Action Tiger Posted July 26, 2016 Report Posted July 26, 2016 I think I have a problem with making little tools, eh? When you decide to reject a bunch of potential coaming stock, do you throw it away? I make a little plane to round over edges, particularly SOF stringers. It's rough, yet. It needs to have the bed and blade interface tuned a bit, and a real wedge as this is just temporary to use as a template. It do cut, though... Peace, Robert Quote
Frank Hagan Posted July 26, 2016 Report Posted July 26, 2016 Very nice ... I'll bet it feels much better in the hand than any mass-produced tool (if you could even find one to do that). Quote
Action Tiger Posted July 26, 2016 Author Report Posted July 26, 2016 Thanks, Frank. I like doing goofy, useful stuff like this. I think Judge Judy did fine without me today. Is she still a thing? I actually started it jokingly because of a conversation on the kudzu forum about rounding stringers. The stupid UPS guy beat me, though, because one of the other guys found a neat little chamfer plane and had it delivered. His isn't made from a broken kayak coaming, though... Something like this is super easy, because it doesn't need to be too precise, and the sole doesn't have to be flat! I'll post a few more pics of it finished. I'm going to embellish it, through rivet and oil the body, and really hone the blade well. I think I may actually cut down the body a bit to,make adjusting the blade easier, too. Meh. My indoor "hot time" project for tomorrow... Quote
PAR Posted July 26, 2016 Report Posted July 26, 2016 I have a handful of these puppies, for different radius and shapes. I often make them a little simpler from metal, so the blade can be nearly flush to the outboard edge and they can get into tight spaces. I have a 1/8" "easing" tool I use a lot and I make edge swipes on about every board I handle with it. It's faster than a router or sanding and catches splinters, before they catch me. Quote
Action Tiger Posted July 26, 2016 Author Report Posted July 26, 2016 This stuff is fun, eh, Paul. I showed the dude on the forum how simple they are. The half body picture is the one I showed him for a quick and dirty rabbet plane. Just wedge a chisel in there, and go. I used to have a real neat shoulder plane I made form some oak off our old farm and a wagon box spring. I'm generous to a fault, though, so someone has it. Hope they use it... It's been super hot, so this has been my entertainment. Seriously, at 0600 it was 74 already. Projected 107-110, overnight low of 83. Think I'll wait on that big glass job, just keep fairing for a day or two. Next week we should be back to high 60s overnight. Ha! Quote
PAR Posted July 26, 2016 Report Posted July 26, 2016 It's odd that the rest of the country is hotter than I am here in Florida. Currently it's 92 at mid day, while everyone else seems to be cooking. Quote
Action Tiger Posted July 27, 2016 Author Report Posted July 27, 2016 I think ours is mostly the high being pushed over us by the tropical storm, because we got wind, too, but it is HOT. Not unusual, mind, but here. In two or three days we should be back to 60s at night. Then it can be as hot as it wants during the day. Not too hot to do stuff, mind, but not what you want to be sticking down yards of 60" cloth in, either. Quote
Action Tiger Posted July 27, 2016 Author Report Posted July 27, 2016 Erling it up. After it won't take no more, I'll let it dry. The wedge I'm going to carve today, to make it something other than a plain thing. Anywho... Quote
PAR Posted July 28, 2016 Report Posted July 28, 2016 Way more effort and finish, than I put into something that will get covered in dirt and drops of goo eventually. I use a natural human hand oil finish, which takes a wee bit longer to apply, but at least it's an honest finish. That looks too nice to use . . . Quote
Action Tiger Posted July 28, 2016 Author Report Posted July 28, 2016 Ah, shoot, man, just a few minutes with a few round files. Asides, I'm take this one to my special hardwood guy, because he says I never show him nothing I make or fix. The real reason, though, is I decided to gift it. Got this luthier friend what don't believe a regular old doofus can just make a plane. Ha! I got proof. Oh, it just looks shiny because the oil is wet. After a good wipe, it sorta looks like it's been handled for a lifetime. I came in for a water break, but I'm go back out and longboard some more. Second round of filler is done on the frolic, and I think I'm ready to glass. Today supposed to be scorching again, though, so I'll futz on the plane wedge through the afternoon/evening bake off. The teens I balk at... Quote
Action Tiger Posted July 29, 2016 Author Report Posted July 29, 2016 Okay, Paul, I did get a little carried away with the wedge. I don't know. Supposed to be vaguely bird like. After the oil stops soaking in, this puppy is done. Notice the plane in the background has matted out? Ready for some hand grease! 1 Quote
Action Tiger Posted July 30, 2016 Author Report Posted July 30, 2016 Holy cow! I may keep it, now. It works well. Wedge needs a little trimming to open the throat, but it is cool. Quote
Action Tiger Posted August 4, 2016 Author Report Posted August 4, 2016 Okay. I had to trim the wedge several times to get the throat to stay clear enough, but it's finally starting to work well. With an uncapped blade, it's probably best to go as thick as possible, but I just used what I had. I made a bunch of little blanks from some old sawzall blades, and this may be one. Whatever. Remember it ain't gonna work perfect right off the bat, but no plane does. Tune and rune, until you're in tune. Wax your sole, and strop your blade often. Peace, Robert Quote
Frank Hagan Posted August 5, 2016 Report Posted August 5, 2016 You got pretty fancy with that wedge. Make it too fancy and you'll be like those guys buying $1,200 planes that put them in a case to look at! It looks like it puts a very nice edge on the stock; if I ever get time I may try to make one. Quote
Action Tiger Posted August 5, 2016 Author Report Posted August 5, 2016 Thanks for the kind words, Frank. I'm not really a fancy type guy, but I do like little embellishments. I am an artist, after all. The wedge head actually started because I needed a knob to help center and set the wedge while fiddling with the blade. The knob was an offcut from a little cleat I made (you don't throw stuff away, do you?), and my wife said it looked like a bird, so I tried to make it bird like. Providence dictated it would make the perfect little palm rest. It wasn't more than a few hours of futzing. I do fiddly stuff like this when I can't sit still, but can't make a racket. It could be done in a weekend of puttering. Still, anyone with an empty case and $1200 bucks PM me...I'm kidding. But, still... Peace, Robert Quote
Frank Hagan Posted August 6, 2016 Report Posted August 6, 2016 You are using it, so you're nothing like the guys I call tool collectors. Nothing wrong with that but it's not what I think of when I think of woodworking. When my dad passed my brothers and I were all horrified by his tools. We never really paid attention to them but always admired his work. He had cheap tools. That's OK, he was a carpenter by trade, but we thought he must have bought the best because of how good his work was. We realized it wasn't the tools he held so much as who held the tools. He had a lot of little put together tools, including a few we don't know how to use. He did tell me once that his favorite tool was a little Japanese hand plane that used a single edged razor blade. "Japanese" as in cheap stuff when they were the China of cheap tools. I have it and can't do a thing with it. 1 Quote
Action Tiger Posted August 6, 2016 Author Report Posted August 6, 2016 Oh, man, I'm just a dumb old farm boy, what had to figure out the city when the bank decided the farm would be more valuable as a strip mall, and my pop split. I never had money to burn, but always spent it on good tools. I have a trove a high quality hand tools, but they have been collected over my lifetime. My skills with my tools, and adaptability have allowed me to avoid having many "real" jobs. Most of my time has been my own, and I've been able to say no whenever I felt like. Even in college. My skills got me that, but skills with the tools. Like your dad, you know, it was kind of both. His skills, combined with that plane, made magic, right? My favorite plane in the world cost me about 10 bucks when I bought it. It's a cruddy little cast aluminum trimming plane, like a miniature block plane. It's on the second blade, this one some a2 I snagged from a friend, but it is as cheap, crummy, and magical as any tool I've owned. To look at it, you would swear it was a cheap import, but it was made right here in the USofA. I hope one day my own kids will hold it and think of me... 1 Quote
PAR Posted August 6, 2016 Report Posted August 6, 2016 . . . I hope one day my own kids will hold it and think of me... I can hear it now Robert - "mom, did dad really have that small of hands or what . . . ? 2 Quote
Action Tiger Posted August 6, 2016 Author Report Posted August 6, 2016 Dang it, Paul. You made me blow coffe out my nose! Quote
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