Made My Own Wooden Jack Plane
Howdy Ya'll,
As a follow up to my post earlier this week, here is my completed wooden jack plane! Finished dimension are 18" Long, 2 7/8" tall and 2 5/8" wide with a 2 1/4" double iron (I pulled out my #5 and #7 for size comparison). I went with an off-set tote based roughly off a Stanley. The advantages of this are really well laid out in this [Rex Krueger Video](https://youtu.be/NO6VTnn1BzY?si=H789w5dzobAU0jXY). A lot of my design decisions were based off of this video and my 22" wooden try plane, which I used for reference. This plane is right around the size of a Stanley #6, but 1/3 the weight, which leads me to my first point.
Why make (and use) a wooden plane?
If you have used large metallic body planes to flatten table tops or dimension rough stock, you will know that it can be an exhausting process. 20-30 minutes of throwing around an 8lb (4kg) #7 will leave you gassed. But with wooden planes the significantly reduced weight and lower friction of the wooden sole, you can use a wooden plane for much longer.
Building a plane.
I tried to document my build process as well as I could, but I am horrible at remembering to stop and take pictures. But there are a couple things key things to think about as you are constructing a plane to make sure it functions well:
1. *Start with the iron and the wedge, build the rest of the plane around those.* Get yourself a proper tapered single or double iron and make your wedge (exact wedge angle isn't crucial, but somewhere between 10-15 degrees is fine). This will determine your abutment angle, which will be your bed angle + iron + wedge. I cut my bed and abutments with a miter saw, but the same idea applies if you built your plane out of one piece of wood. 2. *Grain direction is important to the long term function of the plane.* Be picky with your stock selection. Ideally you want a rift or quarter saw blank, and you want the sapwood side down, with the grain running downhill to the rear of the plane. (I drew it out in the last picture). This orientation maximizes long term stability and reduces friction of the sole. My plane is a bad example of this, because the maple sides were flat sawn, but their grain still runs towards the back.
If you can, I highly recommend picking up a wooden plane to use a reference, the inside of the throat and the way the body, iron and wedge interact in order to effectively clear shavings is somewhat complex and difficult to show on in pictures. This is the part where you will likely spend the most time tuning up the plane. In fact, on old wooden planes during construction the plane body, iron and wedge were often numbered to ensure they all stayed together throughout the manufacturing process. It's actually something to look for when buying wooden planes as well, as planes without their original iron or wedge generally will require a fair amount of refitting.
Hopefully y'all don't mind the long winded ramble of a post and that it inspires you to try your hand at making a wooden plane! Feel free to ask me any questions about the build process!
I also plan on continuing to make more wooden planes down the road. I don't know that I'm interested in ever selling them, but I don't want to just build planes for them to not get used, so I would certainly be open building someone a plane for the cost of materials and iron. You can send me a dm if it interests you.