Plane Till Project

I only recently began to seriously use hand planes.

We have restored or are restoring a few older planes plus a basic assortment of new planes have been selected.

see the new plane till project...

Very quickly it became a priority to have a place to keep these planes safe but still handy. So a quick look at plane tills on the Internet provided an idea of what I wanted.

I decided to just use some materials that were laying around. After this first effort I might want to make a nice storage cabinet but for the moment I need a quick and simple fix. I mocked up my ideas in SketchUp.

The basic unit was put together with 3/4 inch Baltic birch plywood with 1/2 inch MDF shelf surfaces.

Oak will be used as trim.

 

A MDF back piece was put in place.

 

A quick test fit provided some ideas for how the planes should be held in place.

A beveled oak base strip was glued in place. The bottom of the planes will rest against the front edge of this strip. Thus the sole of the plane will not actually, fully rest against the MDF. This will help prevent moisture build-up between the sole and the MDF.

To properly space out the side retaining strips I used the actual width of the plane plus 1/8 inch...I used a brass spacer rod...and I glued and pinned the strips while making sure that they were square.

Here are the finished oak retainer strips.

The test fit.

After determining that the planes fit well, all ply edges were covered with strips of oak to make them hold up to punishment.

Front trim was installed and the piece doubles as a lip to make sure that the planes do not slide off the front edge.

When attempting to secure the till to the metal clad door, there were problems using standard wall anchors. They are meant to work after a 1/2 inch of drywall or more. The metal sheet was too thin for those kind of anchors.

So I took a T-Nut and bent back the flanges that are designed to grip into wood.

 

I then pounded them into a hole drilled into the metal and secured the unit with silicone adhesive.

5/8 inch-18 thread bolts were used to secure the till to the door.

The till hangs on one of the two doors that exit to the east. These door ares only opened to bring in items that do not fit well through the front door.

The unit sits above the workbench.

There is storage on the peg board to the right for chisels and plane blades.

Add-ons...

I have to wait until I built the new workbench before I make some nice chisel racks...so I created some temporary add-ons for the plane till to hold chisels...

In the front is a simple oak ledge which provides a place for the Lie-Nielsen bevel bench chisels and LN mortise chisels.

 

 

Right side platform for the Ray Iles morstise chisel and the two LN drawbore pins.

On the left side, a platform for two shop made skew chisels (Narex 10 mm bench chisels) and two Blue Spruce Toolworks fishtail chisels.

After final move to south wall, an addition to the right side, the inclusion of the large Sorby corner chisel and some protective barriers to prevent an accident of flesh on steel.

 

 

A new iteration...the plane till has moved to the south wall to the right of the new window. It is hanging on a French cleat. The front chisel rack has been removed.

At the top of the till are a couple of older wooden planes plus:

Wood River Standard Block
Wood River Low Angle Block

The main plane storage area holds from left to right...

Horizontal:

Lie-Nielsen #101 Violin Maker's Plane
Lie-Nielsen #102 Block Plane

Vertical:

Lee Valley Veritas Bevel Up Jack Plane (#5)
Lee Valley Veritas Bevel Up Smoother (#4)
Lee Valley Veritas Bevel Up Smoother (#3)
Stanley #4 Smoother (vintage restoration)
Lee Valley Veritas Trimming Plane
Lie-Nielsen #60 1/2 Block Plane

Lie-Nielsen #041 Small Shoulder Plane
Lie-Nielsen #073 Large Shoulder Plane
Lie-Nielsen #4 Bronze Smoother, high angle 55° frog
Lee Valley Veritas Fore Plane (#6)

The lower shelf holds the following planes:



Lee Valley Veritas Skew Rabb
et Plane (Moving Fillister Plane)
Lee Valley Veritas Large Router Plane
Lie-Nielsen #271 Small Router Plane
Lee Valley Veritas Right Hand Skew Block Plane
Lee Valley Veritas Small Plough Plane
E. C. Emerich Scrub Plane

 

 

 

 

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