Small Wooden Router Plane

I had purchased a "lot" of tools from an auction and a small router plane blade was included. I have a large router plane but it isn't well suited to a lot of my work, as such, I thought I'd have a go at making a small router plane.

Materials:

-Router plane blade (round shank, I used a Veritas small router plane blade)

-Walnut, minimum 4" x 2" x 1.5" (Feel free to use other hardwood)

-Eyebolt and Knurled nut (Ensure the nut and bolt share the same thread pattern)

Tools:

-Hand Planes (A block plane should suffice)

-Chisels

-Drill and bits

-Band saw (A coping saw would work just as well)

-Shooting Board

-Drill-mount drum sander

-Double square/combination square

-Calipers

-Small square

-Work holding (I used a face vise)

Begin with bringing your stock to your working dimensions. I used a scrap piece of walnut, ensuring I could get a piece that was 4" x 2" x 1.5". I cut and planed the scrap to meet these dimensions, removing all defects and any checking (knots, cracks, etc.). I squared and thicknessed all four sides before cutting to length (4") and squaring on my shooting board. The plane will be 4" long, 2" wide and 1.5" tall.

Start by marking each face as the top, bottom, front and back. The top/bottom should be the faces that are 2" x 4", and the front/back should be the faces that are 1.5" x 4". The orientation of said faces comes down to personal preference.

Then, find the center of the plane and draw a line on each face. Once drawn, a mark can be made on the top and bottom that is 1 1/8" from the back of the plane, intersecting with the lines previously drawn. You should now have a point on the top and the bottom of the plane, which together, mark the blade position.

Using an appropriate bit (my iron shank was 7/32" in diameter, I used a bit of the same dimension) drill through the plane body, through both points previously marked. You should now be able to pass the plane iron through the hole, resulting in what looks something like a router plane. I used a cordless drill for this, though a drill press would be ideal.

Next we need to drill and chisel out the mortise for the eye bolt that will function as the blade lock.

First begin by measuring the thickness and width of your eye bolt. Mine was roughly 1/8" thick and 1" wide. These determine the dimensions of your mortise. Begin by marking your eye bolt dimensions on the back of the plane, with your width running along the length of the plane and the dimensions centered on the back of the plane. make the same marks on the front of the plane, where the mortise will come through. Once marked, drill out as much of the material as possible before chiseling out the remainder. You should be left with a mortise that is perpendicular to the blade shank hole you previously drilled.

You should now be able to fit the eye bolt into it's mortise and pass the plane blade through it. When the nut is tightened on the eye bolt, it should hold the blade in place. You can now check to see if the blade is square to the body. As you can see in the photos, mine was not (a result of drilling by hand). To correct this, I noted which direction the blade was leaning and used a hand plane to correct the body to be perpendicular to the blade shank (i.e. brought down the high spots).

Now that we have what is basically a functioning router plane, it is time to shape the body. First, remove a portion of the front of the plane to expose the blade, this way you can see the blade from above whilst working, and allow an escapement for shavings. This semi circle (pictured) is 3/8" deep from the face of the plane, and is 2" wide about the center of the plane (pictured). Cut the semicircle out with your band saw (or coping saw) and smooth it out with a drill mounted drum sander. Then, on the bottom of the plane, from the front of the plane, chisel out a groove that is the width of the blade wide, and just deeper than the blade is tall. This will allow for the blade to sit above the sole of the plane when not in use and will allow for the ability to flush cut (See photos). Lastly, I decided to round over the top front edge of the plane to add a bit of detail. While this is not necessary, it does make the plane feel a lot nicer in hand.

Knock down any sharp corners and edges and sand the plane body smooth, ensuring you don't sand the body out of square with the blade.

You should now have a functioning small router plane. You can leave the wood raw or finish with an oil.