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 This is the place where I am going to describe and document the tools I've made.

"Chisel Plow Plane"

I needed a way to plow a groove so I could make a box.  It will also be useful for making rabets for picture frames.  Since I've got more time than money I decided to make a plow plane rather than finding and buying one.  I've seen St. Roy make something similar on his show before.  Of course I don't remember HOW he made it so I made it up as I went.

My basic construction plan went as follows:
  1. Select a scrap piece of red oak roughly the right width for the hight of the plane and plenty long.
  2. Layout the angle for the chisel to lay in the plane.
  3. Use my new Stanley miter saw to cut a kerf a little wider than the width of the chisel along the line.
  4. Measure the width of the chisel at the mouth and layout a second line at a slight angle from just past the point of the chisel (making a place for the wedge)
  5. Chisel out the waste between the kerfs.
  6. Make a wedge from more scrap red oak.  This involved sawing, planing, and sanding to an acceptable fit (my tolerances are still pretty loose so acceptable may be a bit sloppy)
  7. Use a brace and a #10 auger to auger out a waste removal hole to clear the shavings out of.
  8. Trim back the inside of the mouth to allow the shavings to clear into the hole easier.
  9. Select another scrap piece of red oak to glue to the side of the opening.
  10. Cut the glued up plane to length.  And plane things even.
  11. Auger a hole through the newly glued up piece starting in the existing hole.
  12. Saw down the sole to leave just the "skate".
  13. Make shavings and fettle a little.
I'm no Steve Knight, but it seems to work.  I need to clear the shavings ever few strokes, but it does get the job done.

Here is a video of the tool in use.  Be warned that I cut myself while shooting this film.  You can't really tell in the video, but I poke fun at it anyhow.

"A Galoot Made 'Chisel Plow Plane' and The Pine Box" - This is a 9MB download (Windows Media Format), so those of you on dialup, be prepared to wait.

Frame Saw


I wanted a way to create lumber in dimensions other than the standard 4/4 that I get from the store (typically Rockler around here).  Seems awfully wasteful to go planing 4/4 down to 1/4.  I know that one can resaw with a neader buddy (aka b@nds@w) and I have done that in the past.  It seemed to me though that there ought to be a galoot method for resawing.  In my search I discovered that it required another tool.  Good.

I found a few resources on line as follows:
From there I kiped (stole Jeff) some long forgotten maple from Dad's workshop grabbed the 3 tpi 1/2" bandsaw blade I got for the saw at work (after hours tool use) and got to work.  The original plan was to construct the frame using sliding dovetails, but I found my skills lacking.  What I ended up with was what I believe is a bridle joint.  Here is a poorly photographed image of one of the four corners.


And a picture of the assembled frame.  I've used no glue so it can be taken apart for storage or transportation if I find something to carry the hardware (not pictured) in.


From there I got started on the hardware for fastening the length of bandsaw blade to the frame.  It is simply a 1/4-20 bolt hacksawed down the middle, filed on the edge so I could start the retaining hole, and a hole drilled through for the retaining pin (not pictured).


And we skip from there to the fully assembled saw.  The bandsaw blade turned out to be tough to work with.  I wore all the teeth off of a hacksaw blade cutting through the loop to make a long and dangerous length of blade.  Drilling a hole in it seemed next to impossible.  It seemed like I wore through it with heat and fatigue than drilling.  When I went to cut the blade to length I took the edge of a file to the spot where I wanted to cut and after just a few strokes I was able to snap the blade.  Much easier than cutting.  You will also notice in this shot that I have sawn notches into the frame to keep the blade relatively square.


From there I have an assembled and working.  In this first use shot you can see the mark I've made around the edge of the scrap oak board with a marking gauge and darkened with pencil.  I've clamped it in my workmate in preparation for starting the cut.


I start the cut on the diagonal with my all purpose $12 new Stanely miter saw (yes, I need to get a proper old tool backsaw).


From there I continue sawing on the diagonal with the frame saw.


I had trouble providing enough clamping force with the workmate and added a clamp across the table to help keep the work piece from being rotated while sawing.


Once I had the diagonal done, I flipped the board around and started working from the other corner.  Had I wanted to resaw the board completely I would have done so from each of the four corners and worked until I met in the middle.  Since I was just interested in trying it out I only went five or six inchest.  Here is the resawn piece cut out.  The surface finish is pretty rough, but should clean up nicely.


Since all I've planed before has been 4/4 material that sat nicely above the stops on my workmate I needed to figure out a new way to plane such a thin piece.  My quick and dirty solution was to pin it on my workbench with some finish nails driven low enough to not interfere with the plane.  That is what the following picture should show if it wasn't in terrible focus.


And finally we have a resawn piece, both front and back after planing.  Not too bad I think.  Now what should I use my new tool to make???

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