Quality steel

[KTM47]

chase a well established earthmover, he will have some worn out grader blades or points lying around, they are bloody hard.

Funny you should say that, there is some at Tivoli Raceway that have been used as fence posts for years.

[FAT-TOY]

Well I have finally finished a few planes and also made myself a jointer from an old electric plane.

 This is a Chisel Plane made from cypress and jarrah and the blade was made from a saw blade which had to be heat treated and then tempered


A Rebate Plane made from Ironbark and Cypress Pine and I used an old wood chisel for the blade.



This is a  wooden Block Plane which was made from different coloured cypress laminated to give it a cool look.  The blade was cut from a tool steel blade, and some other bits machined from brass.




This one is a Router Plane, not sure of the type of timber but it is very heavy.  The L shaped blade in this plane is made from a 10mm allen key with the bottom sharpened.



This is the Jointer used for flattening and squaring timber, useful machine, works great.



After making the blades for these tools they were all sharpened using diamond stones from 150 grit to 3000 grit and are all like razors.
   Zane

[Hoony]

great work, must be very satisfying to see the end result.

love a good project. well done.

[Momus]

Good work Zane. I reckon that piece of timber you used for the router might be lignum vitae.

[GMC]

Agree, very nice work Zane, I'm even more impressed as I don't do wood

Hope these tools don't turn up as an ALDI special buy next week

[FAT-TOY]

Marcus I have no idea what type of timber it is, but it is much more dense, and heavier than any other piece of timber I have.
Geoff I don't care if they do get them at Aldi, it's satisfying to make a tool and have it work the way it should.  The laminated plane works really good.  You realise that they didn't stop making the wooden planes because the performance was not as good as the metal planes, it was just that the metal was much quicker and easier to produce.
   Zane

[GMC]

"it's satisfying to make a tool and have it work the way it should."
I'm hearing you, I have made a few bits and pieces over the years although some a bit more crude than your work.
A pair of dividers I made from stainless that don't flex like the 'bought' ones, made in my apprenticeship and still used to this day.



"You realise that they didn't stop making the wooden planes because the performance was not as good as the metal planes, it was just that the metal was much quicker and easier to produce."

Same as my belief behind aluminium frames

[Momus]

Marcus I have no idea what type of timber it is, but it is much more dense, and heavier than any other piece of timber I have.
Geoff I don't care if they do get them at Aldi, it's satisfying to make a tool and have it work the way it should.  The laminated plane works really good.  You realise that they didn't stop making the wooden planes because the performance was not as good as the metal planes, it was just that the metal was much quicker and easier to produce.
   Zane

My dad taught woodwork and was fascinated by the stuff. He said, proudly, that Australian iron wood was the most dense and hardest wood out there but as far as commercial timber, lignum vitae from South America was it. He had a piece and it looks like your block. Pommy bobbies truncheons were lignum vitae and I believe they made ship pulley sheaves from it for it's strength and resistance to rot.