Popular Woodworking 2005-08 № 149, страница 74
Router If you can't afford a vintage or new one, build your own using a block of wood, an Allen wrench and a thumbscrew. Here is a real-life shop problem: The project calls for a shallow slot, or dado, in the middle of a board. Defining the edges using a wide chisel is a first step. But determining the best way to remove the waste is a challenge. The chisel could do it, although gauging the depth accurately would take patience. Using my electric router would solve that problem, yet experience tells me that freehand use of this power tool can lead to stray excursions into surrounding margins. So fence guides would need to be set. This situation calls for a router plane. An uncommon plane that looks different, it most often elicits the question, "What does it do?" Now you know - it levels dados and hinge gains. Its right-angle blade will allow you to make a flat cut of an accurate depth. Router Plane History & Use Router planes have been made with metal bodies by Stanley and other manufacturers for more than 100 years. You can find examples in tool catalogs or flea markets today. Like other planes, , E.C.E. cutter earlier router planes were made with a wood body to hold the right-angle cutter. To Shop-made cutter Shown here are three router planes: my shop-made version (left), an E.C.Emmerich (middle) and a Record No. 71, each with their cutter. save money I chose to build mine using a common, historical wood shape. If you prefer to purchase one instead, E.C. Emmerich (E.C.E.), the same firm that makes the line of Primus planes, sells router planes with a wood body. The 20-S comes with three cutters (call 800-724-7758 or visit ecemmerich.com). One colloquial name for this tool is "Granny Tooth" plane. It is not at all hard to use. Adjust it to depth and use it in a series of short, choppy push strokes. Just as with power routers, your application may call for more than one setting to achieve the desired depth. In any event, define the edges of the dado with a wide chisel. I find it helps to use the chisel to remove a little waste at the end of the slot so that my final strokes with the router do not split out wood beyond the desired end. Use it once and you will be convinced of the utility of this odd-looking plane. Make your own and you have the added satisfaction of toolmaking as well as tool use, something that was very much part of becoming a woodworker in times past. Collecting Your Materials When I set out to make my plane, the challenge was to make the right-angle cutter and the specialty holder to attach it to the wood body. Both these parts were special forgings and castings, processes not familiar to me. The solution to the right-angle cutter is adapting a Allen wrench. The holder is made from a 3/8" malleable iron thumbscrew with a washer and a wing nut. The beauty of this is that they are available from Re id Supply Co. by mail and the parts cost less than $5. by John Wilson John currently operates The Home Shop in Charlotte, Michigan, where he teaches classes and sells Shaker box supplies. 72 Popular Woodworking August 2005 |
