When working with wooden handplanes, a plane hammer is needed to set it properly. It usually consists of two sides, one metal (usually brass) and one hardwood. There are many available for sale online but to save i decided to make my own.
I bought a small piece of brass stock for the head, while i decided to use narra for the handle. I haven't decided what hardwood to use, still deciding if i'll use kamagong, dao or yakal. More for aesthetics i suppose...
I cut the narra into a narrow strip with the jigsaw then planed to final size.
I just love the mini woodie smoother i got, even on knots there were hardly any tearout
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Since i had no drill press, i had to have the brass drilled out to accept the wooden handle. Unfortunately the bit moved on one of the holes so it went off center. It wasn't so bad, just a lot of filing to get it square.
After getting the brass ready, i worked on the narra so it would fit into the head. Didn't get to take pics though. Here's the dry fit. Pretty snug even without the wedge
Since the handle was square i placed a bit of a curve and rounded the edges. I wish i had a spokeshave so that i could get a better curve but this will do. Its comfortable to the hands as it is.
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nice work Migs, I do have a spokeshave if you need one, I can lend it to you, gets little use, but when you need it, not much tools works as well...
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Thanks for the offer Sonny, but for this handle i'll probably leave it to that shape. Maybe i'll borrow it for the next hammer i'll make.
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sure thing bro. last time I used it was for the tt bench feet I made which btw I just delivered today... 🙂
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That's great..galing ng networking mo, dami nagpapagawa sayo!
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That's great..galing ng networking mo, dami nagpapagawa sayo!
actually na ingit lang ako sa yo, dami mo kasing customers, ako I just got lucky that the people I made stuff for supports my work... hence, referrals got good....
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I was just lucky with a client, sunod sunod yung order. I guess word of mouth is the best form of advertising..
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yes and seeing the project unfold in detail makes the customer happy with how complicated some things get. of course that could make you look bad too in some cases....
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Nice hammer Moji. It must have taken a lot of patience to file the thing.
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Nice hammer Moji. It must have taken a lot of patience to file the thing.
Thanks, yup it took a while to get to relative squareness. I did not file it perfectly though, just enough to get a snug fit.
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Got more work done to the hammer. I decided to use the kamagong for the wood part of the head. Its actually the first time for me to work on this type of wood, its pretty dense, i actually thought i broke of the teeth on my saw. Luckily it didn't.
I trimmed part of the brass so that the handle would be more or less centered.
Cut the kamagong. Careful to get almost the exact size because this is my only piece.
Joined the brass and kamagong together. I used two part epoxy as the adhesive.
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While the head was drying, i decided to put finish on the handle. I don't like putting stain when using nice wood, i decided on trying out BLO instead. Even with a single coat i was happy with the results.
After a few hours, i worked on the combined head. It took a while sanding and filing the wood and brass to be one smooth piece.
Pretty happy with the result.
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Dry fit
All that is left to do is put the wedge and trim the protruding wood handle at the head.
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Very nicely done moji!
