Next up is to make a final accurate template for the plane body. First, using spray adhesive I attach a full-scale printout from SketchUp to a scrap of ¼” plywood. Second, is to cut it out about 1/16” beyond the final size with the bandsaw. Third, is using the disk sander clean up the bandsawn edges bringing them right up to the line. That delicate cleanup is what’s shown here. Since the disk sander has a pretty coarse grit on it a light touch is required to keep from taking too much off.
Sanding the roughness left by disk sander on the edges smooth is done with a sheet of 220 grit paper clamped down along with a guide block to keep the edges square.
To make sure the template is symmetrical I trace it’s outline onto a sheet of paper then flipped the template end for end and set it back onto the outline. If the pattern does not line up with the outline then something needs adjustment. Once any corrections are done the piece is flipped so the template is face down on the outline and the alignment is checked. Adjustment as necessary are done until the template always aligns with the drawn outline.
Ripping the wear base plate blank in half is next. This the bandsaw setup after the cut is made with one cut half on the right.
Each of the ripped halves are run through the thickness sander to flatten, smooth the surface and bring it down to the final 3/8” thickness required. Any problems areas that need to be avoided are marked with a white pencil. Last the pattern is used to find its best location on the blank and marked along with centerlines.
The base plate blanks are set aside and work on the main body blocks are started. The piece of cherry I have is left over from when I made the Maloof Rocking Chair about five years ago. When I laid it down on the chop saw to cut off the needed length did I ever get a surprise as it had twisted quite a bit. Here you can see how much by looking at right end.
After cutting a section off I set it on the table saw and put a couple of straight edges called winding sticks on the twisted face. If the piece was parallel, they would align but as you can see the piece is going to require a lot of help to get it flat.
To flatten, I set the piece on a flat surface to find out which corners don’t rock, mark them and then use a hand plane to flatten those high corners. Here it’s pretty obvious which ones need to be worked on. Most of the time I use a long plane but in this case the twist was so bad I started out with a power plane and finished with a small block plane. Here you can see where I have marked the top right and bottom left corners of the second blank with an “X”. Once this face is flat the blank gets run through the thickness sander to flatten the other side. The piece is then flipped over and run through the thickness sander removing any inconsistencies in the first side giving me a blank with smooth, flat, parallel faces. Using a jointer would be faster but I don’t have one. A quick trim of the edges on the table saw squares the edges to the face.
Here is the flattened blank back on the table saw with the winding sticks set in place showing a flattened surface.
Since I did not have all the hardware for the tool some parts needed to be ordered. They included some ¼”-20 and 5/16”-18 threaded inserts and rod, a ¼”-20 knurled knob and a length of ½” square tubing. Below are these pieces.
Don’t worry if the list does not make sense as I will go through how and where each are used. The first thing I checked was the tubing to make sure the plane blade moved freely inside the ½” tube. This is a critical test in that any problems here would make the tool unworkable. Too small and the blade won’t fit in and too big will allow the blade to move around messing up the tool’s accuracy. Unfortunately, the blade wouldn’t even go into the tube. Here is the blade lined up with how it’s supposed to slide in the tube.
On closer inspection there is a ridge running the length inside the tube that prevents the blade from fitting. I sent a note to the supplier of the tube letting them know what the problem was and how I planned on using it asking if this was normal or a flaw in this particular piece. My hope was that since Woodsmith had listed them along with a part number that there was a problem with this piece. To their credit they got back to me the next day saying the ridge is where the tube is welded together and is a normal part of the manufacturing process. This presented a real problem as there is no local source and even on-line finding one without ordering a six-foot section when only two inches is needed is a problem. Even then there is no guarantee that another piece would not have the ridge. As you can see in the photo below the ridge is not huge but big enough that it’s a real problem.
Since no good options presented themselves, I decided to try and clean up the inside of the tube and make it work. I have a feeling this is going to be like building a ship in a bottle, where the bottle is only 3/8” square.
Next Up – Fitting the Tube, Shaping the Base, Glue-up & Layout
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