Galoots

I have embarked on my next project, a bookbinders plow.

Tom Conroy and I exchanged a few emails and he was encouraging. I don't
know that I'll end up with anything more than a decorative piece, but I
will make the effort nonetheless.

For stock, I am using what I have on hand. I am blissfully ignorant of the
price of roughsawn hardwood these days, and I don't want to go to the local
boardmonger and give myself a heart attack.

Here is where I am busting out some black cherry for the fence and body. I
had this nice board all it's life, acquired freshly milled and sopping wet
from up near Peterborough. Good to see it beginning its journey towards
being an actual Thing.
I used my nice Simonds crosscut saw. One of those garage sale finds from
back in the days when garage sales actually had tools.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712876?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

Here's the stock squared up and ready for layout. Unlike most planemaking
adventures, the only angles involved in a bookbinding plow are Right
Angles. The cherry is almost perfectly quatersawn, and the ray fleck on the
one piece is incredible. Too bad the camera doesn't pick up on that kind of
thing.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712877?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

Boring stuff. I made some holes. They are as perfect as I could get them,
which is to say 'not quite perfect'. The smaller of the two central holes
will be tapped for the adjusting screw.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712878?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

By the way, this is sort of what I am aiming at. I should've said so up
front.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712879?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

Here is the maple screw blank turned to size. I used the same diameter as
the moxon vise I made, because I was gonna use the same threadbox and
tapping jig. It worked before, so it should work again. Right? (cue ominous
music)
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712880?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

The garter pin works fine. Yay for small successes. I put the hole way too
far in, but there is a good inch of meat in that maple screw, it'll be fine.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712881?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

My threading jig based loosely on what Heron of Alexandria documented in
the 1st century AD. Mine is a copy of what Roy U made on one of his shows.
S26 E6 IIRC. The metal guide plates follow the kerf in the jig, advancing
the scraper cutter at the proper rate. I use a small punch to advance the
cutter a teeny bit, then run it through again. Rinse and repeat a couple
dozen times until the thread is formed.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712883?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

Here I am using a spoke pointer to chamfer the end of the screw blank
before threading it. I bought the 1-1/2" Henry Boker screw box at an
antique store for $10 but it had no tap, thus the jig used above.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712884?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

And that did not go well. There was no tearout, but the blank was way
undersized. How the heck did that happen?
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712885?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

I used a couple of bits of random dowel as temporary guide rods to see how
it worked. Nope. Not good at all. The fence and body do this dance as you
wind the screw, instead of just sneaking closer to each other like they
should. This maple screw is pretty nice kindling now.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712886?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

Back to the wood rack for some turning stock. This time it's walnut. I
ripped a piece to size and turned a new screw blank. This time I used the
guide plate from the thread box to check the size of the blank. Once it
slipped all the way on nicely I stopped there. And the screw came out WAY
better than that maple one.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712887?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

A piece of beech dowel scavenged from the roadside (discarded crib) was
turned down to match the holes in the body and fence. Now I have proper
guide bars. This screw works fine, it runs in and out and the fence and
body move like they should.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712888?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

Once I was satisfied that the screw worked, I turned the handle a little
fancier and used a rasp and file to round off the finial on the end. Not as
pretty as a vintage tool, but better than a plain flat end.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/photo/291287/3712889?p=Created%2C%2C%2C20%2C2%2C0%2
C0

So that's most of the woodworking done. I still have to pretty up the body
and fence with those little curves and chamfers, but that will wait until I
have the hardware finished.

And the hardware is going to be LOT of filing to make the pieces I need.
I'll spread that work out a lot because it's so repetitive. I know better
than to overdo a task like that (anymore, again, so much chagrin).

So that's what I've been up to this week.
Darrell

-- 
Oakville ON
Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing. I've been thinking of doing this for
a while; you've made it a slight bit more likely.

I wonder if you couldn't use the maple screw to make a matching screw
box, and thus have a rig for slightly smaller blanks? Not really
sensible, of course, but either a fun thought experiment or a way to
not have to throw it away, your choice.

Robert Brazile
Arlington, Mass.

Nice work, Darrell! Can't wait to see the finished product. However, I do have a
question for you.

Most plow planes have two arms - wedged or screwed. I notice you have one screw
and two dowels which appear to be of quite small diameter. It's an interesting
design option but wondered if you have any concerns about keeping the fence
parallel to the body due to flexing.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: oldtools@g...  On Behalf Of Darrell
Sent: Friday, December 1, 2023 2:21 PM
To: oldtools@g...
Subject: [oldtools] Book Plow Build - part 1

Galoots

I have embarked on my next project, a bookbinders plow.

Tom Conroy and I exchanged a few emails and he was encouraging. I don't know
that I'll end up with anything more than a decorative piece, but I will make the
effort nonetheless.

[balance snipped]

Hi Dennis

The plane is run in a track on top of the book press (think big moxon vise)
so the rods don't have much to do.

See
https://renaissanceartisancom.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/book-
plough1.png?w=768&h=593


-- wood hoarder, blade sharpener, and occasional tool user

On Sat, 2 Dec 2023 at 07:43, Robert Brazile  wrote:


> I wonder if you couldn't use the maple screw to make a matching screw
> box, and thus have a rig for slightly smaller blanks? Not really
> sensible, of course, but either a fun thought experiment or a way to
> not have to throw it away, your choice.
>
>
Naw, that screw is either 'wall of shame' material or kindling.
I have no need at all for an oddball thread size when I have
a threadbox that works (when I supply the correctly sized
material hahaha) and the tapping jig that goes with it.

I'm just going to chalk this one up to measure-twice-cut-once.

Darrell

-- 
Oakville ON
Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MAnv5WDAVTU
Here is one in action.

Cheers,
John Johnston


John M. Johnston

“P.S. If you do not receive this, of course it must have been miscarried;
therefore I beg you to write and let me know.” - Sir Boyle Roche, M.P.


________________________________
From: oldtools@g...  on behalf of Darrell via groups.io

Sent: Sunday, December 3, 2023 12:47:11 PM
To: Robert Brazile 
Cc: oldtools@g... 
Subject: Re: [oldtools] Book Plow Build - part 1

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click
links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and trust the content
is safe.


On Sat, 2 Dec 2023 at 07:43, Robert Brazile  wrote:


> I wonder if you couldn't use the maple screw to make a matching screw
> box, and thus have a rig for slightly smaller blanks? Not really
> sensible, of course, but either a fun thought experiment or a way to
> not have to throw it away, your choice.
>
>
Naw, that screw is either 'wall of shame' material or kindling.
I have no need at all for an oddball thread size when I have
a threadbox that works (when I supply the correctly sized
material hahaha) and the tapping jig that goes with it.

I'm just going to chalk this one up to measure-twice-cut-once.

Darrell

--
Oakville ON
Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User

That video helps quite a bit. It's not clear to me how the cutter is
advanced here though. Small turns of the screw by the right hand whilst the
plow is in action perhaps?

Yes, exactly. Just enough of a turn to cut the next couple of pages


-- wood hoarder, blade sharpener, and occasional tool user

On Sun, Dec 3, 2023, 1:52 p.m. Bridger Berdel 
wrote:

Thanks for the image, Darrell. That makes perfect sense now.

 

Dennis

 

From: Darrell LaRue  
Sent: Sunday, December 3, 2023 12:33 PM
To: Dennis Heyza 
Cc: oldtools@g...
Subject: Re: [oldtools] Book Plow Build - part 1

 

Hi Dennis 

 

The plane is run in a track on top of the book press (think big moxon vise) so
the rods don't have much to do.

 

See

https://renaissanceartisancom.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/book-plough1.png?w=768
<https://renaissanceartisancom.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/book-
plough1.png?w=768&h=593> &h=593

 

-- wood hoarder, blade sharpener, and occasional tool user 

 

On Sat, Dec 2, 2023, 8:38 a.m. Dennis Heyza mailto:michigaloot@c...> > wrote:

Nice work, Darrell! Can't wait to see the finished product. However, I do have a
question for you.

Most plow planes have two arms - wedged or screwed. I notice you have one screw
and two dowels which appear to be of quite small diameter. It's an interesting
design option but wondered if you have any concerns about keeping the fence
parallel to the body due to flexing.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: oldtools@g... <mailto:oldtools@g...>  mailto:oldtools@g...> > On Behalf Of Darrell
Sent: Friday, December 1, 2023 2:21 PM
To: oldtools@g... <mailto:oldtools@g...> 
Subject: [oldtools] Book Plow Build - part 1

Galoots

I have embarked on my next project, a bookbinders plow.

Tom Conroy and I exchanged a few emails and he was encouraging. I don't know
that I'll end up with anything more than a decorative piece, but I will make the
effort nonetheless.

[balance snipped]

Darrell wrote: "Yes, exactly. Just enough of a turn to cut the next couple of
pages."

One page at a time, not more. Advance the blade before the stroke starts, never
while it is moving. Don't let any pages get trapped under the blade or they will
score the edge. Steady rhythm is important. A commercial 1-1/4" screwbox, 6
t.p.i., is actually optimum for a plough screw; it allows you to hold the screw
as an auxiliary handle, keeping control of the setting when you shift hand
position on the main handle, and 6 t.p.i. gives a slower feed than 4 t.p.i.,
making it easier to cut just one page.

In real professional ploughs the pin/garter and the bolt holding the blade
(whether bolt knife or sliding knife) are usually the same piece of metal. Most
often the pin/garter is a bit thicker than the wood pin you have now, generally
(I would guess) in the range of 3/8" to 1/2" iron for a good Hickok American or
English plough. A 1/4"wooden pin/garter will wear through very quickly, even in
a finishing press; when replacing one, the hole can be enlarged a bit offset so
that you don't cut any deeper into the wooden screw.
Get woodworking plow planes entirely out of your head when considering
bookbinders' ploughs. Any similarities between the two are superficial, and
trying to follow ideas from one to the other will just mess you up. Most
important: a bookbinders' plough is a moving-parts tool, and the two guide bars
are necessary to keep the cheeks from going skew to each other during use, which
will result in the number of pages varying between cuts, which will result in an
uneven edge. A crappy edge, in fact, maybe even worse than a guillotined edge.

I think Darrell wrote that he discarded his first screw because it had slop in
it, and the cheeks closed erratically. Well, that's what a plough is like.
Everything has slop in it, and everything wears rapidly because it is all wood
in constant abrasion, resulting in even more slop with a different slop
distribution.  This is not a precision instrument, and bringing precision
expectations to it will result in bad work done in misery. You learn to lean
this way and that way during the cut, so that you are working at one end of the
range of slop, and you learn to snug the left hand (holding the big screw end as
auxiliary handle) against the cheek so that the opening will not change without
warning. You learn to put paper shims under one end of the blade or the other to
keep its run flat to the book, even when the plough has worn a swooping curved-
bottomed groove into the press cheek (it will); and you cherish those precise
scraps of paper because it takes so long to get them just right. If you start
with a comparatively slop-free rectilinear plough, you will adjust to the wear
you put on it the way an old-time carpenter would adjust to the increasing dish
of his whetstone, keeping everything flat by little accommodations you don't
even know you are making. Then you try using a brand new plough and you find out
just how much slop has accumulated, and how much you have adjusted to its
presence. 
My respected binding teacher's plough and press was bought new around 1964 and
not much altered by the time she started teaching in roughly 1968. From then
until 2020 every one of her students learned to use it. By the early 1980s the
screw side of the press had a quarter-inch rut worn in it, and the left cheek of
the plough was worn low in the inside and at the back. The whole top was taken
down to flat by a woodworker in the early 1980s, and maybe fifteen or twenty
years later I patched on a new base to the plough cheek and squared it all up
(the other cheek, with the steel knife and holder protecting it, did not wear
out of true). It now has again a quarter-inch swooping rut in the press, and the
plough has again lost a quarter-inch at the near right quarter of the left
cheek, and both should be repaired again. I learned to use the plough on this
equipment, and was able (when I was binding) to take off a dead-flat semi-
polished surface, trimming less than 1/32" from the edge. I though I was hot
stuff until I came in one day and found my teacher had left an entire book edge
sitting casually on the press. She had trimmed a book, had taken of less than a
page thickness, and done it so evenly that the entire edge held together and
could be lifted from the book to the press. My swelled head was duly deflated.
A bookbinder's plough is a highly skilled tool. Used with skill it can do work
far more precise than any other existing book-trimming machine; even a sloppy,
irregular prough can produce a dead-flat gilding-ready edge---if used properly.
That kind of skill--- well, it is like the journeymen turned out by the Swindon
railway works in the palmy days, who (as part of their final apprenticeship
examination) were handed a block of brass and a brass plate and had to file a
square hole in the brass, and file the block into a cube that would fit the hole
without showing light in any possible configuration. Sir Henry Royce (of Rolls-
Royce) went through that one. Alexander Weygers tells something similar about
his training as a Dutch marine engineer before WW2. That kind of skill.

Darrell, as far as I can judge from your photos you are doing a very respectable
job so far. I am most impressed. Keep up the good work.
Tom Conroy(and I meant this to be a two-line comment, because I am supposed to
be writing a paper against a deadline).