Caleb James is a premier tool maker, one of the best in the world, and he also has a neat free plan area for the exact same tools he makes. Enjoy.

 

Free Plans — Caleb James Maker

CALEBJAMESMAKER.COM

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I offer these technical drawings for you to freely use. I ask that you please reserve these for your personal use. Enjoy!

 

Cool 

Great resource but I've always wondered how long wooden planes hold their original shape especially molding planes. I mean obviously they work and have been used for many years but the wood against wood movement must have some affect doesn't it?

On 7/13/2019 at 6:06 AM, sreilly24590 said:

Great resource but I've always wondered how long wooden planes hold their original shape especially molding planes. I mean obviously they work and have been used for many years but the wood against wood movement must have some affect doesn't it?

So sorry for the late reply reilly.

So happens I have been reading up on the wood planes in one of my subscriptions, "M&T Magazine" and they address this very subject, so I can relate a bit of the article to you from them. I have not used wood bodied planes but for a few times, I have some, but I never use them. Although after reading about the benefits of wood bodies planes I am willing to give them a try and get used to them.

 

I know you were not asking about these points I am about to submit below but I figured I'd throw them in. Here are a few points that Joshua Klein owner of M&T Magazine, and period furniture maker and restorer writes about wood bodied planes.

• Mass, meaning the weight of metal planes, is not ideal if your using hand planes to size and thickness lumber, wood body planes are much lighter, and when you are throwing around a plane all day during your sizing operations, wood bodied planes would be ideal for their lightness.
• Lack of sole friction as in wood on wood, there is very little friction with wood on wood operations, the wood planes glide easily across wood surfaces. Mr. Klein states in his article that rarely, if ever does he even lubricate the sole of a wood plane, in a blue moon he may scribble a little wax across the sole of his wood plane, but it's not even needed really, reading his article on the subject it appears he only does it to prove he doesn't notice the difference.
• Ease of adjustment he talks about the difference between metal and wood planes. Both have their learning curves but the curve to adjust a wood plane is quicker and once learned adjustment is easier. A metal plane has various parts to adjust an iron, the cap iron, the lever cap screw, the lateral lever, the screw knob for depth. While the wood bodied planes need a tap here, and tap there and a set of the iron, and your done. Mr. Klein admits that for those who use metal bodied planes these issues may not even be noticeable, but if you set the two styles side by side, in his opinion the wood bodied planes win for ease of use.

There is so much more to his article that makes a great argument for the benefits of wood bodied planes, that I don't want to disclose too much here for concern on my part of copyright infringement on his writings. But after reading his article, he has convinced me to give them a try and when I can and am able, I'd like to delve into that area of wooden tools.

 

Another feature that Joshua writes about is the ideal wood bodied plane manufacturing process when it comes to one of your concerns, you wrote in your post above, "I've always wondered how long wooden planes hold their original shape especially molding planes".

 

As Mr. Klein shows in Issue 04 M&T Magazine, a nice photograph of the "toe" or end of two different wooden planes and their grain orientation. One plane shows the end grain growth rings parallel to the sole heart-side up, and one plane has the end grain growth rings diagonal to the sole.

As Mr. Klein states, when the growth rings are diagonal to the sole of the plane, the likelihood that the body has or will warp out of square is high, thus fitting the wedge and adjusting the iron will be problematic. The wood bodied planes with the growth rings parallel to the sole with heart-side up will be more stable and will hold their shape over their life span (hundreds of years).

 

So I would say you are right Reilly, there is a concern whether or not wood bodied planes hold their shape, but if you choose, or build your wood bodied plane with the grain direction of the body in mind, you are likely to have a plane that holds its shape for a very long time, outlasting you and a few generations after.

 

On a side note, if anyone here has an interest in the historical aspects of woodworking, studying pre-industrial furnishings and how they were made and reading about those who work the wood using pre-industrial methods, and at times a combination of modern and pre-industrial methods, I would highly recommend Mortise and Tenon Magazine, which is not really a magazine, it's a very high quality book bound publication full of interesting content, with zero commercial advertising between the pages. I have enjoyed my subscription, so much so I purchased all the back issue but for one, Issue 01 (not available anymore) and I am still catching up on reading them.

 

See link below for purchase, or for your review of the publication. Is it cheap? Nope. But your not buying a magazine that is 30 percent content and 70 percent advertising, your purchasing a very high quality series with zero advertising and very high quality content. As a matter of fact as I write this, I just realized M&T Magazine is a great deal, considering all the content within, it's a great deal.

Cheers, and I hope I helped you a little reilly.

 

For information see here:

 

Mortise & Tenon Magazine

WWW.MORTISEANDTENONMAG.COM

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MORTISE & TENON magazine seeks to bridge the worlds of furniture maker,  conservator, and scholar. M&T is published...