Work Smoother Build Along
#21
I've been having some discussions about polymer infills/stabilizing. Namely it was situated around the imagined/potential difficulties in fitting the infill to a cast (read: irregular) surface compared to the flat, square or regular curves without pattern draft to take into account.

Long story short, I dislike plastic, and the notion of polymerizing wood to make it stable goes against my convictions. I have no doubt that it would work, with the right species and vacuum impregnation setup, it's just not for me.

From all that I've read on the subject, application under a vacuum, with a thin enough epoxy is needed to totally fill the wood fibers. Otherwise you have an epoxy shell around wood, which I don't think would be a good thing.
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#22
I have a bit of experience with vacuum resin stabilization/impregnation from my wood turning days. Depending on the size of the blank and the viscosity of the hardener/resin, the porosity if the blank, and the moisture content of the blank, though may need to drill some holes in the base of the blank to get anywhere near full penetration.Then you need a vacuum oven or something like that. So unless you have access to a professional set up, you're only going to get a surface covering (just like you mentioned)

BUT if you could get some spalted maple burl stabilized, it'd make an awesome looking info
See ya around,
Dominic
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Don't you love it when you ask someone what time it is and to prove how smart they are, they tell you how to build a watch?
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#23
After a little while sitting on a warm teapot... it's running a steam box for a boat building project. Anyways...





So far they have lost about 3.6% of their overall weight.
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#24
I'm really looking forward to seeing how that sycamore turns out if you decide to use it.

And am I the only one who has no idea what a shiphawk plane is?
Isaac
Blackburn Tools - simply classic
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#25
Likely no, a shiphawk plane is a V bottomed, fenced plane. Memory doesn't serve what it's use in the boat building trade was, but I know of a few that have used if in lieu of a snipes bill on really large architectural mouldings.
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#26
I arrived home from vacation to find the box containing the casting, lever cap and screw on my front porch. So this afternoon I braved the heat to go into the shop and look over the blanks I could use for the infill.



I have some very nice Rosewood. I think it's about 40 years old. My buddy's father used to be into wood turning way back when and saved these chunks. So I got one from him. I also have a piece of mystery figured wood called "khaya" which I just found out is a type of African Mahogany used in making drums. Not sure if that is a good choice or not. I also have a piece of highly figured walnut burl which was given to me about 10 years ago. And last I have a nice BIG chunk of bubinga. This stuff is awesome looking and came from a wood turning friend named Ron Sardo. I'm pretty sure this was kiln dried. And somewhere in my shop is a nice big piece of bubinga burl. But I'll be damned if I can locate it!

I also have a piece of mesquite. But I'm not sure if it's big enough in the right direction. It was originally intended to be a bowl blank so it's grain orientation is 90 deg what you would want.

Anyway I'm a bit confused on the suggested blank size. I looked over the Work Magazine article and didn't see a suggested size. I know I saw it somewhere. Any clues here? Knowing the size will probably dictate which blank I use.

Incidentally, no matter which wood is chosen for the blank, my first go around will be with a piece of kiln dried walnut. I'm too much of a klutz to use a nice piece of wood on my first try.
See ya around,
Dominic
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Don't you love it when you ask someone what time it is and to prove how smart they are, they tell you how to build a watch?
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#27
While I love the look of old rosewood and bubinga, I think a nice piece of cocobolo would look stunning with that casting.
Jason

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#28
Dominic,
That is just not fair. There are many of us out here scratching our heads trying to figure out what we are going to fill our plane bodies with and you just walk out to the shop to look around and find that stash. That is a stealth gloat if ever I saw one.
Can't wait to see what you come up.
cheers
matt
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#29
Has anyone made any more progress on their plane? I've got my kit, but am sheepishly waiting for someone else to post a build-along so I don't muck it up.

Thanks!

-Matt
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#30
If you have a local Woodcraft, you can go there check out the turning blocks
(or the local Klinsper)
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