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Fantasy Tool Box - coopering plane

D

derekcohen

New Shoots
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One more plane added to the tool box over the weekend, joining the trying plane and smoother ...







200mm (8") long x 50mm (2") wide x 50mm (2") high

From this angle, this plane looks like any other smoother. It just is not.

What is the purpose of this plane? The cabinet to be built has a curved door in solid wood which is shaped by coopering. That is, staves are first joined and angled to create a rough curve. The outside face of the curved door can be smoothed with most planes, and finished with scrapers or sanding. The inside face, however, needs a plane which matches its curve, both its sole and blade. Scrapers

The inside curve of the door follows a radius of 480mm (18.9") ...



I traced this curve on MDF and cut it out to act as a template to check the curvature of the sole. Then ground the 1 1/2" wide Hock blade and chipbreaker to match.



The mouth is reasonably tight, but large enough for shavings to pass over a closed chipbreaker. In planing the sole, the mouth opened up a little more than I wanted, and I added an Ebony patch.



A front view of the sole does not immediately show the curve, although it is apparent as the plane rocks side-to-side ...



In action, it removed a narrow strip of wood, much like a jack plane ... but the sides are relieved to allow for curved surfaces ...



Tucked up in bed ...



Regards from Perth

Derek
 
Derek, I think I may have written this a couple of years back but here goes again: you need to get all your projects down in a single book and get it published by someone like the LAP. I'd buy it, not that I'd ever have the bottle to try any of the projects.😁
 
I've done a few of these JK cabinets with curved doors and have always made them from a solid board:

IMG_5999.jpeg

If I find a decent board with an attractive grain, I wouldn't even dream of slicing it up to make a coopered door. The inside concave section is shaped with an appropriate JK convex soled plane, then scraped and sanded. This cabinet was made at least ten+ years ago and the door hasn't moved one iota - Rob

Edit - the door was a very unlikely bit of Oak that I spotted on the floor at a show years ago. It was really mucky and covered in all sorts of grunge on the floor and had been ignored by all the other punters. Once I'd picked it up and cast the Mk1 evil eye over it I could see it had 'possibilities':LOL:
 
Rob, that is very nice work.

I have made many curved drawer fronts by shaping solid boards into a curve. It requires that one start off with a thick board, say double the thickness for a drawer. This is dependent on the desired curve, the deeper the curve, the thicker the stock.

Even if you have a very shallow curve, a wide door will need to waste a lot of wood. The radius of the curve of the door in question is 18". What is yours?

Another way to go, if you have a face with desirable figure, is to veneer over solid wood.

Regards from Perth

Derek
 
derekcohen said:
Even if you have a very shallow curve, a wide door will need to waste a lot of wood. The radius of the curve of the door in question is 18". What is yours?

Regards from Perth

Derek
Click to expand...
Not as wide as 18" (what are these " things anyway, metric rules:LOL:) but over 300mm. The grain figuration is paramount for me, regardless of how much wood is wasted. The board for the door in that cabinet was about 30mmish thick, possibly a tad more, so quite a shallow curve - Rob
 
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