jamie


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