Ron Brese, Brese Plane -
Toolmaker of the Month, 6/2007
 At
the risk of beginning another month of “when I was younger….”, this
month’s featured artisan reminds me a bit of a very distant memory I
have of my grandfather. The man, like many of his generation,
could just plain “do stuff”.
It seemed like he could make anything from scratch and fix things
that looked beyond hope. I was awed by this as a child and
have only come to really appreciate it in the past few years.
Oh the opportunity to learn that I never took advantage of. So
this month, I bring you one of these guys who can just plain “do
stuff”. Whether making exquisite looking infill planes,
building furniture, or throwing together an entire small building,
it’s good to see folks like Ron Brese out there and keeping the
flame alive. Here’s his story.
Hand tools always held a great fascination for Ron as they do
for other woodworkers. 14 years ago he decided to leave an
engineering job and pursue woodworking as a full time
occupation. As work progressed toward
 the
creation of finer pieces he found hand tools coming into play as
a way of refining wood surfaces to a level he was never able to
achieve with abrasives. A hand plane enthusiast was born
(can you say “slippery slope”??), and Ron began amassing a
collection of planes, new and old.
Using planes in everyday work process brought out the engineer
and allowed Ron to conduct a study of these simple machines and
gave him an in depth look at what makes them work - and what
makes some work better than others. This process
eventually led him to infill planes. Every woodworker will
at some time run into some woods that simply cannot be
adequately planed with standard bench planes.
These highly figured and otherwise hard to plane woods require a
different tool as hand planes go. With great mass, tighter
mouth openings, and steeper pitched irons, properly crafted and
fettled infill planes can handle the
 surfacing
of these materials with ease. When you combine great
visual features with high performance you have tools of great
appeal. Infill planes intrigued Ron in such a way that he
not only needed to possess and use them, but to design and
create them.
Prior to launching his woodworking career, Ron’s engineering
work was in the business of metalworking. This background
allowed him to take a different path when it came to building
planes and has allowed Ron to configure the assemblage of these
tools so they would be affordable for a larger segment of the
woodworking population.
The materials and workmanship in these tools if of the highest
level and the result is a tool of wonderful function and appeal.
Thoughts on Plane Making
Planes are simple machines that have been over complicated over
the years with gadgetry. The engineer inside knows that
the fewer parts involved the better infill planes perform.
In order for an infill plane to perform to its full potential
several factors have to be considered and balanced carefully in
its design. Infills
 are
known to be the tool for handling difficult to plane woods
therefore these planes typically have irons bedded at steeper
angles to accomplish this task. Steeper angles result in
more heat generated at the cutting edge of the iron and more
resistance in pushing the iron through the wood. Therefore
more thickness is needed in the iron so as to absorb and
dissipate this heat and more mass is required in the plane to
help with the leverage of pushing the iron at this angle.
In a steeply pitched plane mass is leverage, lighter planes can
be steeply pitched but more effort is required on behalf of the
user. Planes with sufficient mass for the size iron being
used are a real pleasure to use and have a solid feel that has
to be experienced to be fully appreciated. Mass equals
leverage and this makes for less effort on the part of the user.
There are several ways to assemble the body of a plane.
Peened dovetails, integrated rivets , welding, and or course
castings that require no assembly but do require added milling.
Peened dovetails produce a nice detail in the sides of a plane
body, however they have nothing to do with the way a plane
functions and are very labor intensive in their use. Ron
has chosen the rivet method for his planes. This method
puts the attaching forces at right angles to the plane body and
creates an incredibly sound plane body assembly and allows him
to produce a plane that not only functions remarkably well but
is available at a reasonable cost.
The goal is to provide very fine planes that a larger segment of
the woodworking population can purchase and enjoy, and provide
critical parts for those interested in making their own planes
whether they be infills or wooden body planes.
The planes are constructed using only the best precision ground
bronze bar, brass bar, tool steel and stainless steel lever cap
screws. The standard infill materials are Walnut and
Mahogany finished with a garnet shellac polish. Other
infill woods are available upon request. Some limited edition
planes will be offered with Rosewood infill. Irons are
made from 0-1 tool steel and hardened to R60-62. Ron
polishes the metal parts of these planes to a refinement of 400
grit, anything finer shows finger prints so readily it is not a
practical pursuit. Each plane is assembled by hand and
fettled to user condition. In proper practice infill planes are
used to take very light, some say fluffy shavings, this being
the case, once set they are rarely adjusted. Most of the planes
are offered without adjusters. They can easily be adjusted
with a light weight tinking hammer, and one can become quite
proficient at this in a short period of time. Some larger
smoothing planes will be offered with an adjuster.
Project Plane Irons and Replacement Irons
The iron is the heart of any plane, whether it's one of mine or
a tool made in your shop, therefore I use only certified tool
steel stock. Cheaper uncertified tool steel does not
guarantee carbon content and may yield uncertain hardening
results. These high carbon irons will take a keener edge
and produce smoother surfaces than any other tool steel.
They come sharpened, engraved for identification, and feature a
safety nut that keeps them from falling through the mouth on
planes that don't utilize a cap iron. All
 irons
are 1/4" thick. These irons are serious tool steel.
The greater thickness works to eliminate chatter and the large
bevel at the cutting edge makes these irons easier to hone free
hand. You will find these irons nicely refined and you will get
them honed, polished and making shavings quickly.
And as if making fine tools isn’t enough, rather impressive when
you can show off the results of using them! Large items or
small, Ron is one of the true craftsman among us that inspires
us to get out there and “do stuff”! He and wife (of 34
years) Julie have just finished construction of a new house that
they designed and built with the help of family and friends (but
mostly just them!).
 The
house is an authentic cape with plank board walls and wide plank
white pine flooring installed with square cut nails and finished
with good old fashioned varnish. The bathroom vanities are
designed to have the look of Shaker wash stands and are made
from cherry. The interior doors are batten board plank
doors with thumb latch hardware.
Contact Ron at:
Web: http://www.breseplane.com
By Email at:
ronbrese@breseplane.com
Phone: 706-647-8082
Or by regular old fashioned mail:
Brese Plane
18 Eastside Drive
Thomaston, Ga. 30286
Jim Esten
Cedarburg, Wisconsin
June 2007 |
