DIY Mini Plane

[iMustBeCrazy]

A few weeks ago I made myself a mini plane, it's 80mm long which fits nicely in my hand, has brass sides and I made it with a 'T' shaped blade (or iron) which, at the cutting edge, is the full width of the plane. But this meant that I couldn't use it as a shooting plane.

 

So I decided to make another smaller which could.

 

Parts list: Hardwood (something hard wearing that makes a nice 'clack' when you hit it), brass strap, three nails (two roughly 2mm diameter and one roughly 3mm diameter), epoxy glue and hardened steel for the blade (I used a reciprocating saw blade).

 

Tools: Wood saw, Hacksaw, Drill, Drill bits the size of the nails, Hammer, Sandpaper (various grades), an Angle Grinder with 1mm thick disk and something to act as an Anvil. But I admit I also used a band saw and a disk sander.

 

 

First, dress your wood to the required size but make it about twice as long as your finished plane. I my case 10x19x120mm.

Cut out the template from the plan and glue it about the middle of the wood. Drill the two smaller holes. You will need either two drill bits for alignment when glueing or you could use the nails.

Cut the 62 and 45 degree angles, trying to keep the 45 as square to the sides as you can.

 

Cut the brass to size, glue the template and in one piece drill the small holes with the same drill bits used for the wood. Test fit as below.

Mark the end of the brass on the long piece of wood (the one with the 45° angle), cut it to length. Do not cut the short piece until after glueing.

 

Epoxy the drilled side to the two pieces of wood using the drill bits to align them and a flat surface to align the base, epoxy the other side using the back edge to align.

 

While drying, cut the blade to size and sharpen it. I used 25°

 

After the glue has cured, drill the holes through both sides, countersink the holes slightly, cut the nails to the overall width plus 2mm and make a wooden spacer 1mm thick with a hole in the middle slightly larger than the large nail (say 4mm).

 

Now you need your Anvil, something solid with a hard surface, could be the back of a vise (not the jaws) or a small steel plate on a rock. Place the wooden spacer on the anvil, place the plane on the spacer with one nail through the hole, peen the nail so that it fills the counter sink, turn the plane over without the spacer and peen the other end of the nail. When peening the large nail, use the offcut saved earlier to keep the brass sides from bending.

 

Sand both sides of the plane until the nails are flush with the brass. Generally sand the plane to soften edges and corners, make it nice.

 

Cut the wedge to size. On a cutting board, fit the blade, fit the wedge and tap it in firmly. To adjust the depth of cut tap (quite hard) the front of the plane for a deeper cut or the back of the plane for a shallower cut.

 

 

Fin.

 

 

 

Mini Plane.pdf

Edited December 10, 2023 by iMustBeCrazy

[Pirate adam]

That's a cool little project.  Thank you for sharing!

[iMustBeCrazy]

A couple of additions, an (almost) all wood version and a honing guide.

 

 

I think that's enough planes for now.