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Become a MemberMarch 6, 2014
In the last two video posts, The Kerfing Plane part one and part two,
the fixed fence model was made from a nice, heavy 4/4 piece of quarter sawn cherry.
I recommend using quarter-sawn stock when you make your planes too.
It’ll make for a more stable tool.
Again, if you don’t have any quarter sawn stock?
Don’t loose any sleep over it- use whatever hardwood you have on hand.
Adjustable Fence Model Kerfing Plane
If you’ve read my book, The Unplugged Woodshop,
you’ll know that I made some hand planes out of a piece of 8/4 walnut I had here in my shop.
Here we are, almost three years later, and those planes are doing fine with little to no signs of wear on the sole.
Would they last longer, or perform better, if I made them from a dense tropical hardwood?
Yeah, probably.
But the walnut will still last a few decades, and considering they only took me a few hours to make,
and involved using a very small amount of material I had on hand, that’s OK by me.
[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]You’ve got to keep things in perspective when it comes to material choices in the wood shop. [/inlinetweet] ( Tweet that )
We get lost in the over-building and perfect material arguments that sometimes we simply loose sight of the making.
Here’s a quick story I often tell my students-
When I bought my house in Cape Breton back in 2000, there was an old drawer left behind one of the sheds.
It was butt joined and nailed and looks like it was probably made from a local soft wood, maybe spruce or fir.
Now this drawer actually sat outside, behind one of the outbuildings, through our East Coast winters and summers;
it’s probably close to 100 years old and you know what?
I took it inside, cleaned it up and gave it a quick coat of paint, and it’s absolutely fine.
Butt joints and softwood- left outside in the elements for years and years.
It just goes to show that you don’t always need hardwoods and dovetails.
Yes, the hardwoods and dovetails may last for literally a few hundred years,
but that shouldn’t dictate me building something quickly today, out of whatever species I have on hand in my shop.
So to put an end to this little rant-
use what you have. ( but quarter sawn hardwood is probably best -; )
I used a little off-cut of mahogany I had in my boat shop out East for my fence.
The threaded screws were made from a cherry dowel, and the nuts were from some flat sawn cherry.
It all looks a little ‘Fred Flintstone‘ but it worked!
If you have any questions or comments about the kerfing plane and the adjustable fence conversion,
if you still have some concerns, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Until next time,
here’s the third and final part of the Kerfing Plane.
Cheers~
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Tom, Excellent video! I love the music you put behind your videos – it is as captivating as watching you work. You do wonderful work.
Andy
Great!!
Thank you for taking the time. There is some pride into using tools that you made your self… when they turned out working properly!!
Cheers
Thanks for the comments guys~
always appreciated!
I notice a change in background scenery. Did you do this portion in Cape Breton?
My mind is going crazy thinking of different applications for this build. Thank you.
thanks Jeremy, and good eye.
Yes, this was in my summer shop a couple of years ago.
You’re right, there are many applications for this tool and I’m only scratching the surface with sawing a kerf.
all the best,
Tom
Fantastic idea! We immediately started work on ours and finished it tonight. As a test, we used it to cut a kerf on all four edges of a small piece of cedar, and then resawed it using the kerfs as guides. It came out great! Picture at our website.
Thanks Paul-
I’m happy to hear it worked for you and I love the simplistic design you came up with.
best of luck in your woodshop~
Thanks Tom, your videos are very inspiring.
I have a question about the spacing between the blade and the fence. By placing a 1/8 shim between the fence and the saw while making the kerf, that doesn’t make a lot of room for cleaning the face after resawing. Is it a concern for making 1/8 thick stock?
Thanks
Olivier,
Great point- and you’re right. If you really want your veneer to finish at 1/8-in. make the kerf a little wider for resawing.
I set mine to 1/8 so my veneers always finished a little lighter. Still a nice heavy, shop sawn veneer, but a little less than a full 1/8.
Thanks for the question and all the best
After reading your book one to many times to the point that it has fallen apart at the seam I can not find where it says how deep you set the blade in the movable fence or how much blade is left exposed? I want to try and leave as much as possible but don’t want to have to much as to having the blade distort from use of am j just being to ocd about it? I figured out that the blade is offset in the body same measurement as the fixed fence all I have left is to get to my final depth and drill holes. Taunton cust service took care of me and got me a pdf version so I won’t have that version fall apart. It feels good to finally get closer to seeing this come together after a year of thinking and planing I started with 8/4 stock because I wanted the front tote knob to be overhanging on the sides I have yet to see one like that and am having so much fun making this.
Hey Todd-
thanks for the comments and question-; ) Happy to hear you’re wearing out your copy!
The most recent planes I’ve worked on had a blade projection in the 1/2-in. range. The thing you really want to be sure about is the distance from the saw nut to the bottom edge of the plane body.
If you have a scrap piece of wood handy, cut a kerf into it and do some tests-
hope that helps!
best of luck with it- when you get it finished I’d love to see some pics!
talk soon,
Tom