The Best Router Plane Episode 1 & 2 are out Now

24 Comments

1. Hi Paul

   Going to watch them now. Very grateful to you and I hope you have enough interest on the metal parts to produce a pack. Happy to make my own wooden base and am working on the assumption that I will want to build a number with set depths.

   Cheers and have a great day

   Steve

2. Excited to try this out! I have delayed in spending the money for a router plane because, as you’ve noted, prices are quite high and I could get by without it. But this! There is something so liberating about making your own tools. Thanks for making hand tool woodworking so approachable. I am enjoying the learning process.

3. Looks like this could be your most popular woodworking video to date, Paul! Thank you for continually producing such high quality videos (kudos to your sound/light/video team!) and for your passion, which shows in everything you do.

4. Paul, I would like more details on how you make the drill bit squaring jig.

   1. Hi Richard,
      Paul went over the drill squaring jig in the first of the router plane videos.

   2. Isn’t a drill press a drill squaring jig? =)

      Jeff

   3. Drill press is a drill squaring jig?

5. I have watched both of the plane-building episodes closely. This is an excellent design for a router plane, especially for shaving tenons to thickness. Even top-end router planes have bases that are too small to do this easily and well.

   Paul’s new plane incorporates a larger and longer base like the classic Preston router planes — which are neither easy to find nor to afford.

   I am definitely going to build one of these planes. Maybe more.

   Many thanks, Paul!!!

6. Hi Paul,

   Just a note to say thanks for many hours of quiet pleasure on my bench, made in accordance with your original series of videos in the backyard next to the school yard!

   Your observation on router planes is bang on, I watched for one for several years and finally bought a Veritas. I keep it razor sharp (also from your videos) and it is my favourite tool. This phenomena extends to all older used tools in my area; they turn up and disappear very quickly and one must be quick to get them at all, let alone at a bargain. Don’t despair friend, even though I think it is almost certainly your influence that is responsible, it is a small price to pay for the significant and noble effect you have had on the craft.

   That was more wordy than I intended. Once again, many thanks. My shout at the pub if we should ever meet.

   Peter
   Newfoundland
   Canada

7. Amazing project and I cannot wait to start working on it. I cannot get my hands on O1 tool steel anywhere in my country but a local warehouse has O2 tool steel. Does it require a different hardening process then O1 tool steel or is it the same? Also would the cutting edge be of a lesser quality?

8. Fantastic couple of videos Paul. I’m definitely going to attempt one of these. Unfortunately, I have no idea where to get O1 tool steel in the UK! I can get it, of course, but it’s minimum order stuff, with large delivery costs to suit. I can get a piece of tool steel at 100mm length for £30, but with £25 delivery, which just seems a little excessive! I’m probably looking in the wrong place. I certainly would be interested if parts’ kits were available.

   1. And we’re on it. Getting there so hopefully have good news soon.

      1. I am indeed looking forward to receiving this update, as I could hardly buy the metal parts, especially the cutting blade/ bar locally.
         Otherwise, I am (manually, as I do not have a lathe) turning my upstand handles, after I had built up almost of the remaining wood, except for the recess for the cutting blade-to-be bar.
         Looking foreward to receiving your good news as always!

      2. Thanks Paul, and everyone else that replied with useful information.

   2. For the DIY’ers if you search ebay for
      “10mm Thick Ground Flat Stock All Widths x 500mm G.F.S. O1 Steel Gauge Plate”
      you should find a company selling 10x10mmx500mm for £18 with free delivery to UK address

      1. 10mm square silver steel (a hardenable high carbon steel for small toolmaking which is designed to be water quenched safely) is available from engineering supplies dealers for around £8 for a 330 mm length -enough for 3 blades.

9. So, when will we know if the parts kit will be available?

   Also as an owner of your original Working Wood Volume 1 & 2 book, will the new video material being developed be compatible?

   Thanks.

10. Paul –

    Just a thought — you explain why you leave the smaller workpiece (the “upstand”, as it’s called in your drawings) much longer than you’ll need it when finished — to make it easier to work with in the vise, and to make the saw-cut easier.

    But as you were working it, I recalled that you say you have several hand routers, some set for certain depth-of-cut, others adjustable. So if a student also wanted more than one router, why not start with that piece CONSIDERABLY longer, say 18 inches if one wanted to make three hand planes. One could do the layout to clearly show where each final upstand would start, and where the channels for the cutters would be cut. It would greatly reduce waste, and time.

    Of course, if only one router is desired, this point is entirely moot.

    1. I think that that is obvious, Jim. In my case I made planes with different pitches for experimenting. Also, I did want people to seriously consider using scraps where possible.

11. I’m a Brit expat living in NZ and just thought I’d drop you a line, just like everyone else appears to do, to say how much I value all the effort you put into your ‘Craft’. I appreciate it is a business and a livelihood for you, but I appreciate even more the volume of information in posts, videos, and now plans for tools, that you simply GIVE AWAY FREE to the general public. It is incredibly generous and awe inspiring how much you do in furthering the skill base of the average man. Since I made your ‘oil in a can’ a few weeks back, I have been watching one after another of your videos with admiration, at just how simple you make it all look. To top it all, you have now furnished us with plans to make our own tool! I will never be a ‘professional cabinet / furniture maker based on the amount of spare time I don’t have in my life, but I do intend attempting some of your projects. I do hope that the establishment rewards you with some form of public recognition for your superb efforts ……

    Regards

    MAT BOWMAN

12. I’m going to make a prototype using a 1/2″ mortise chisel that’s has square shank. The shank is about 6″ long. The chisel is 11″ with the handle. I’m assuming it is through hardened and I will have to grind the adjusting slots. If it works out I will publish results. The chisel is $20US. I have numerous chisels of this brand and they are outstanding tools. I bought 2. With the second one I will grind the tip to 1/4″. So 1/8″ per side. It will fit in the same slot so two blades one router.

    1. It may not be hardened all the way through as at the tip. Test it with a file to see first. If it glances off it is hardened there. If not it will be soft enough to hacksaw and file.

13. This is amazingly generous. A superior design flung into the world for anyone to use and adapt, detailed build instructions, encouraging thrifty habits and skill-building… thank you.u

14. Hi Paul
    What a great design. I have just made two, one for my grandson and one for me. After just taking a few shavings I love it. So easy to set, and once set it stays set. I will be making a couple more. My old Stanley No 7 was much loved and well used, but I recon this design is better. I think you are justified in saying it is probably the best hand router plane in the world.

    Struggled a bit with your hardening instructions for the blade but found some good information on a website called three planes.net which sorted me out.

    This project has made me realise there are a lot more tools I could make for myself and there is so much satisfaction using good tools that one has made

    Thanks jdstevo

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