How to plane an irregularly shaped object

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

I was tidying up the shop today. It's not a difficult task--just walk over to a clutter pile and dig in. Today's challenge was a tool workshelf full of brace squatters. If your shop is like mine, tools just show up and begin to congregate in groups. It can be hard to get to the handplanes underneath a gaggle of braces. So I collected an armload and moved them to a less intrusive location. That's when I spied the project plane they had been concealing. I picked up this sad little chamfer plane a few years back and have been working on it ever since. It looks user made, but by a good craftsman user. The wood is boxwood or something similar--very tight grained and heavy. Somebody gave it a wedgie and blew out the side. I found some suitable material to repair it with but started with the easier parts. First off, I made a blade. Now I need to find it and reunite it with the plane. Next, I augmented the moveable sole with some African hardwood. The original maker blew it all on the body and used less care on the moveable sole. This augmented sole needed to be trimmed so I got out my planes. But holding it was a challenge. It was small and it was not square. I ended up making a birds beak to hold it against the bench dog.




Here is a closer shot.




I planed it closely and finished up with sandpaper. That went well except that the exotic hardwood had a cow-dung like smell to it. Whew!

So now I am much closer to the finish line. I need to cut off the corner of the plane body and fit the donor wood. That is the next challenge.

[Bibliophile 13]

Good idea!

I always hate to spend my shop time making jigs, but sometimes it's the only option. In which case, the simpler the better.

[Derek Cohen]

Jim, I think your heading should read "How to HOLD irregularly shaped object"


And, further, by the number of  - and the way you become distracted by - unfinished projects, you really should be on Ritalin. 


Regards from Perth

Derek

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

Jim, I think your heading should read "How to HOLD irregularly shaped object"


And, further, by the number of  - and the way you become distracted by - unfinished projects, you really should be on Ritalin. 


Regards from Perth

Derek

Po-TAY-to, Po-TA-to.

I HAVE been flitting about from project to project in the shop lately. And I have been adding more projects. To me, outstanding projects represent the future and having lots of them means continuing shop activity. It is also fun to be liberated from schedules and deadlines. My recent scattered approach is probably stress related because I have some minor med procedures coming up. I may be limited to listening to shop tunes for a few days and that is if I am able to get into the shop at all.

Anyway, thanks for your comments. I pass my plane shelf every time I am in the shop and see the dovetail marking set you made for me. They are really lovely and they make me smile.

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks Jim.

Nothing serious, medically speaking, I trust. Take care.

Regards from Perth

Derek