Question on the Poor Man's Rebate Plane
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- This topic has 6 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 5 months ago by George Fulford.
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2 November 2015 at 8:12 pm #131965
I’ve just finished my Poor Man’s Rebate Plane. Was super fun to build and a lot easier than I thought it was going to be, although it was a bugger to get it fine tuned. 🙂 And there lies my problem. The first few passes go ok, but as I progress further, it seems to shift out of place and not give a consistent shave. I’m not sure what would be the best way to correct this. Is it a matter of me not holding it square enough or is it a flaw in the plane itself that can be fixed?
Since I’m going to add one anyway, would the depth stop help resolve this? And is this how it should be mounted, with the screws in the top of the holes and it zeroed out at the bottom of the blade?
- This topic was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by George Fulford.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.I made one of these many years ago and I think that your problem may be two fold; the first leading to the second:
First, the bedding of the wedge where it meets the back of the blade must be dead true. It’s all held together by friction alone.
Second, the blade appears to be parallel in thickness along its length. When in use there are quite strong forces exerted on the tip which are transmitted along the length of the blade. If you look at old wedged planes, the iron is invariably tapered along its length, widest at the tip tapering backwards. This means that the forward forces in use serve to tighten the bond with the wedge.
So, it’s possible that your blade is moving a minute amount.
The immediate solution is to get the wedge bond as good as you can with improved frictional contact. Alternately seek out a blade that is tapered. Old wooden plough planes are ideal for this.
But, I think that the whole concept of using a chisel like this is not a replacement for using a real plane for repeat work – it was a quick get-out-of-trouble-tool.Hope this helps…..
5 November 2015 at 7:44 pm #132058Thanks Joyner. The solution I came up with for now was to do the bulk of the work with this as carefully as possible, then finish off with my router plane and fence for the last few strokes.
I think I see what you mean about the tapering of the blade. Thicker near the handle/thinner near the tip = more shock absorption ? I also see on the close-up of my pic where the bedding doesn’t sit completely on the tip of the blade at the end. Didn’t notice that in real life. I’ll cut a new wedge and see if that helps.
Thanks again! 🙂
Some old (pig-sticker type, usually) taper downwards from the handle to the tip. This enabled a chisel to be easily loosened and withdrawn when plunge cutting cutting down in a mortise.
Alternately, the blades found in old wooden moulding planes and wooden plough planes deliberately tapered the opposite way – thicker at the cutting tip, tapering toward the top.
When mounted in a wooden stock with a wedge, the forces acting upward on the tip of this type of blade in use served to tighten it against the wedge. In these planes the blade was removed by tapping it through the mouth to loosen the bond with the wedge. Hence you’ll notice that the top ends on these old irons tend to be hammered over.
It’s this sort of blade that works best with the type of router you have in mind, because with a well fitting wedge, it doesn’t work loose in use.
Good luck, hope this helps.
11 November 2015 at 7:13 pm #132270I’ve fine-tuned the wedge, as I noticed it wasn’t grabbing all the way along the length. It’s much smaller than it used to be. Does anyone think it might pose a problem being this small now? Re-working it has helped get rid of some of the problem, although not all of it. If you notice the slight gap at the top, it’s only right there at the edge. The block plane slipped just a tad on the final pass, so essentially, I just nipped the arris off here.
FrankJ – Here are the pictures I wanted to show you. The only hammer I have that’s small enough to tap this plane is this tack hammer. It’s not heavy at all. I’ve got the tip set to where it’s juuust barely visible through the mouth. I haven’t really noticed how much pressure I use to run the plane along the wood. I’ve been more focused on making sure it’s square with the wood consistently with each pass, so maybe I am pressing too hard on the pass. I’ll keep that in mind next time I use it. By the way, I’m in the process of building Richard’s (The English Woodworker) tool chest. Hence, I’ll be using this plane quite a little bit. 🙂
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You must be logged in to view attached files.11 November 2015 at 11:17 pm #132279Good eye, Mike 🙂 That was indeed one of the problems I was facing. After I posted last time, I went over the plane as a whole and looked for all the little discrepancies occurring.
1. I didn’t think far enough ahead while sharpening the blade originally and only flattened about 1/2″ up from the tip. It now sits evenly along the body and the wedge.
2. The width gauge wasn’t exactly square to the body. It was when I first cut the part, so maybe the fibers compressed unevenly once I started using it. I’ll keep an eye out and see if it starts riding crooked again.
3. I’m beginning to think that heart pine wasn’t the best choice for the body, because it seems to swell and shrink much more than I originally thought it would. It being so dense and sappy, I didn’t think that would be a problem, especially on such a short piece of wood. As I fit everything together for the final time, I noticed that the blade was a tad below the surface of the wood where when I first put it all together, it was indeed flush. I planed it flush once again today.
4. And now for the dumbest thing yet, I wasn’t tightening any of the gauge screws tight enough to hold them in place. They were good and snug, but not tight. The width gauge was sliding out of place by microns with each pass, making itself worse. The depth gauge bowed out right at the mouth giving the blade just enough room to wiggle.
5. FrankJ – I was using too much downward pressure while planing. I took note of that while I was testing earlier and after easing up and just using my “toe” hand to guide and using my “heel” hand to just push forward, my results got better almost immediately. I also made the mistake of starting to plane from the back to front, instead of planing at the front and working back.
So here’s a pic of my final results.
Thanks again for everyone’s advice. This is one of the best forums on the ‘net. 🙂
- This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by George Fulford.
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