The Willie Davis Plane

Every once in a while you get a request to make something out of the ordinary. I have resisted the idea of making one of a kind planes because if a plane is worth making once it's worth making more than once. Besides there are many different combinations of metals and elements to explore and even though a plane may be the same model as another, with the differences in wood and other details all these tools really are one of a kind.

I like to refer to planes with special features as a Special Edition version of that model plane and that brings us to the Special Edition "Willie Davis" Winter Smoother.

This plane has several features not present on the standard version of this plane. For starters, the sole and bedding plate is made from 440C stainless steel. Secondly this plane features a new style lever cap screw not used on any Brese Plane to date. The most important visual change is the brass sides used on this plane and the Italian Olive wood tote and knob. The Italian wood has a unique look that is just a bit different than the African variety, but I like Olive Wood no matter it's origin.

The brass is treated a bit differently in that it's been oiled and the finish cured in my wood drying kiln. The surface is finished with Scotch Brite to a satin sheen and the oil gives it a deeper gold color. I think it looks pleasing and it's also pleasing to the touch and resist finger prints as well.

In case you're wondering, "Willie Davis" is not a famous blues musician. He's a friend and customer that happens to be a woodworker. It makes for such a catchy name I just couldn't resist using it as the name for this version of this plane.

Now, what's your name or nickname? (grin)

Ron

Olive Winter Smoother

The first of the Olive Wood Winter Smoothers is complete and on the way to it's new home. I looked forward to the completion of this tool with great anticipation. I was anxious to see how all the elements would play visually with the Olive wood.

Personally I was not disappointed, in fact I was delighted. My only disappointment was having to pack and ship this tool shortly after I had completed the final tuning and created the first shavings with this plane. Of course one of my motivations is to get these tools into the hand of the customers so there is a certain satisfaction in that as well.

Even though I offer a patina'd and oiled finish on the brass parts of my planes, I find the satin, oiled finish plays well with the lighter colored woods. The oil I apply to the brass parts gives it a deeper look than just the brass being left bright. Curing that oil in my wood kiln overnight gives the brass enough protection to resist finger printing.

This plane had no issues with this knarly piece of curly cherry. The edge I was planning was the quarter sawn edge with the curl face coming thru this edge. This kind of piece is usually a planing nightmare. Rock solid bedding, a rigid plane body,  .004 mouth aperture and an extremely sharp iron solves problems with a piece like this. Add in very nice ergonomics and the result is very pleasurable planing.

Ron

Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes (Jim Carrey)

Some Days it's Wood Fun-ning Instead of Wood-Working

Just before the Handworks events in 2013 I had the pleasure of working a piece of Olive wood for the tote and knob for one of my Winter Smoothers. I thought I would probably never get the chance to work a piece of Olive that was that amazing again.

I would be wrong. Mother nature always seems to deliver and she never ceases to amaze me.

I am often asked if I tire of making the same plane multiple times. The answer is "No". One piece of 0-1 tool steel looks pretty much like any other piece of 0-1 tool steel and the same goes for brass and bronze. However combining different metals with different woods and considering I get the opportunity to work some of the most beautiful woods that exist in this world, heck this stuff is so interesting I can hardly sleep at night!

Somedays it's working just like any other job but on days when you get to work pieces of wood like the ones pictures above....heck, it's more like wood fun-ning!

Excuse me, I think I hear some Ziricote calling me. (grin)

Ron

It's Just a Lumber Shed, More Space in the Shop

We've all heard the phrase "less is more" and when one is re-organzing a cluttered space I'm sure this is true, but sometimes nothing will do but more space.

A couple of years ago, in an effort to de-clutter my shop and make it a more productive environment I rented some storage space and hauled several years of accumulated lumber and other odd and assorted things to this space. My intention was to get this stuff out of my way so that I could finish the interior walls of my shop and lay down a new floor. The floor is done the walls are still waiting.

Recently I've started to do more actual woodworking in my shop. The realization that all those projects I was putting off until I was caught up and had more time were never going to be done unless I made some time for woodworking now.

But now most of my lumber is at another location a 15 minute drive away. This of course would not do and frankly it made no sense to continue pay to store materials that I wanted to use and would only do so if they were closer at hand.

An addition to my shop for lumber storage seemed to be the answer but frankly I didn't have a lot of time to devote to such a project. If it was going to be done it would have to be done in a very timely manner.......like in a weekend.

The back of the shop was the best location for the addition

 Fortunately this past weekend was Memorial Day weekend and it was a long weekend. Julie and I devised a plan. My eldest son Daniel would fly in from Vermont on Friday evening and my good friend Jeff Matilsky volunteered to drive up from Gainesville, Florida. They both thought the idea of building a structure in a weekend sounded like a fun challenge.

The week before, I worked to finish up a "Brute" shooting board plane that was well into process. Once the plane was completed and shipped I turned my attention to preparing for the shop addition project.

When you cut into the siding you're committed

Most of Thursday was spent procuring and transporting materials.

Thursday evening I removed the old air conditioning unit and window. Then I cut out what would  become the doorway between the old space and the new.

On Friday Jeff and I installed the floor frame ledger, the rim joist and all the floor joist. We then attached wire mesh to the underside of the joist and laid in fiberglass insulation between the framing members. When Daniel arrived later that evening we laid down the subfloor and nailed it in place.

left to right, Jeff Matilsky, Daniel and myself

By Saturday evening we had built and raised the outside wall (siding installed) and cut and installed all the rafters. We also framed one of the ends walls before we quit for the day.

On Monday morning we were installing the roof shingles. At this time I realized that I was totally spent. I had nothing left. Fortunately my sons Daniel and Marc took it upon themselves to finish roofing the lumber shed. I have wonderful children and in this case my boys really came thru. Thanks to Jeff Matilsky and my sons we met our goal for the weekend. The lumber shed was dried in. Of course Julie kept us well fed and hydrated. This was a critical part of making the project a success.

There is still a good bit of work to do to the addition but at this point I can take it at a more leisurely pace. After some clean up on Tuesday morning I was able to go back to plane making by the afternoon.

Ron

Kitchen Island Finished.......Maybe

The kitchen island project  featured in an earlier post is finally finished and in use in the kitchen. We will most probably will add a lower shelf but the priority at this point is a couple of counter stools so that we can sit at the island to perform tasks and possibly enjoy breakfast in the kitchen.

As someone that has never been all that fascinated with turning, I have found myself doing quite a lot of it lately. Knobs for planes and parts for many Shaker style stools I've been making. However I did not turn the legs for this project.

 Given what I would have paid for maple large enough for turning these legs and considering the time it would have taken, I opted to purchase these legs from Matt Burak at tablelegs.com. They produce wonderful, nicely detailed legs and frankly there are just other woodworking projects I would rather spend my woodworking time pursuing.

 I turned a shooting board plane knob from Italian Olive this past week and working that material was a memorable woodworking experience. I guess I'm starting to enjoy turning after all. Did I mention that I like working with olive wood? The other knob pictured above is from a piece of Desert Ironwood Burl with a bit of burl sapwood included. It wasn't as enjoyable to turn but the result was pleasing.

I have friends from the North side of Atlanta that make their way down here to visit several times a year. We've established a tradition of me making an apple pie to celebrate their visits. They have deemed this new addition to the kitchen as my "Pie Bench". Works for me.

Having spices in an upper cabinet was a royal PITA. You pretty much had to take half of everything out to find the ones needed for a given recipe. With the spices in the drawer of the island access is easy and quick. I was proud that my dovetails fit up quite well and I like the contrast with the red drawer front.

I made pizza last night and rolled out the pizza crust on the island work surface. The height was great for this task, just a bit over 35".

Now, about those stools, one down and one to go,

Ron

A Recently Completed Winter Smoother and the Hard Part of the Build, A Note About WIA 2014

 Sometimes you set out to build a plane and every process makes you work for any bit of progress you make. Sometimes it goes quite well, as if the plane actually wants to be together. The plane featured in this blog post was one that wanted to be together.

There are options when ordering this plane. Which type wood for the knob and tote, brass parts with a bright satin finish or patina'd brass. Every once in a while a customer will specify exactly the details that I would choose if I were building the plane for myself. As lovely as this sounds it creates an inner struggle.

On one hand you're really looking forward to seeing the plane together in that particular configuration, on the other hand you know after it's finished you'll have to pack it up and send it off. Oh well....such is the life of a plane maker.

In this case the wood chosen was some of my old Picasso Rosewood. If you attempt to research Picasso Rosewood you probably won't find anything past a mention of this wood on my blog or on various woodworking forums. It's actually a nickname for this particular batch of rosewood log segments I acquired quite some time ago. Some of the log segments yielded much better pieces than others and the log segment I'm working thru at this time is particularly interesting.

The brass pins on this plane were installed using a slight variation of the earlier technique. After drilling for the pins I reamed the hole to .124. This creates a .001 interference fit as compared to the .002 fit I used on an earlier version of this process. I also put the .125 brass pins in the freezer for about half an hour prior to installation. I transported the pins to the shop wrapped in a plastic bag that contained ice to keep them cold right up until time for installation. They pressed in much easier and went deep enough so that the tip reached the bottom of the hole and the top of the pin began to deform when seated completely. Counting the brass pins and threaded steel pins there is a grand total of 28 assembly pins in this small plane.

Over the years I've discovered that bringing the finish on brass up to a near mirror type finish is just not suitable for a tool. It shows finger prints so easily that you could drive yourself mad trying to keep it pristine looking. A satin finish that is oiled is much easier to live with and requires much less maintenance.

Of course the hardest part of this build was actually packing the plane up for shipping. I certainly would have enjoyed having this one around for a while. This plane is pitched at 50 degrees and uses an iron that is 1 7/8" wide. The mouth is set at 4 thousandths. This plane holds the wood fibers quite tight as it's shearing.  The piece of boxwood I used to set up this plane was left with a polished surface that was highly reflective and was cool to the touch.

 I actually prefer small smoothers to larger planes. The mass to iron width ratio is very well balanced and that makes this tool quite easy to use. The smaller footprint means you typically get to the bottom of the deepest imperfection sooner.  The smaller size also means it's easier to use on the edges of boards.

This was the year I planned to return to the Woodworking in America Conference, however it doesn't seem as though it's to be. A commitment to our customers that have orders placed with us will once again take priority and so we will stay in the shop and make planes in lieu of creating a great deal of upheaval in our schedule in order to have what we would want to display at an event of such magnitude. Maybe next year.

Ron

HandWorks is Coming Again in 2015

I have to say the first HandWorks Event was one of the best Hand Tool Woodworking events in which I've had the pleasure to participate. The Venue was great, the cast of vendors was top notch and some of the work being performed by Mike Siemsen and his group made the event loads of fun. The location at the Amana Colonies creates interest for the other members of your family that may not want to spend two days immersed in all things related to hand tool woodworking.

Last year the main event, was a pictorial review of the Studley Tool Chest. This year you'll get the opportunity to view this tool chest and the Studley Bench in person. Don Williams has made arrangements to have these items on display. Follow the link here for more information about that: http://www.studleytoolchest.com/

This heads up should give you plenty of time to make your travel arrangements." Be There or Be Square".....of course being square can be a good thing.

Winter Panel Plane with Desert Iron Wood

Ron