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The plane making DVD was released today along with plane kits that include the wood, and blade and breaker assemblies to make both planes. I think you will find this video has the same great quality production as the guitar making dvd, as well as the same level of instruction. Making planes really is an easy project that can be completed in a weekend. And you don’t need too many tools or that much equipment to do it either. There are also pages on the site with information on prepping and sharpening the blades, as well as adjusting the planes. I think you will find making these a lot of fun and as always I am here to answer any questions you may have. Email is preferred.
Way back when I was at the College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking Program with Jim Krenov, the first thing they made us all do was make a bench plane. For most of us that was the beginning of making a host of planes to suit whatever project we were working on. While at the school and after I tackled quite a few projects, and most of them had curved surfaces. So I made a collection of curved bottom planes over the years to cooper doors, making fluting, dish surfaces, and so on.
Once you have made a bench plane and a curved bottom plane you can adapt what you know to make just about any kind of plane for just about any purpose.
When I started designing the solera as it stands now, I made a compass plane to dish out the lower bout of the solera. A compass plane is just a plane that is radiused across the width of its bottom as well as along its length. It really was a easy project since I had made many planes over the years for both furniture making, and guitar making.
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Complete kits for both planes are also available on the site. The kits include all the wood and the blade and breaker assembly. Blades and breakers for the planes have been provided by Ron Hock. These assemblies are the best quality out there, and the thickness of the blades makes them perfect for these types of planes. There is also a complete kit with the DVD, and both plane kits available at a discount.
In the guitar making DVD box set I am seen using a Lie-Nielsen block plane almost all the time. This is a great little plane but it is not cheap. I used that plane in the video because I had a camera crew that I was paying per day and I didn’t want them standing around while I was trying to get my plane properly adjusted. Since time is money it was a monetary decision really.
If you take the time to make some of these planes I think you will be surprised at the results you can achieve with them. They really do have a different feel because of the wood on wood, and because of that, they leave a nicer surface especially on soft woods such as spruce and cedar.
The bench plane is a general purpose plane. It can be lengthened to form a joiner plane, or widened to form a smoothing plane. The bench plane demonstrated in the video will do all these things but by simply changing the length or width you can make a plane optimal for a specific purpose. Joining a top and back is easily done with the bench plane in the video. The top and back are only about 20″ long so you don’t need a 16-18″ joiner plane to tackle the job. In the video I did it with a block plane. Believe me joinery like that is easier with the bench plane. A typical job for a 16-18″ joiner plane would be gluing a table top together. When joining something this long a joiner plane is just the ticket.
I think you will find the methods and techniques used in the video very comfortable to perform and capable of producing very good results.
