Fantasy Tool Box - tuning the Record #043 - Printable Version +- Woodnet Forums (https://forums.woodnet.net) +-- Thread: Fantasy Tool Box - tuning the Record #043 (/showthread.php?tid=7378913)

Fantasy Tool Box - tuning the Record #043 - Derek Cohen - 07-23-2025 One of the tools for the Tool Box is the Record #043 plough plane. This is a gem of a plane - small enough not to take up too much space, and it fights above its weight. I have the Veritas Small Plow and Combination planes, but they are too large and heavy to include in this tool box. Veritas has also brought out their version of the #043. I've only seen it in photos, and it looks really excellent. It did give me one idea for tuning up the Record. One of the vulnerabilities of this plane is the loose blade clamp. They fall off and get lost. I have done what Veritas has done and screwed the blade clamp to the body. This requires drilling the clamp and then tapping the body for a bolt. Note that the bolt must not be tightened up against the body. Leave the clamp slightly loose. If tight against the body, the clamp screw will likely end up off centre, and this will cant the blade. Leaving it loose allows it to rotate into square. Add a sub-fence. Make this longer, but not too deep. A longer fence aids in registration as the blade enters and comes off the work piece. The depth of the fence is kept shallow as this is a small plough plane intended for small boards, such as boxes and small drawer sides. There is nothing worse when a plough plane looses its setting, either the depth of cut or the fence setting. The knobs are finger tightened, and generally this is not enough as metal-on-metal ends up slipping. The knobs need to be cranked down. This is made easier if the knobs receive a slot for a screwdriver. I've never liked the Record blades, and so decided to make new ones. In any event, I wanted metric versions: 3mm and 6mm for drawer grooves, plus a 10mm for rebates. The 3mm needed to be shaped wider at the rear to have enough clamping area. Note that the Veritas blades fit and work very well in this plane, but I planned to make my own, and for pennies. Making the blades was quite simple - I used HSS (M2) purchased via eBay. All blades are 3mm thick and come in 8"/200mm lengths. One 6mm length creates both the 3mm and 6mm blades. 30 degree bevels ... All blades require a relief angle, which is a slight taper away from the cutting edge. The purpose of this is to avoid the blade binding in the groove. The relief angle was made using the fixture for grinding the sides of dovetail chisels. Here is the 3mm blade installed ... Why a 3mm blade? Well, this is the side used for small boxes, where the box- or drawer bottom has a 3mm tongue. I also wanted to try out an idea I had for positioning the groove, as well as when ploughing into the grain (which would typically cause tearout and a nasty looking groove). The mortise gauge I made (with the fixed blades in a cassette) has a 3mm blade ... Here is the board scored ... ... and ploughed ... All the blades worked well. Grooving (with the grain) is straight forward. Rebating across the grain is more of a challenge. This is facilitated by first scoring the surface with a cutting gauge. Regards from Perth Derek RE: Fantasy Tool Box - tuning the Record #043 - Arlin Eastman - 07-27-2025 Looks nice so far.   RE: Fantasy Tool Box - tuning the Record #043 - Tapper - 07-29-2025 Very nice work Derek, on both the tool and the box parts. The explanatory photos along with your descriptive verbiage is very helpful. Thanks for taking the time! Doug