Pressing Pins and Testing a Recently Completed Winter Panel Plane, Could There be a Better Time of Year for a Winter Panel Plane?

I thought it was most appropriate that I be finishing up a Winter Panel Plane during the recent weather events. I was lucky. Our electricity service was not interrupted during the recent Ice storm in the southern part of the U.S.

This plane has the same features as the Winter Smoother I posted about just a few weeks ago, it's just a larger format plane. Macassar Ebony wooden bits and brass with a patina'd finish. The acquisition of double diffused soft box lights has me back in the game of shooting shop video. There are a couple of instructional type videos I've been meaning to shoot. Maybe the new lighting will inspire me to get those completed.

Besides plane making I have a couple woodworking projects in process at this time. Julie has reminded me that some of these projects have been, supposedly, in process for quite some time and that I need to get some of these finished. The reed in our dining chair seats is breaking down and I have one ready for re-hab. The old reed is removed and a new black finish has been applied to the chair frame. We're just waiting on Shaker Tape seating material to arrived in order to complete the new seat in that chair. I've watched several videos on this process so I'm ready to have to a go.

Back to the Winter Panel Plane:

The side Profile Picture

The Reach in and grab it by the tote picture

The overall view

 details of the toe

these views show the knob seat and the toe details such as the way the plane sides are blended into the sole in lieu of just being scabbed on.

This plane body has brass pins pressed in at strategic points in both pieces of the sole. The fit is called an interference fit, which basically means the pins are slightly larger than the holes where they are to reside. A friend I worked with many years ago would have termed this process as "end of the world stuff", in the context of making stuff that would last quite a long time.

Photo Bench

The video below shows the installation of the one of the brass dowel pins and some testing of the completed plane. Best viewing is had by changing the quality to 720p and viewing full screen.

Ron

It's Been A Hard Winter

Everyone has had their share of extreme winter weather this year. The wolf in the picture below expresses a sentiment that many of us share.

I have many friends and family that live in the north. Iowa, Vermont, Brooklyn, NY. My friend Jameel Abraham emailed today to inform me that it was -19 in Cedar Rapids this morning. I can't even imagine conditions of that type and frankly I don't want to. I'll just continue right here in Georgia, and when it's 70 degrees in Iowa in late July and it's 100 degrees here and 100% humidity then all is fair.....I guess. I dunno -19.....that's pretty extreme.

As I told some guys in Minnesota one summer......you have all summer to leave from up here.

But home is home and we all endure.....and that's the way of life.

This weather will eventually end and spring will arrive,

Ron

Different Woods and Metal Finishes

I'm occasionally ask if I grow tired of making the same model plane time after time. The short answer is "no". Every plane is a challenge and there are a myriad of different woods, metals and metal finishes to try and combine into one plane assembly and that is what keeps every plane build fresh.

The wood in and of itself is enough to keep someone like myself entertained with the work. I've just recently completed a plane of the Winter Smoother variety. The choice of wood for this plane was Macassar ebony. For a real classic look it's hard to beat a darker wood and  Macassar has the added benefit of a variegation in color. Almost as if someone swirled milk chocolate and dark chocolate together and then set the mixture up into a very hard substance.

The Macassar ebony is quite hard and it's of those woods that can cause one to use a few expletives in the process of making it what you want it to be. Of course most woods that are very challenging to work also yield a nice reward for perseverance, for when the finish flows on you're remind of why you chose that particular material.

This tool features an 0-1 tool steel body with a ground finish on the interior and a lapped satin finish on the exterior of the plane body. The brass lever cap, screw and knob seat has a patina'd finish applied and is then oiled and cooked overnight in the finishing kiln to ensure a thorough cure of the oil finish. It's a unique look and also offers the added benefit of the brass actually having a finish and this cuts down on the maintenance required to keep brass bright or even satin which for me is the preferable way to have bright brass. Highly polished brass shows finger prints so readily it's just not a reasonable finish to have on a tool that's meant to be used.

Each plane also presents a challenge to machine parts to very tight tolerances and most people that pursue similar work are typically striving to make the next plane better than the previous tools. You can call it an obsessive compulsion, but believe me it comes with the mindset for doing this work. I was once giving a presentation to the Athens Georgia Woodworkers club. After my presentation a Sociology professor at U.G.A. approached me and said "Ron, you may be one of the most down to earth, obsessive, compulsive people I'ver ever met",....I thought about that just a bit trying to decide if this statement was a compliment or what, I finally just replied "thank you" and decided to ponder that comment on the way home..........

Ron

My Friend is Declining

At breakfast this morning Julie and I were discussing how wonderful being a part of the hand tool woodworking community has been for us. We've met so many wonderful people of extremely high character and intelligence and we have friends literally all over the world as a result of our business pursuit.

We even spent our 40th wedding anniversary at HandWorks this past year and thought nothing of it except that it was very fitting to celebrate among the people that have meant so much to us.

Unfortunately you have to take the bad with the good and this week we've received reports of the rapid decline of our wonderful friend Fred West. Many of you saw the tribute to Fred not long ago on the Lost Art Press blog. None of us had a clue that things would change so rapidly for Fred. We've been told that at this point it's just a matter of time before Fred will be leaving this world. He's at home resting comfortably.

Myself, Fred and Mike Peters at Handworks, in the box was a plane that Fred commissioned me to make as a gift for Mike, Yep, he was that kind of guy

When I was last in Fred's presence we were sitting in the family room at the home of Jameel Abraham and family the day after HandWorks. Don Williams was giving a pictorial review of the occasion when he performed the restoration of the Mace of the United States House of Representatives. Fred and the rest of us were very privileged to witness this personal presentation and it was a special time for all present.

My first inclination was to travel to West Chester, Pa. to see Fred but given the level of pain medication that Fred is being given he most likely would not know I was present. Many of us will suffer from this same dilemma and for those I suggest you just think back to last time you spent time with Fred and cherish the memory of our wonderful friend. I'm sure that will be quite okay with Fred, he was always a giver and he did so graciously with no expectations.

I hate blogging with a heavy heart and presenting bad news is never fun, but like I stated earlier......you have take the bad with the good.

Ron

At approximately 1:30 pm on this day Fred passed surrounded by Friends, Family........and his tools

Resolutions..... Not New Year's

I've made some resolutions this year but they started back at the end of July when Julie and I traveled to Vermont to meet the newest member of our family. Have you been to Vermont? In the little town of Waitsfield lives the healthiest looking population of people that I've observed anywhere. Young and Old they are the fittest, healthiest looking bunch anywhere.  At that time I had accumulated some girth.....okay, I had been getting fat. 

Walking up the hill to the grocery store in Waitsfield was causing my body some distress. That's when I decided something had to be done and when I stepped upon the scales I came to the realization that I was exactly the same weight as when I went on my last diet 15 years ago. Among the fit people of Waitsfield I felt like a whale.

When I returned home I started a life style change. Notice I did not say diet. I did not start a fad diet that promised to take off 15 pounds in 1 1/2 weeks. Like I said I started a life style change. I began walking a manageable distance twice a day. In this route was a long steep hill and once again, like walking up the hill to the grocery store in Waitsfield, I was reminded twice a day why I need to do this. I also began eating less than 2000 calories a day. I limited my intake of refined sugar and start eating more fruit and nuts for snacks in lieu of processed good. I don't know exactly how much weight I've dropped but my waist size has been reduced 2", I wear a size large shirt now in lieu of the extra large I had been requiring, oh and now I've progressed to walking a minimum of 2 miles everyday and somedays I walk that distance twice. The biggest benefit is, I feel better and as an added benefit I'm a more productive person in the shop.

The shop is my other resolution. Just prior to Christmas my shop had gradually become an unorganized mess. In my haste to get things completed and shipped I had been lax in the daily clean up. I felt as though I was working in a bit of a "pig sty" and just could not go forward in those conditions. The weekend before New Years I added two new rolling tool chest to my storage options and performed what I call a "back to ground zero", or back to the starting point type clean up.

This type clean up is when you basically touch everything in the shop and you clean out corners and other spots that haven't been visited by a shop vac in quite some time.

There hasn't been this much room to the right of my table saw in 2 years

You might ask, "why would a person that's a woodworker and plane maker use rolling steel tool chest?" The short answer is time. I needed organization now and with my present schedule there is no way I could take time to build similar storage. In this case it's done and I'm back to making planes.

I also plan to complete the finishing of the interior walls of my shop, having almost everything on wheels will greatly facilitate that project. But that's another resolution, for another time.

Ron

Fred West

My friend Fred West is facing some challenging health issues. I, along with several other tool makers, contributed to a blog about Fred on the Lost Art Press Blog.

In lieu of repeating myself here I'll just direct you to the link below so you can read all the great things people from the Hand Tool Woodworking community had to say about Fred.

Here's the link to that blog post:     http://blog.lostartpress.com/2013/12/14/a-tribute-to-the-patron-of-the-hand-tool-world/

Get Well My Friend,

Ron

No Black Friday or Cyber Monday, Just A Regular Wednesday for "Just a Plane T-Shirt"

NOTICE: T-shirts sales have ended as of 12/18/2013

When I went thru the process of a total face lift on my web page months ago I did not include the "Apparel" page. By request I am rejuvenating this offering for the famous "Just a Plane T-Shirt", however I waited until after Black Friday and Cyber Monday because frankly all that is retail hype. No one really needs to tell you that the holidays are approaching and if you're planning to give gifts you need to make your purchases and ship your stuff, therefore we're making this offer on a "Regular Wednesday".

At this point I still don't intend to add the "Apparel" page to the main site, but I'm posting a link to the "Apparel" page of my Online Store here on the blog. For those that would like the "Just A Plane T-Shirt" the price is $16.95 and includes shipping anywhere in the lower 48 states and you won't have to stand in line at the P.O. We'll do that for you.

These are 100% Cotton Gildan Heavy T's and in a new color called "Old Gold". At some point we may add the "Apparel" page to the web site again but after the holidays we'll most likely either be selling these shirts thru brick and mortar retail establishments or only offering them at the limited events that we attend throughout the year.

T-SHIRT LINK, this link is dead, T-Shirt sales have been discontinued as of 12/18/2013

Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season to Everyone,

Ron