1) Not sure what a 110 block plane is but a Stanley #4 is a bit large to hold one handed
while you plane. You need the other hand to hold the strip down in the groove.
You can't plane the whole strip using a clamp on the strip.
2) ? ? If you mean trying to simulate a groove in the sole of the plane I don't think
that supergluing violin strings to the sole will work too well. Won't that tear up the wood ?
3) A depth gage, while not absolutely necessary, is a worthwhile tool. Your direct measurement
is the DEPTH not the Width of the strip. Rod measurements are given in the full thickness across
the flats of a rod section. You set you planing forms to half this thickness using the Depth Gage.
4) While I don't know just how much support for the strip is "needed" I would say "as much as possible."
The two extremes are Full support across the width of the strip, and No support.
The closer you get to No support the more likely it is that down pressure on the strip while planing
will upset or press the strip down into the opening between bars giving the wrong angle to your strip.
It's easy enough to get the wrong angle with good support if you aren't paying attention to your planing.
Also you don't really want full support with fully closed bars. Having a small amount of seperation between
the bars gives planing residue and grit somewhere to go without interfering with accurate planing of your
strip. In short a non-tapered set of forms will not work well to plane a rod. If you don't believe it
make a set of non-tapered forms and let us know how it works for ya.
Larry Swearingen
Fort Wayne, IN
QUOTE (colliedog @ Feb 7 2010, 08:06 AM)
As contract work in my profession has dried up and my rod refurb programme is coming towards an end my thoughts are turning to bamboo and to make a few from scratch while I have the time and inclination. But first I have a few questions having read a lot of the key articles and books including Cattenatch, Boyd etc.
1 Will my Stanley Bailey 4 and Stanley 110 block plane serve to begin with?
2 Assuming I make a maple or plastic former will musical instrument strings fixed by tension or superglue to the shoes work to help conserve the formers? They give accurate width.
3 Why is a depth gauge necessary when the planing process is driven by an equilateral triangle and width and the need to conserve the powerfibre face which will never become completely flat edge to edge- unless you know otherwise? And it is the powerfibre face that controls planning — There are simple maths function from Pythagoras, bless him, that give formulae to derive width from height for triangles so tapers could be defined by flat width.
4 Finally, how much side support is needed for the larger sections? 30% 50% 70%?
I can understand the approach to a full taper depthwise for the tip sections but don’t understand why there is a need for a fully tapered former for larger sections given there is no turning moment. Surely a plain former with adjustment will do-or is it mechanically difficult to achieve width? Basically I am lazy and poor!!
Collie