Woodworking in a Tiny Shop

A couple weeks ago I went to a tool show put on by my tool collectors organization, PAST.  In addition to the conversations with like-minded people, there are always great things to see and play with.  But I usually don't come home with anything because I just don't have the space to be a tool collector.  My tools are user tools, although I will admit that I have more than I need.

Anyway, I bought a couple things at the show.  The first, for a whopping $8, was a nice moving filletster plane from Sandusky Tool. Co.  And second, a great book (for $3) titled "How to Build Shaker Furniture" written by Thomas Moser and with measured drawings by Chris Becksvoort.

Sandusky #68 moving filletster plane

The front end

I did a quick search online and found a 1925 Sandusky catalog showing a #68 plane as a moving filletster.  And that's why I'm spelling it like that, when mostly I see and hear it said as "fillister".  BTW, I doubt this plane dates from 1925, but it's probably something close to that.  The only difference I can see between my plane and the one pictured in the 1925 catalog is that my wedge has the back of the finial relieved so the back end of the iron can be tapped with a hammer if it gets as short as the wedge.

This plane has a nice depth stop, but is missing the nicker.  I'll try to make one someday soon.  The recess for the nicker iron is dovetailed two ways.  Vertically, the slot gets narrower as you get closer to the sole.  And the recess gets wider as it gets deeper into the plane body.  So it should just be a matter of filing a piece of steel for a good fit.

The depth stop

It's fixed in its recess with a fat wood screw

Here, I'm pointing to where the nicker iron should be

The fence of the plane is made of an unknown hardwood - nothing special, I think - and it has two rectangular brass washers (not sure if that's the proper term) that the big fat wood screws bear against.

The fence

Removed and showing the big screws

Here's one of the brass "washers"

The side of the fence that meets the plane's sole has marks from many years of contact with the plane's iron.  I'd love to know if it was normal for a manufacturer to make a cutout here or if it just gets like this from normal use.

Showing the "recess" where the plane's iron contacts the fence

Finally, the iron and wedge are in pretty good shape.  I was able to cut a 1/2" wide rabbet without even touching up the iron.  I'm sure it'll be even nicer once the iron is tuned up.  Funny thing with this iron is that it's edge is not even close to straight - it's got a camber on it.  I didn't measure it, but it's probably about 1 1/2" wide.  The iron is skewed in the plane, so its edge is at an angle to the sides.  But the cutting edge is not straight.

The wedge and iron

Look at the camber on that iron!

Maybe the iron is just relieved where it is almost never used (near the 3 inch mark on the ruler in above picture).  It's hard to imaging needing a rabbet more than 1" wide!  If anybody knows something more about that I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

The second item I picked up was this 1977 book from Thomas Moser.  This looks like a tremendous book and I can't wait to dig into it much deeper and maybe even make a few of the projects.

Hardback cover, too

An example of one of the dozens of projects in the book

Well, that's all for now.  My woodworking has been slowed lately with some knee problems, so I've not been posting regularly.  I'm going to have the knee replaced in a few weeks and that'll for sure have me out of commission for a while.

For several years now, if I needed to route a dado or groove that was less then 1/4" wide, I used a makeshift router plane.  This was nothing more than a block of wood with a 45-ish degree angle on the front end, a 1/8" groove cut into that angled front, and a 1/8" chisel clamped into the groove.

My original small "router plane"

The clamp block holding the chisel in place is a piece of wood screwed to the main block

While this worked well during the infrequent times that I needed it, I always thought it would be nice to have a dedicated tool.  So recently I did something about it.

For the blade, I used an old 5/32" Allen wrench.  The 5/32" dimension is flat to flat, and the dimension from apex to opposite apex is close to 3/16".  The short leg of an Allen wrench has one flat face facing up when standing like an "L", so the 3/16" dimension is horizontal, and that becomes the width of the cutting edge after some filing, grinding and sharpening.

The Allen wrench in cross section

I heated the 90 degree bend to red hot and bent it to more like a 100 degree angle.  This gives a "clearance angle"; it allows the blade to cut a dado without the heel of the blade rubbing on the bottom of the dado.

This shows the approx. 100 deg angle on the Allen wrench

One major concern was about how to hold the blade.  I got a 1/4-20 bolt and tried to drill a hole through it.  Nothing doing!  That bolt must have been some sort of specialty bolt, as it was as hard as kryptonite.  I annealed it and it was still way too hard to drill.  So I got another bolt and that one was far easier to drill, though I found out the 1/4" bolt was too small for a 3/16" hole and I had to go with a 5/16-18 bolt instead.

Punching a center point into the insanely hard bolt

Successful 3/16" hole in a 5/16-18 bolt

Here's how it'll work: Allen key through the hole in the bolt,  nut at rear of the wood block tightens the Allen key to the wood body

I grabbed a chunk of scrap from the bin that just happened to have a 1 1/8" hole bored through it.  About 2/3rds the way up from the bottom of the block, I drilled a 5/16" hole through the back and into the larger hole of the block.  The 5/16" bolt was inserted and a washer and nut placed on the back end.

Also made a groove where the cutter will rest as a sort of "bed"

Made two thumb holes in the back end for a better grip

Then made a large bevel on the top surface (as seen from the right end)

The plane's body is 4" wide, 1 1/8" tall and just over 2 1/8" front-to-back.

Shaping and sharpening the iron was not too tough, but it was tedious.  I filed or ground a flat on the bottom, then filed a bevel on the top.  The diamond plates were used to refine the surfaces and get a nice edge.

Dragging the bottom flat backward on the diamond plate

And sharpening the bevel.  This took a lot of patience.

But I got a good smooth surface on the bevel ...

... and the bottom flat

I finally got a wingnut to tighten the iron in the body - a nice upgrade from a hex nut and wrench to tighten.  A nice project - I'm looking forward to using it when the need arises.

In use cutting a ~3/16" dado

Glamour shot

Back view showing wingnut

And lastly, I made two more smaller irons - one about 7/64" wide and one about 5/64" wide.  It was a challenge sharpening these tiny irons, but they all came out great and work well.

Three small Allen keys became router plane blades

All for now.  Hopefully I'll get back in the flow soon and post more often.  I've been in a woodworking slump for the last couple of months.