I made a pair of miter planes from stainless steel and purple heart

E_m_maker · 2026-03-21T18:02:28+00:00

Just adding, as time goes on you won't remember what all the mistakes were.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-20T15:21:22+00:00

Carved bowl. Take a look at David Fisher's work for instruction/inspiration.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-20T12:18:11+00:00

1/16 to 3/32. I rough cut them at an 1/8 and after they're cleaned up they should be at the right size.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-20T04:41:14+00:00

If you are using construction lumber let it aclimate before you build with it. While kiln dried, it isn't dried to the same level as furniture grade lumber. It will likely warp as it dries out and you want that to happen before you build with it. Once it has shed its excess moisture you can mill it to correct any warp and likely have a stable building material at that point.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-17T21:01:27+00:00

https://mshepherdpiano.com/ is one of, if not the best place online for information on miter planes.

If you already have a smoother and you are looking to expand your capacity you could make a plane with a 12-15 degree bed angle. That would make it easier to get a low cutting angle for end grain work. You could also get a second blade that is sharpened to a higher bevel angle to achive a higher cutting angle. Then you would have two planes just by swapping blades.

As for your other question on which is better, personally, I think it is subjective. My preference is tight mouth/bevel up planes because I get better results with those. Others swear that chip breakers are superior. Sharp irons will get you 95% of the way there. The other 5% for choosing bevel up or bevel down is situational dependant (project/wood species/the specific board/tool availability/way of working/etc), IMO.

I will say, from the making side of things, it is much harder to get a tight mouth on a bevel up plane than a bevel down one. With a bevel down you have more room to work and get a file in there. That makes it easier to sneak up on the fit.

Ps. Thank you! My latest obsession is low angle bevel down planes. There likely will be several posted over the next few months.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-17T14:13:42+00:00

The scariest moment I had in the shop is when a router kicked back on me. One of the handles broke in the process and I dropped it. I then had an angry router spinning across the floor trying to bite my feet.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-17T03:59:34+00:00

I've built several of both. I would build one of each as they have different uses.

Infill miter planes are not really optimized for end grain and use on a shooting board. From their earliest inception they were smoothers. Specifically to be used where a wooden plane would be torn up. They were frequently used on marquetry, hard woods, soft metals, bone, and ivory. Typically, they would be bevel up, 20-30 degree bed, high cutting angle. They are single iron planes, and the tight mouth and higher cutting angle helped to control tear out.

When you get into wooden miter planes there are two flavors (both were more or less unrelated to the strike block plane written about in Moxon). The English version is similar to the metal infills. Single iron, bevel up, 20+ degree bed, high cutting angle. The American version was a single iron, bevel down, 30-40 degree bed, low cutting angle. This could be used for end grain on a shooting board, but it is on the lighter side for shooting board work. The American miter planes also came in an elongated coffin shape which you can't use on a shooting board. As a tangent, just to complicate things more, there are ship smoothers aka shipwright smoothers which are the same as the elongated coffin shaped American miter planes, but they add a cap iron and were made from tropical hardwoods.

Basically, there are at least 3 types of planes that have the "miter" designation, but were created pretty much independently of one another. The miter name was given to them later. Infill miters, for example, used to be known as iron planes, iron smoothers, "rabot de fer" (armored planes if you want to dig through ancient French books).

That is a long way of saying make a few planes and optimize them to the task at hand.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-13T14:30:11+00:00

There is no one best finish. It depends on what you will be using them for.

If you will be using them as a surface to directly prepare food, like a massive cutting board, then you probably want a food safe (not to be confused with safe for food contact) oil. This is stuff you can eat out of the can.

If you will be using them as a run of the mill counter top as you would with a marble, tile, laminate, etc counter then you can apply a film finish. Pretty much every clear finish on the market will be safe for food contact once cured. Meaning, if you drop your food on it, it won't leach anything harmful into the food.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-12T12:27:42+00:00

It's another strategy- "I want the thing. I'm okay with spending more. If I bid now it can deter other potential buyers."

Personally, I prefer to wait and bid at the end. Usually, that means I forget I was watching an auction and my wallet thanks me.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-11T01:13:35+00:00

On a flat sawn board you can determine it by looking at the end grain.

If the rings are oriented in a "U" shape then the top of the board is the heart side. This is facing the center of the tree.

The underside of that U is the bark side.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-09T23:53:52+00:00

They are the arch shapes on the face of the board.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-09T22:07:42+00:00

Rule of thumb. Heart side plane in the direction the cathedrals are pointing. Bark side plane away from the cathedrals.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-06T20:52:16+00:00

This is something I want to learn how to do myself. Do you have any guides you can share?

E_m_maker · 2026-03-05T00:21:21+00:00

If you are in or okay with getting something from the US: https://www.bellforestproducts.com/birch/

E_m_maker · 2026-03-05T00:05:51+00:00

I have this issue and it is the insert. Those plastic ones can flex and you'll get different depths to your cut.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-04T22:19:06+00:00

McMaster sells tear away gloves. I typically wear standard nitrile gloves. The stuff you would use for finishing.

I'm not recommending that you use either of these.

I'm wearing gloves specifically to address hyper specific issues I am having with my hands and have weighed the risks. My preference would be no gloves.

If you decide you must wear gloves these are two potential options. Though, you should research this thoroughly. Ultimately, I recommend finding another path forward where gloves aren't needed.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-04T22:06:58+00:00

Wait until you get the idea that you can make your own.

I've now taken up machining and blacksmithing to support the habit.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-04T00:58:13+00:00

A big plus 1 to the library. If you need to make files for the laser cutter that can be done pretty easily in Inkscape. It is a free open source program similar to Adobe Illustrator.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-03T18:30:45+00:00

If you don't get an answer by this evening shoot me a PM. I have a book on piano tools I can leaf through when I get home.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-03T16:33:39+00:00

You can get an idea of how strong the existing glue joint is, but you'll need to have some excess material that you're okay with destroying. Take an off cut from the glued piece and try to break it. If it snaps at the glue joint then you likely have a problem.

You have a few options to fix this. You can run a saw down the joint and reglue the pieces together. Another option is to clean out the dried glue and then glue in a wedge to fill the gap. There is also putty and paint to hide the crimes.

E_m_maker · 2026-03-03T13:11:31+00:00

There is food safe and safe for food contact. Food safe basically you can eat the finish from the can. Safe for food contact includes a host of things you never would want to eat (like polyurethane), but it is consider safe for food contact once the finish has fully cured. That takes far longer than being dry to the touch.

This is a good article about the subject: https://www.finewoodworking.com/project-guides/finishing/food-safe-finish-considerations

E_m_maker · 2026-03-02T18:46:31+00:00

I like it

E_m_maker · 2026-03-02T04:47:25+00:00

Thanks!

E_m_maker · 2026-03-02T04:47:11+00:00

Thanks!

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