Miniature Wood Planes

[flyingtractors1]

Another piece from the miniature tool box. Ralph

 

[Swifty]

Just for us on the other side of the world, what's the diameter of the penny. They look just like full size planes, I think that making the wooden handles would give me nightmares.

Paul.

 

[flyingtractors1]

Thanks Swifty. I appreciate your observations. The penny diameter is .75 inches - 19mm. The jack plane is 3 inches long (76 mm) and the smoothing plane is 2 inches (51 mm). Yes, the wooden handles and knobs are challenging to build at this scale, probably more so than the metal parts. And I am conscious of grain patterning in the hard as metal exotic woods I carve, but we do whatever it takes for a desirable end. Ralph

 

[Charles Lamont]

Nice work. I saw a site somewhere where a guy was making full size metal wood planes dovetailing the base to the sides, amazing craftsmanship if you can find it.

You might be thinking of this, superb work: http://www.holteyplanes.com/

 

[flyingtractors1]

I found it - Thanks. That is some incredible stuff. I don't think that I'll ever grow that big but maybe some day? Ralph

 

[flyingtractors1]

Hi All, found some more pics of tools from my collection. Ralph





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[flyingtractors1]

oops. Try again.

 

[DPowell]

Great work! I'd love to see a build thread on one of the mini planes.

 

[flyingtractors1]

Thanks DPowell. I have employed two different processes to build my planes - the metal parts. The wood parts are carved the same way for both. Process 1 is the lost wax casting method in which a form of the plane is built of wax with investment (a plaster of Paris mix) surrounding wax model in a container. The wax is then melted out leaving a cavity in the shape of the wax model in the plaster mold which is then cured in high heat, and molten metal is poared into the cavity yielding a solid metal version of the original wax model which is then finely finished and polished and the handle and knob are bolted on. In the other process the various pieces are cut from sheet stock then silver soldered together in their respective place. then the piece is filed, sanded and polished, and the wood parts are attached. Each process has its advantages and difficulties. A Rubber mold can be made of either, and by injecting wax into the cavity, wax patterns can result allowing process 1 to be repeated for any number of copies. Sorry this got so wordy. I'll try to do a pictoral build documentation. Ralph












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