Retirement

HI Folks
Sadly, I think it is time for a close companion of mine to stand down. We spend a lot of time each day sharing the workload, and also glue, blood, oil and anything else thats gets on me. Yes, you've guessed it - its time for a new shop apron.........

This one has served me well for a couple of years but is embarressingly black and worn - every time I walk past the face vice of my bench it catches on a hole in the lower left side of the apron. Duct tape repairs gave it a few more months life but it really has to go now the front pocket has split. I spend as much time picking pencils up off the floor as I do putting them back in the pocket.

On the bench the beech moulding planes are coming along. I've cut the mortise and bed for all of these first five pairs (the customer has ordered a half set - nine pairs) so I'm making good progress.

This weekend I get to lay some solid oak flooring in our kitchen. I've been slowly renovating the kitchen - it was a genuine 1970's kitchen when we moved it and boy, did it suck. But its coming along nicely - pics soon!

Have a great weekend,

Philly

Blackwood Plough Plane

HI Folks
Finished another Blackwood plane yesterday - this one a plough. Can't beat that combination of brass, steel and blackwood!
This ones off to an American planemaker, which reminds me. Does that make this a "Plow Plane"? ;)

Cheers

Philly

Trip

HI Folks

Spent a couple days in Suffolk visiting the new Classic Hand Tools shop (and having a nose round the local area). Was impressed with CHT's new premises - it's out of town a few miles but lots of parking and easy to find. And they've got a LOT of lovely tools to see!

I was also lucky enough to meet Roy Arnold, publisher of many classic hand tool books. He has his office in Needham Market not too far away, and I was fortunate enough to spend some time going through his personal library. He has a huge amount of woodworking books and catalogues, many out of print, and I was able to find some very useful information I have been trying to uncover on certain planes. Roy also makes a good cup of coffee!
While browsing through his library we came across some sheets I immediately recognised - the inner dust cover from "British Planemakers" second edition. This shows a wide selection of moulding planes, and we hope to offer these rare pieces for sale in the near future. Stay tuned!

Cheers

Philly

The Philly Toted Smoother

HI Folks
After a few weeks work I'm pleased to unveil the completed plane. It was a lot of work but worth every minute - a sweet looking plane that works as good as it looks!
If anyone is interested in getting their hands on one drop me an email at phil@phillyplanes.co.uk

Cheers

Philly

Toted Smoother Update

HI Folks
Been busy working on the toted smoother. Bit of a special one, this. African Blackwood, Philly dovetailed brass sole, 6mm thick iron and a norris adjuster. Kind of a Philly A5.
The sole and stock were dovetailed and glued together and the throat chopped. The mouth was cut through and lots of truing up followed. Then it was tote time.
I love making totes - to see a handle appear from a plank of wood is an exciting thing. After mucho sanding and smoothing I routed out the recess for the adjuster mechanism. Then I mortised the stock to take the handle - a precision job.
With the handle fitted snuggly I could concentrate on shaping the body. With the outline marked in white pencil I carefully removed the majority of the waste before using a disc sander to take it to final size. Then plenty of scraping and sanding (by the way, brass scrapes quite well!). Chamfers were applied with files and scraper and a couple coats of shellac were applied to start off the finish.
I opened the mouth so the plane would cut (I always make the mouth too small for the blade to project, then open them to suit the planes purpose) and then turned my attention to the screw cap. The rough shape was arrived at on the mill then I spent some time refining that with files. After drilling and tapping I was ready to take some shavings - an exciting step!
I'm real pleased with the planes progress and the next step is the fitting of the norris adjuster, my first. I'll be back with some more pics soon.
Cheers
Philly

New Record Planes Resource

HI Folks
Most Woodworkers are aware of the Stanley planes resource Blood and Gore, but there has been nothing of similar note on Record planes. I was pleased to come across a link to this site, which looks very useful. Hope it is of use,
Cheers
Philly

Snow and Catgut

Hi Folks
As you might of heard, we actually had some snow here in the UK. Needless to say, the country came to a standstill at the alien sight of few inches of white stuff. Here's a shot from the workshop - would of been more welcome at the end of December ;) You will be pleased to hear that the torrential rain has now washed away the snow and returned us to the traditional British Winter/Summer - delete as applicable :)


Shop Cat news!!!! Cupcake made a visit to the vet a couple weeks ago to ensure we don't get a house full of "Shop Kittens". She was recovering quite nicely until she decided to pull out her stitches - once we had recovered from the sight of a kitten with her insides dribbling out of her side (nice!!) we whisked her back to the vet for an emergency stitch-up. Her punishment was to wear a collar for 10 ten days - and she didn't like that one bit. But thankfully she has healed up nicely and was allowed to wander around "hat-less" today. One very happy puss!

I'm making the tote for a rather special smoother at the moment. Dovetailed brass sole, Blackwood, tote and Norris adjuster - should be pretty special. More pics soon....


Cheers

Philly

More Blackwood????

Hi Folks
As you probably know, I've been using a lot of Blackwood recently. Its an amazing timber - very dense, incredibly tough and, most of all, black! Here's some pics of a piece that I broke down into smaller slices today.
It came from a plank of African Blackwood that had been cut through the centre of the tree, giving me a decent 3 inch thick plank of quartersawn material. But this plank had a hollow running up through the pith - and it was filled with a termites nest! The plank was filled with deep red soil, complete with tunnels. Nice....... :) I cut the plank into pieces to get the majority of the dirt out, but as you can see from the pics, not all of it.
I'm using a special bandsaw blade called a M42. It has two sizes of teeth - a section of coarse teeth followed by a section of fine teeth. It cuts impressively well, leaving a very fine surface. The blade was originally designed for cutting metal so its no surprise it works so well on tough hardwoods! Its available from DragonSaws in South Wales.


To finish, I've just completed another Skew Miter. This one (yes, you guessed!) is on Blackwood. The customer is another victim of my trip to the USA last year :)

Have a great weekend,

Philly

Dark Bench...

Hi Folks
This week sees lots more black shavings and dust covering the workshop. Yes, more Blackwood planes...... :)

First up is a Skew Miter. I made one of these in Blackwood to take to the WIA show last November. It made quite an impression and I've had quite a few orders since. You really have to feel the weight of this beast to believe it!

Next is a toted smoother. I'm just waiting for the brass to be delivered for the sole and I can move on to the stage, but the stock has had the mouth cut and throat excavated, so the hard part is done. This plane will be featuring my take on the Norris adjuster, too, so I'm pretty excited about this one. More pics soon.....

The snow here in England has been a pleasant surprise. We've only had a few inches but that has caused the Country to fall into complete chaos - hilarious! And last night we had two power cuts - don't you love replying to emails and finding yourself sat in the dark all the sudden? Its that moment that you wish you had put the torch in a more accessable place...... ;)

Better get back in that workshop while the sun shines.......

Philly

Blackwood Fillister - Complete

Hi Folks
Last week was a busy week - finished the Blackwood Fillister, amongst others.
It was a lot of work, and chopping a 1/8th thick mortise by hand for the nicker iron was rather "exciting" in this hard timber, but it looks pretty awesome! I do hope the new owner is pleased with it.

Also visited a Friend who is a website building guru - a new "Philly Planes" website is under construction and will be unveiled soon!

Cheers

Philly