We test our planes for flatness with a feeler gauge on a dead flat granite inspection block to the tolerance of 0.038mm or 0.0015” (1.5 thousandths of an inch) – if the plane is very flat you will feel it suck on to the flat surface and 10mm float glass is a good alternative, if an inspection block is not available.  If the sole is damaged or not flat we re-flatten it as follows.

Take some self-adhesive 80 grit Aluminum Oxide paper and stick it to 10 mm float glass, or tape/clamp it to a flat surface such as a Surface Planer bed (do not let any grit get into your machine bearings).  Wind the plane blade into the body of the plane so that you do not damage the blade edge although this probably needs re-honing any way.

After a few strokes on the abrasive, you can see how flat your sole is and therefore how much more work you need to do.  Keep flattening the sole on the 80 grit paper until those hollows or pits have disappeared, testing for flatness all the time.

You will be left with some fairly coarse scratch lines, so now use 120 grit Aluminum Oxide abrasive to remove the scratch marks and keep flattering the sole, moving up through the grits until you have a very clean and flat sole.  Once you are happy with the sole of your plane you need to work on the frog seating. Remove the lever cap and blade; unscrew the two machine screws under the blade to release the frog from the plane body.  The underside of the frog and plane body will have machined faces that should be a good flat surface for the two to make an intimate fit, but sadly they are often not very well machined.

I cover how to match these surfaces and re set-up the plane to achieve the best results on my beginner’s furniture making course - have a look through my website to see some of the other tricks we teach.

I was also demonstrating the C3 31 Combination machine – also of very good quality – along with the N4400 Band Saw which is very familiar, being the newer version of mine. I believe they may make the demonstration area a permanent feature of the set up in their showroom, and let’s hope if they do I will be invited back again!

I managed to chat to quite a few woodworkers at the Show, both professionals and those new to woodwork and machining, and took a couple of bookings for my 2 day wood machining course (which I am considering extending to 3 days to cover the spindle molder in more depth).

 The laminated legs were glued between male and female formers which were made from MDF.  The laminations were made from a solid cherry plank, which we cut and planed into 3mm thick consecutive veneers, so when they are re-formed and glued together they look as if they are a solid piece of timber.  The legs tapered in their width from top to bottom which ensures strength is maintained at the connection between the legs and the table top, whilst still giving the appearance at the base of a delicate and fine tapered leg.  This also meant we had a very attractive but strong detail as they merged at the centre point.

 Lacewood veneer was chosen for the table top as it complements the cherry in tone and colour.  It was cut and laid in a pattern of segments.  The quarter sawn veneer showing the flecks of the medullary rays, gave the top great visual interest and a feeling of movement.

 Keep an eye on the website as we will be posting a video of the gluing-up procedure for the cherry laminated legs.

One of our students has just completed this burr walnut TV cabinet using a lot of veneering techniques; end book-matching using a crown veneer, edge cross banding using a straight grained quarter sawn veneer.  As you can see, using these two veneers gave a great contrast using the veneer cuts to their best advantage.  The doors and drawer front were book matched burr walnut and was matched across the pilasters on the front and sides of the cabinet.

He made his solid cherry inlays and I encourage my students to make their own, as you can’t always buy inlays of the correct size or timber species for your project.  You can only generally get hold of boxwood, ebony and rosewood but none of these were suitable as he wanted a much more subtle and warmer contrast with the walnut.

The cabinet design was based around pilasters which are a very neo-classical design element based on Greek architecture.  When pilasters are used within furniture construction, they can add great strength to the carcass rigidity as they form a box construction.  In this design the pilasters have recessed burr veneered panels, with the cherry inlay framing them.

He wanted a very clean look to the outside of the cabinet, so there are no handles and the doors are on touch open magnets with centre pivot hinges; he bought the hinges from Rutlands and they are great quality hinges (amongst the best I have ever used to be honest).  The drawer had a fall flap to it which also worked on a touch latch with Blum drawer runners (designed to hold a DVD player).

Next set up the fence on the bandsaw so that it is cutting just enough timber for the plugs to pop out as you cut through them. Check over the plugs in case the timber has been damaged.

If is useful to have these around the workshop made from various timbers you might often use, so if you are making some, you may as well make a few more. Plug cutters can be bought in many different sizes including metric and imperial measurements.