my "wayjep" Infill smoother... pics and review

[Ajcoholic]

Not long after I started up here, I saw the few threads of wayjep (Wayne Jepson) and some of his infill style hand planes he was working on. Having been attracted to that type of plane for some time, I sent him a pm and asked if I could purchase one when he had it ready.

Well, after several weeks of waiting, the plane arrived yesterday!

Today at work, I got the chance to "play" a little bit with the plane - spent maybe 45 minutes trying it on various woods like butternut, red oak, walnut, hard maple, basswood, African mahogany and a few others. I also tried some different depths of cut, and basically got comfortable with the tool.

I wont disclose the price here, just in case Wayne would rather not have it out in public, but I will say I got no deal on it - ie, I paid his full asking price plus postage. When I decided to put down the $$ for one of his planes, I did it for a few reasons... first, I really admire people who try do build things like this, that are seemingly simple but actually are fairly complex. Being familiar with metal working, I know what kind of time is put into such a project and can appreciate the time and effort. Also, I did not expect perfection, being as he (to my knowledge) has just a few planes completed as prototypes, and one other recent sale. I was basically keeping an open mind.

Well, my initial thought when I unpacked it was... wow! It really looked professional, much nicer than I had expected in the fit & finish dept. For me, I didn't expect (nor want) the entire plane polished to a high shine. I intend to use this at work, and the finish on the brass sides was similar to the higher end bronze planes I have seen, while the O1 tool steel sole was lapped to a fine finish with just a few very small scratches. The wood (ebony in my case) was fit perfectly into the metal sides, and polished to a shine. Really wonderful, I have to say. I had expected to see some marks left from the piening process - but there were none. The compound dovetails are filled 100%, and the filing job superb.

With a small engineers square, and a few other test instruments, I could see the sole is dead flat for almost all of it, with just a little "drop off" near the back 1/2" of the sole, of maybe a few thousandths on either side for about 1/4". The throat is very, very tight. WIth the 3/16" thick O1 iron in place, the cutting edge is almost touching the forward edge of the opening. The ebony where the iron sits is perfectly flat, and even with just moderate tightening of the cap screw, the iron is not able to be moved by hand or in use, but can be adjusted just with taps of a hammer.

Putting the smoother against a few of my other planes (some Veritas bench planes, and small BU smoother, and a few others) the finish on the wood surface - especially in woods like the butternut that are softer, are 100% better with the infill. I keep all my planes razor sharp, and they all took shavings easily on all woods I tested, but the infill left a definite smoother, near perfect finish.

All I can say is, I took a chance and I think I ended up with a very special, hand made tool I will keep for a long time. This plane feels amazing to hold, and use. The weight, the way it fits into my hands, etc all feel, well, great! I have already asked about getting Wayne to build me another, with different geometry.

Here are some photos I took before leaving work today...

[Darrell]

Wow, that's a pretty plane!
You need two things in the pictures: something for scale, and some trophy shavings.

Darrell

[Ryan in Edmonton]

First, congrats on your purchase! I seriously considered purchasing one but, well I haven't (yet).
I do agree, lets see some more pics!
Would like to see the blade edge and the plane with the blade removed. Would also like to see some nice fine shavings, but more importantly, the finished surface! It is a smoothing plane after all, lets see how smooth the surface it leaves.

[Ajcoholic]

First, congrats on your purchase! I seriously considered purchasing one but, well I haven't (yet).
I do agree, lets see some more pics!
Would like to see the blade edge and the plane with the blade removed. Would also like to see some nice fine shavings, but more importantly, the finished surface! It is a smoothing plane after all, lets see how smooth the surface it leaves.

Well I will try and take a photo of the surface of a board ... I really don't understand why guys want to see shavings though, that is something I have just recently heard of. And to think all these years of using planes I just swept mine up and threw them out

AJC

[Andrew_K99]

Very Nice!! I was tempted but couldn't justify the cost.

... I really don't understand why guys want to see shavings though, ...

I would want to see savings for one BIG reason. In the original post the shavings shown were all bunched and looked like this /\/\/\/\/\/\/. This suggests they aren't being cleared properly. The planes ability to produce long, straight, flat shavings tells you a lot about how it performs and handles. As this isn't a proven design (being from a new maker), this is an important thing IMO.

AK

[Ajcoholic]

Well no problem. The shavings are long and curly. I am super busy at work as usual but spent another 45 min or so between spraying some lacquer to fool with the plane and take more pics.

Will post when I get home tonight...

I have to say I'm more impressed today than yesterday. And I don't play things up, ie , I'm honest and tell things like it is. I did put a small micro bevel on the iron this am and hone it a little.. Seems to cut even better than yesterday.

Back to work now!!

[Ajcoholic]

OK here you go. I worked very slightly on the blade, basically put a very small micro bevel on it on a fine diamond stone, and then stropped it with some green LV compound, same as I do with all my chisels and planes.

I worked with some more walnut, butternut, maple, and birch. I find birch the most "uneven" in terms of the grain going in various directions (kind of like curly maple). On all woods it leaves a very smooth to the touch finish. The knot in the walnut was cut easily as well. I am tired from a very hectic and physical week at work, and maybe my brain's just spent, but I don't really know what else to say... other than here are some photos, and I ended up with a half a garbage pail of shavings when I was done.

AJC

[Ajcoholic]

When I was done, the body of the plane was quite warm, as was I.. this is hard work!

[Ajcoholic]

Very Nice!! I was tempted but couldn't justify the cost.


I would want to see savings for one BIG reason. In the original post the shavings shown were all bunched and looked like this /\/\/\/\/\/\/. This suggests they aren't being cleared properly. The planes ability to produce long, straight, flat shavings tells you a lot about how it performs and handles. As this isn't a proven design (being from a new maker), this is an important thing IMO.

AK

Actually, having the plane in your hand, and planing wood for and hour and a half tells ME how it performs.. I still do not understand what a "trophy shaving" is. I am a professional woodworker, ie, I build custom wood furniture, and cabinets for a living (and have for 20+ years). I buy tools, that will help me in my work (and of course that I like as well, but they have to perform) I certainly didnt buy this plane to see if I can take a shaving thinner than a baby onion skin. For me, being able to take a decently thick shaving, with a great finish - and feeling great in my hand - is what matters. I have the plane set to take a 3 thou (0."003) shaving. Thats plenty thin for me. I can certainly set it thinner but it will take me more passes to achieve the same end result.

I am certainly not a plane maker, and I dont know why that other plane had crunched up shavings. I also watched Wayne's youtube videos, that showed a regular curl coming up. I can't say I was worried about it. I know, it was not "cheap" in terms of cost, and although I do not know Wayne personally, I wanted to take that risk. I know I want him to make me one more at least. I have plans from a British magazine that Holtey published a three part article in, on making an infill bevel up smoother.

[Ryan in Edmonton]

Looks great Andrew. Seeing the shaving tells us a few things, and keep in mind that you may not feel it tells you much, but we don't have the luxury of holding it and using it. First, the shaving, in addition to the board surface, tells us how well the plane performs, a pretty important thing to know about a plane. It also tells us how well the plane is set up, if it's not set up well, why not? Is it difficult to set up? (Not saying yours is, just examples of what we like to know about planes).
When I sell a restored antique plane, I always include pics of the shavings and surface. It tell the buyer / potential buyer that the plane has been restored properly and that is works as it is supposed to. We just want to know the same thing about that fantastic looking infill of yours!

The surface your getting looks nice and shiny, very very nice in fact. It looks like the shavings are not quite full width (I could be wrong?). Is there a very slight camber or relieved corners to the blade? What is the final cutting angle? I assume this is a bevel down plane so do you have a back bevel on the edge as well?

Once again, it looks great!

[Ajcoholic]

Looks great Andrew. Seeing the shaving tells us a few things, and keep in mind that you may not feel it tells you much, but we don't have the luxury of holding it and using it. First, the shaving, in addition to the board surface, tells us how well the plane performs, a pretty important thing to know about a plane. It also tells us how well the plane is set up, if it's not set up well, why not? Is it difficult to set up? (Not saying yours is, just examples of what we like to know about planes).
When I sell a restored antique plane, I always include pics of the shavings and surface. It tell the buyer / potential buyer that the plane has been restored properly and that is works as it is supposed to. We just want to know the same thing about that fantastic looking infill of yours!

The surface your getting looks nice and shiny, very very nice in fact. It looks like the shavings are not quite full width (I could be wrong?). Is there a very slight camber or relieved corners to the blade? What is the final cutting angle? I assume this is a bevel down plane so do you have a back bevel on the edge as well?

Once again, it looks great!

Hey Ryan,
the blade Wayne supplied is indeed slightly cambered, and has the edges ever so slightly rounded. It is easy to plane a wider board without the "steps". I do want to buy another blade (I believe this is a LV O1 iron) to try it flat, and with sharp edges. I know the plane has a 50 degree bed angle, I think the blade is sharpened with a 30 degree angle.

I was brought up in the woodworking business, by my father (who also taught me to sharpen and maintain tools) and he never really worried too much about what was going on with the shavings - just what the planed surfaces looked like. Im a very practical woodworker. Maybe since I am always under the gun, and time is $$. That being said, there is always a place in my shop for quality hand tools. It is amazing how many times I pull out something "old school" to do a job VS doing it by power tool. WHich is why I always keep my eyes open for new stuff.

This plane, without a blade depth & side adjuster, of course this one will not be as easy to set up as some of the newer planes (like my 4 Veritas). But, within a few minutes it is easy to get the blade adjusted to where it feels good and leaves a good finish.

It is somewhat coincidental, that I was browsing through some old issues of Popular Woodworking this evening (after dinner) and came across an article on bevel up planes VS traditional bevel down. And, some of the shavings shown in the magazine photos were very much crunched up. I know on occasion, depending upon what plane I am using, and how fast I push through the wood (especially taking a heavy cut) that crinkling happens - from time to time, with more than one of them. Like I said, I am no plane designer/maker - but I think there is something else going on besides not clearing the shavings, as every hand plane I own has more than adequate clearance. Again, I tend to look at the finished product - rather than the waste - and make my decisions based upon that. If that makes sense?

Anyhow, I just wanted to show off my new plane

AJC

[Ajcoholic]

PS the blade is 1 5/8" wide and the plane sole is 1 7/8" wide. The plane is about 7" long. The pic above is with my standard Veritas block plane, and a 12" steel rule for scale.

[Ajcoholic]

Well, I am finding myself reaching for this hand plane first - for most jobs I have to do, except chamfering edges (where I grab a block or the small LN plane).

I have tried to get as good a finish from three of my LV Veritas planes, no luck. I actually just bought a few O1 blades for some of the Veritas planes, to see if the steel (O1 vs A2) will make any difference - seeing as how Wayne used a LV O1 blade in this plane.

Wayne has started on my next custom plane, which will be based upon the Holtey #10 box mitre - A low angle, bevel up plane, which will be much different than this one. It will probably be October before it gets made, but I will post some pics and stuff when it gets made and sent out to me. I can't wait!!

AJC

[KenL]

It is a beautiful plane! Congrats on your purchase!!

Ken