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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.

Click here for info on plane kits...

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.

New Site to be Launched Today

Today I am planning to launch a new web site. The truth is I overhauled the old site but so much has been added, and so much has changed that it feels like a new site to me. The most obvious change is the layout is a bit different. This was done because there has been so much new content added recently that additional navigation became necessary and the main content area needed to be a bit wider to accommodate all the new material.

Customer Account Access

One of the main new features is that customers will now have access to their account information. This will make updating your contact information easier and give you all access to order information and history. Customers can now look at their invoices, shipping and tracking information inside their customer accounts. This was necessary in order to add digital download capability for all the plans.

Digital Download for All Plans

Now customers can save some money and download PDFs for all the drawings offered on the site. The downloadable drawings will be offered at a reduced price for savings and will require no shipping, a double savings. The plans and acetates for the guitars will require printing at a local reprographics company since the sheets necessary to print then out at full size are large (48in.x24in. for the plans, 24in.x18in. for the acetates). If printed in black and white (gray scale) the costs of this printing are minimal. The jig and fixture plans are on 11×17 paper so they are well within the realm of a home inkjet printer. The DVD plans and all the jig and fixture plans are in color but may be printed in gray scale to reduce printing costs.

New Sharpening Book

While in California I got to visit my old friend Ron Hock. Ron is supplying all the blades for the compass plane kits that will be forthcoming along with the video and eBook. Ron has written a book for Popular Woodworking on sharpening called “The Perfect Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Sharpening for Woodworkers”. It is the best book on the subject I have seen to date. There is something on sharpening for all types of tools along with great information on abrasives, steel, and the fundamentals of sharpening. The book is jammed with photos and Ron did all the photos himself. It is not only a great source of information but beautiful to look at as well. If you are at all unsure of how to get your tools razor sharp, check out this book.

Much of what has been going on here for the last 6 months centers around the DVD. Iwould like to thank everyone for a very successful DVD release. The response and the reviews have been great, and the DVD is doing very well. I you have not already, read the review from Guitar Maker Magazine. Click here to read the review. Thanks to Bear for his very kind words.

During a recent trip to Home Depot I noticed a laminate trimming router I had not seen before, the Rigid 2401. The first thing I noticed about it is that it is an open base router. Since Ryobi had discontinued the TR30 some time ago there had not been an open base laminate trimmer on the market as far as I knew. I decided to pick up the new Rigid trimmer and give it a try.

Pictured on the left the Rigid 24o1 laminate trimmer turns out to be just perfect for the rosette cutting attachment. First this is an open based router which will enable you to use the very short small diameter end mill bits (available down to 1/16″) to cut the channels for the rosette veneer one ring at a time. If that were not enough this router is also variable speed which will reduce tear out and keep your bits sharper longer.  It also has a very nice height adjustment mechanism. I will still adjust the height of the bit as shown in the DVD to extend the useful life of this mechanism. To top it off the router comes with a a trim bit and second base which can be used as a template to cut the screw holes in the rosette cutting attachment – all for about $94. Anyone looking for a router to use with the rosette cutting attachment look no more, this is it. Mine will be replacing the TR30 I used to use for this purpose.

Also, a small improvement has been made to the router attachment and will be included in future batches. The hole for the pin in the smaller piece of acrylic had a bit too much tolerance and has been tightened for a better fit which translates to better performance. If you have purchased a rosette cutting router attachment already and experienced any wear causing side to side wiggle while cutting fear not you can remedy this yourself quite easily by drilling another hole for the pin. I recommend using a 1/4″ forstner bit with a backing board when drilling for a clean hole and to prevent blowing out the back side of the acrylic. Alignment of the hole is not critical, close to the center will do. If after drilling the pin will not fit, or is too tight, just sand or file the hole until the pin fits snugly but not so tight it is difficult to get out. The idea is to eliminate any side to side wiggle of the pin while it is in position in the hole. I have done this to my own attachment and it has improved its performance.

This past weekend marked the end of the summer classes. All went well and I think everyone took some new information with them. It just goes to show, no matter how long you have been doing something, and how much you think you know, a fresh set of eyes and experience can always teach you something new. This rosette class an alert student said at one point why don’t you use that small file to clean out the channel as I was trying to get cedar residue off the face of the blue veneer installed in the previous ring with a skew chisel. I stopped for a second and realized I had never thought of using that tool to do that. It sounds simple but the file fit in there perfectly and did a great job, and I had never thought of it. I now have another technique in my arsenal thanks to Maurice. As a carver before building guitars I guess I still look down at using a file, even for obvious things.

The dvd series was recently released and I am already hearing from viewers. The response has been great. Check out the reviews here. I was very proud of the quality of work done by everyone involved in this production and the reponse has provided validation for all of us. I would like to thank everyone that has purchased a copy. The project took almost two years to complete and I can tell you I am still recovering from it and will be for a while to come.

In the dvd the solera construction begins with an MDF substrate already covered with 3mm of hardwood veneer on both faces. This was done because of time constraints. The techniques required to get this far are not all that difficult therefore I felt they could be omitted. What I did not think of at the time was that not many people have the kind of resaw capability necessary to cut the veneers, or a veneer press to properly glue them on after jointing them.

The veneer is necessary for a number of reasons and in the end will make the solera easier to make and more stable.  Once again it requires cutting some mdf both for the substrate and the rims which creates dust that is very fine and not very healthy. The other alternative is expensive plywood. I say expensive because in order to assure that it be flat you’ll need to use baltic ply which is pricey. Customers asked for a ready to go solera. This would be prohibitively expensive for me to produce since the only way to do it is by hand. Between all the gluing and carving I would have to charge a pretty good sum just not to loose money. The alternative was to meet everyone half way.

I have put together a solera kit. The kit comes with the MDF substrate cut on a CNC machine covered on both sides with 3mm hardwood veneer, a set of rims also cut on the CNC machine fit the solera perfectly come with the bolt holes drilled, all necessary hardware, and thicknessed basswood for lower and upper bout patches. The kit will provide everything you’ll need to follow right along with the dvd from the beginning. You get to glue and carve the patches on the upper and lower bouts, plus make the neck ramp, drill the holes and insert the tee-nuts.The kit is available in the online store (click here) and is very reasonably priced considering the amount of work that goes into it.

So here we go! Since this is my first blog I will encourage and appreciate any feedback you can provide that will help this be more useful for everyone.

Enjoy your work,

John