Router Plane - #6 Three More Handles & Two Knobs

As I started working on the second handle it occurred to me that a template with the needed measurements on it would speed things up and help reduce the chance of a measuring error.

From this point on the process for making the remaining handles is the same as the first one although it does go a little faster at about 2 hours each.  It seems the closer I get to the Pattern #1 match the slower is goes as I want it as close to a perfect match as I can get.  Here are the four matching handles and have to say being very careful and frequently checking my progress paid off.  After all there is no “Undo” button if the cuts are too deep.

Cutting the 7/16” threaded rod that will be epoxied into the handles is next.  I cut them to length using a jig saw with a metal cutting blade.  A hack saw could have been used but the jig saw is easier.   Here the rod is clamped into the vice ready to be cut.  One other thing, if you look at the right side of the vice you can see a scrap piece of wood with a clamp on the end.  That acts as a spacer to keep the vice jaws parallel when it is tightened.  The clamp on the spacer keeps it from falling to the floor when the vice is loosened.

However, after cutting the rod its threads and the cut ends are messed up and need a little help before they are usable.

The cleanup is done on a grinder.  The nuts on the rod give me a place to hold on to it and set the grind angle.  Once the grinder is running the rod is turned while being kept at the same angle.  Once ground the rod is ready to be used.

Epoxying the rods into the handles is next.  A 5-minute 2-part epoxy is used.  Here are the completed handles clamped up for curing.  Clamps are used to hold the rod in place while the epoxy cures.  The clamps keep the rods fully inserted in the handles as I have had rods want to creep out before the epoxy sets.  I think it’s due to the epoxy sealing around the rod causing air to be compressed as the rod is pressed into place.

Once the epoxy is cured the handles are removed from the clamps and screwed into the inserts in the body.

The last item before applying a finish is to make the blade locking screws.  I had ordered steel knurled knobs but when I changed the size of the body they were too short.  While working on the square tube I got to thinking that I wanted a material softer than the tool steel of the router blade to apply the locking pressure and brass fits the bill.  That’s why the insert is also brass so as to not have dissimilar materials which could introduce galvanic corrosion.  The knobs start by cutting a ¾” cube from the Texas Ebony base cutoffs.  Here is the last cut being made on the bandsaw.  Since there is no way I am going to get my fingers that close to the bandsaw blade I use a screw clamp to hold the piece while being cut.

Using a centering square, the center of the end is located, center punched and it’s ready for the drill press.  The hole will be used for mounting the piece on the lathe.

Before mounting on the lathe, the disk sander is used to round off the corners to help make the turning easier.  That’s done since the attachment is a little delicate and the less stress the better.

The blank is attached to an oak mandrel via a screw that gets run into the hole drilled in the blank’s center.  The oak piece is then clamped in the 4-jaw chuck and the turning can begin.  Here is the blank after it has been turned round and you can see how it all fits together.

In order to provide a better grip to the knob 12 recesses will be cut around the knob’s perimeter.  That starts with marking the blank into 12 equally spaced sections.  The lathe has an indexing feature that locks every 30 degrees giving the 12 sections.  The photo below shows the threaded rod near the left side of the photo run into the detent in the lathe shaft and the section marks on the knob at the lower right.

The recesses are made using the oscillating drum sander by very carefully aligning the white mark on the knob with the centerline of the sander then gently pressing it against the drum.  The piece of plywood that the sander drum is coming up through has a hole the size of the drum and is clamped to the sander’s cast iron top.  It’s so I have full support for the knob when sanding.  In the right photo you can see the end result of the process with the recesses made but in dire need of some additional sanding to make them smooth. 

However, before that I need to go back to the lathe and drill a hole in the base of the knob where the threaded rod will go.  This is the setup at the lathe ready to go.  There are a couple of things that need to be explained though.  First, is why the final sanding of the recesses are not yet done.  That’s because if when the knob is clamped in the 4-jaw chuck the recesses get dented I haven’t gone through all the work finish sanding them only to have to do it again.  Second, is the narrow strip of wood held in place with masking tape backing up the knob.  That’s so I don’t have to tighten the chuck down so much which reduces the chance of denting the knob.  Without it the chuck has to be tightened down enough to keep the knob from getting pushed into the chuck’s jaws when drilling the hole.

Once the hole is drilled, I can start hand sanding which starts with a finer grit tube from the drum sander.  Finer grits of sandpaper are used ending up with 320 grit paper until all the scratch marks are gone.  The knob on the far left is a prototype and here is used to give me a better grip during sanding. 

With the knob completed here are a couple of views of the project completed except for finishing.

 

Next Up – Finishing & a Stopped Dado

Router Plane - #5 Completing the Body & the First Handle

There is just a little bit of work yet be done on the drill press which is to drill the hole for the ¼ -20 insert and install it.  This is where the thumb screw will go that will lock the blade in place.  The dark grey piece is the blade, the gold colored piece is the brass insert and the thumb screw is in line with the brass insert.  More on why this insert is brass rather than steel later.

The body and base that were band sawn out earlier is clamped to the fence on the drill press.  A small drill bit is chucked up and aligned to my center punched mark as shown below.  A pilot hole is drilled through the wood and the steel tube.  When that’s done an intermediate larger drill is used then replaced with the final hole’s drill size.  Then the insert is run in the same way as the others.

Next the body shape is redrawn using the template and cut out using the bandsaw.  After that the disk sander is used to clean up and smooth out the curves.  That’s followed with a pad sander starting with 120 grit paper and ending with 320 grit.

This is what the body looks like right off the bandsaw and when almost done with the sanding.

Last bit of machine work on the body is to go back to the router and put the same chamfer on the bottom outside edge as was done in Post3 Fitting the Tube, Shaping the Base, Glue-up & Layout.  In this photo you can see where the part of the base to the right of the router bit has been chamfered while the rest has yet to be done.  You can also see some scratches left over from the disk sander that still need to be taken out.

Now it’s back to do the final hand finish sanding removing all the disk sander scratches and softening the bodies top edge.  The top photo shows that done and the bottom one is a closer look at the 45-degree bevel on the top edge.

The softening of the bodies top edge is not hard but it is at such a small scale I really need my magnifiers to see what I am doing.

Making the handles are next.  They start out as a roughly 2” square piece of cherry about 3 ½” long.  From there the centers are marked and the piece is put in the lathe with a drive center in the headstock which is on the left and a live center on the right.

A roughing gouge is used to turn the piece round then some layout lines are added based on a revised handle profile.  The revision is based on me holding various plane, file and router handles to see what would work. 

After some time turning and holding the piece as I worked it down the design changed a bit so I went back into SketchUp and made revisions based on what had been turned on the lathe.  Here are the next two versions.  They are the same except for a small difference at the stem.

Those two versions are printed out at full scale and one is glued onto a piece of 5mm underlayment so I can make a template.  A template will let me make multiple handles very nearly identical.  The left photo shows the pattern glued on while the right one shows it after I drilled a 1¾” hole.  That bit is used since it’s the closest one to the 1 13/16” diameter of the actual handle. 

Once some minor fitting of the template to the handle is done I have something that should allow me to make repeatable pieces.  At least that’s the plan.  Later there will be a second template to take care of finishing the top when the tenon on the right end or the top of the handle gets removed.  Right now, I need the tenons on both ends to facilitate the turning process.

Next is drill a hole in the base of the handle.  That’s where a piece of threaded rod will get epoxied in and used to attach the handle to the insert in the body.   Process is to remove the handle, take out the drive center, install the scroll chuck, flip the handle end for end then tighten it in the chuck while using the live center to center the handle on the axis of the lathe. 

With the handle centered and securely held in place the live center is removed and a drill chuck is installed with a 5/16” bit marked with the hole depth.  The lathe is started and the drill run in until the edge of the tape hits the face of the handle.  Here everything is set ready to start drilling.

After the hole is drilled the handle is reversed so the bottom is clamped in the scroll chuck and aligned with the live center in the tail stock.  Now the curve of the top is continued until the tenon is removed.  Here just a tiny piece of the tenon is left.  Once the tenon is removed the piece is sanded up through 400 grit paper.

Last bit of lathe work is to mark the final length and part the handle off.  The photo below shows where the parting tool has just started to break through into the previously drilled hole.  At this point I quit turning and cut the piece off with a fine-toothed hack saw. 

A sharp knife is used to clean the rough splinters up and a hand counter sink completes the handle.  With the master done and patterns created all I have to do is make three more that match up with this one.  Easier said than done.

Below are almost all the things used to make the first handle not including the lathe of course.  😊 At the back are the remaining three blanks ready to be turned.  Right center between the patterns and the drill is the finished first handle.

Next Up – Three More Handles & Two Knobs

Router Plane - #4 Machining the Body

Cutting the bevels is next and it starts with tilting the table saw blade to 71 degrees.  That gives me my 19-degree bevel.  I used the electronic level below but, in the past, have used a protractor and bevel gauge.

To hold the body blank in position and keep my fingers away from the blade I used my tenoning jig.  The cut is set about half a saw blade’s width shy so if there is any burning or problems when the cut’s made I have some wiggle room.

In the photo below I have made the first cut and flipped the body so the saw is ready to make the second cut.  You can see a couple of things here.  At the top of the body where the first cut was made it’s pretty well had the crap burned out of it.  That’s because the cut was made with my combination blade rather than a rip blade which has been changed and will be used to make the next cut.

Here is after the cut on the second bevel.  Hardly any burn and a much better cut.  Once the second body has been cut all that’s left to do is adjust the tenoning jig and make the final cut.

After the final cut the bevels still need some sanding.  To keep a flat face, I clamp the sandpaper to a flat surface in this case the table saw extension and start making passes being sure not to rock the piece and keep the bevel in constant contact with the sandpaper.  Since the bevel is in pretty good shape, I started with 120 grit and worked up to 320 grit paper.

Next is to cut the curve in the top of the body.  That’s done on the bandsaw.  The large block to the right of the body is my 90-degree guide.  It keeps the body square with the bandsaw’s table.  The blue clamp is what I use to guide the cut which keeps my hand at a distance from the blade.  If I were to slip when making the cut the clamp would get destroyed rather than my finger.

The rough bandsaw cut is smoothed out using the oscillating drum sander.  First sleeve is 60 grit and final grit is 120.  That’s not fine enough but that’s the finest grit I have for the drum so it’s on to hand sanding.  The same block used when making the bandsaw cut is used here to assure the body is square with the table.

While the table saw was set up to cut the bevels, I cut a couple of pieces off a scrap 2x4 and glued them together to make a wedge.  That will be used a little later as a jig when holes are drilled in the bevel for handles.

Using the template, the final shape is laid out on the body and the mortise for the steel tube is fitted using the same small files that were used to fit the router blade inside the tube.  The tube was a few thousands of an inch oversize and a smidge out of square but it was pretty easy to get to a snug fit.

Next the top of the steel tube is filed to match the curve in the body or at least very close.  To do that the tube is set in its final location and the high spots are marked with a marker.  The tube is removed that area filed, the tube reinstalled then checked and high points are again marked.  The process is repeated until the fit is really close.  Final blending of the two items will be done after the tube is epoxied in place.

Gluing the tubes in with epoxy is next.  Because I want some time to make sure the tube is located properly and have time for cleanup a separate batch is made for the installation of each tube.  That gives about 5 minutes of work time.  To make cleanup easier blue tape is applied to the bottom of the body where the tube comes through and a hole is cut to match the mortise size.

After letting the epoxy cure overnight here is what the top side looks like.  As you can see, I left a little extra epoxy around the tube’s edge.  That’s from when I packed the joint between the tube and the wood a little proud.  It’s so when the final shaping is done the gap at the corners between the tube and the wood will be filled.  The small gap is because the tube has slightly rounded corners and the mortise corners are square.

Now it’s time to blend the tube’s edges in with the arc cut in the top of the body.  That’s done using the drum sander, files and a fair amount of hand sanding.  When done this is what it looks like.  

Drilling the holes where the handles will be mounted comes next.  This is where the beveled scrap 2x4 jig is used.  Here the jig is set on the drill press table with the plane body set on top.  The digital level reads 0.00 degrees or that the top of the bevel is parallel to the table allowing me to drill holes at 90 degrees to the face of the bevel.

Here is how the bevel jig is used.  Clamps hold the jig and a stop in place while the tape on the bit gives me a visual on the depth of the hole.

After drilling the hole, the bit is removed and the threaded insert can be installed.  The insert has wood screw threads on the outside and machine screw threads on the inside.  Here you can see where the insert has been screwed onto a 5/16”- 18 partially threaded rod which is chucked up in the drill press.   As an aside 5/16”- 18 means the rod is 5/16” in diameter with 18 threads per inch.    Anyway, now everything is ready for the insert to be run into the hole.  That’s done by lowering the chuck using the drill’s handle and turning the chuck by hand.  Don’t turn the drill press on to install the insert or things will get really exciting in hurry and not in a good way.

Using the drill press to install the insert most of the way makes sure it is square with the bevel.  After running it in as far as I can by hand the chuck is loosened and raised up as shown here.

Once the body is unclamped from the drill press an 8mm hex wrench is used to finish the installation so the insert top is just below the face of the bevel.

Next Up – Completing the Body & the First Handle