Baby’s Cot: Episode 6

Posted 30 January 2019

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After finishing the end frames of the cot, Paul moves on to create the grooves along the long pieces using the plough plane. Paul takes you through the process whilst troubleshooting a slight problem he incurs with the plane. Once the grooves have been cut, Paul moves on to cutting the tenons for the long rails which then fit into the mortise holes within the front and back frames.

Important: Baby safety is a very important issue and many countries and regions have rules on how to keep babies safe. In building this cot we read through our own country’s guidance on this and we have done our best to interpret it and follow it. However, if you build a cot you should do your own research and make sure you follow the relevant guidance. This guidance changes regularly and differs from one place to another. Please do not follow what we have shown without checking it for yourself. The instruction we give should only be used as a starting point for the construction method. Setup, configuration and measurements of the cot you make should be checked to ensure that they are compliant with the guidance relevant to you.

Previous: Baby’s Cot: Episode 5

17 Comments

  2. Ditto to the above comment on working through the trouble shooting phase. I ran into this problem with the blade traveling off line when I made my Keepsake boxes.

    Seeing you work through these issues is the best training you can offer in my opinion for our imperfect reality.

    Really liked this.

  3. Hi Paul,

    Do you sharpen the plough plane blade to a higher angle than your regular plane blade or chisels to help minimize tear out?

    many thanks for taking us through the trouble shooting. It is really helpful.

    1. It’s bevel down, so the angle won’t make much of a difference so long as it giving clearance to the cutting edge. I have seen people put a small back bevel on the blade effectively changing to something like a York pitch but Mr Sellers in past videos has dealt with problem grain by using a mortise gauge, sawing the walls, chiseling, reducing depth of cut or taking short stabbing cuts. (They are the techniques I remember anyway)

    2. Just some thoughts on this: As most plow planes are bevel down planes the bevel angle of the blade does not affect the actual cutting angle. However if you want to prevent the edges of the groove from tear out you can cut them with a (dual) marking gauge and deepen that cut after that with a knife if necessary.

      Further information:

      Paul explains a plow plane in detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvABTtEwP08
      Here you see Paul using a gauge to cut a wall into the surface before plowing the groove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BhshbSmtgE

    3. Thank you both for the feedback. I’ve gotten better at using my plough plane but I still experience some tearout. I don’t loose sleep over it but I’d like to get to the point where I feel as if I am more in control of it. I suppose I could also practice more using it on the various off cuts I have.

        1. Thanks for suggesting to focus on holding more upright.

          I used some wood to create a longer side fence. This made it much easier to keep it upright and not tip. The groove was much cleaner. It was only a few extra inches longer than the metal side itself but it made it much easier n

    4. Hi Joe,

      Paul says:

      This, as with most other planes, is a bevel-down plane so you cannot alter the angle unless you put a micro bevel on the larger flat face. This is very rarely done with plough plane because the ploughed area is rarely seen. Changing the bevel itself would have no consequence to the cutting dynamic of the blade or plane.

      Kind Regards,
      Izzy

  4. I have a question. I have watched Paul cut a 100 tenons at least, just like he did here. When he makes the cross grain cut across the wide face of the board, he starts with a knife wall, and then he chisels a groove for his saw to drop into.

    Then he cuts the wide face with his tenon saw, and he always has a few “fuzzies” on the waste side of the line, which he quickly pares away for a perfectly square shoulder.

    I (try and try) to do the same. I have a nice quality tenon saw; it is sharp and well set, I believe.

    Nonetheless I have a lot of difficulty with the saw seemingly pushing my knife wall back. It isn’t as though I am undercutting in a diagonal, but somehow very often it seems the whole shoulder of that tennon moves backward slightly into the knife wall. And I almost never end up on the wrong side of my knife wall by 1/64th -ish. I wondered if it was the set of my saw? Poor coordination with the saw? Some aspect of my focus drifting? But I have really tried not to allow this to happen, and then I started to wonder if I needed to start with a deeper wall than Paul, and I tried that as well, and I still have the difficulty too often.

    If I use the saw strategy Paul uses for the short side and I intentionally cut away for the knife wall at a diagonal on the waste side I end up with a big pairing job. It is better than moving my line back, but I am confused as to why I am having this issue. Also since Paul never mentions it and his always is “dead on” I was wondering if any other people who are newer to this have had the same issue and where should I look to make the corrections?

    Thank you.

    2. @crmedv– Get some scrap and see if the following helps. I’ve found that, if I make the knife line too deep, then the effect you describe can happen. I don’t understand why and wonder if it depends upon how deep your knife plus chisel notch is combined with how much set you have. So, the experiment I suggest you try is to get some scrap, and knife a line. It can be a strong line, but when you make a notch with the chisel, don’t go too deep. Just a very small one. Also, after you make your knife line, inspect it from the edge and confirm that it is square to the face (plumb). Experiment with how deep you make the V and how sloped you make the chisel cut, perhaps ensuring it is a gentle slope, and see if it helps. Also, don’t push your saw into the V, just let it ride. For me, my thumb is still the principle guide. You can even deliberately keep the saw a hair away from the knife wall and clean with the chisel later.

        1. @crmedv let us know how it goes. I went nuts with this for awhile. I’d never had problems, then started having them. This fixed it for me. By the way, when I say “make a small V,” I mean shallow. It can be wide. At a guess, I knife the line and then come in from about 1/4 to 3/8″ away, but I don’t try to go deep.

    3. Hi Craig,

      Paul says your saw may have too much set on it which will tend to do that because the plate then rides against the knifewall and not the teeth, his saws have a very small amount of set.

      Kind Regards,
      Izzy

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