Does anyone need a chamfer plane?

This kit will transform a common bock plane into a specialty tool.

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*Cutting*
(Winner of the affordable dovetail-saw shootout.)
(Needs tune-up to work well.)
(Works out of the box)
(My favorite affordable new chisels.)
(I use these to make the DIY specialty planes, but I also like them for general work.)

*Sharpening*

*Marking and Measuring*
(For marking and the built-in awl).
(Excellent, inexpensive marking knife.)

*Drilling*

*Work-Holding*

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0:00 Intro

[Khannesjo]

One trick I found helpful before I cut any screw with a saw: Thread a nut on that screw! The sawing will mess up the end of the screw thread, and after just using a file alone, it might still be difficult to start the screw. However, then unscrewing the nut over the damaged thread (might require some force) will help to realign the thread. If you want to go one step further, you could use an actuall thread cutter for that purpose, but a nut worked just fine in all the cases I encountered so far. Also, iff you cut something like allthread, you can clamp it by the nuts (add more than one in that case), and thus avoid damaging your thread with the vise jaw.

[jsmxwll]

I had to chamfer a ton for a project that had joining chamfers that had to match. i had a noise restriction and couldn't use a palm router to get the job done. i tried it with just a handplane but getting the joins right meant matching each join specifically and keeping track of that which wasn't gonna happen. so i put a chamfer sled on my hand plane. over 450' of chamfer and 128 chamfer joins that had to match. somehow got it done without losing my mind. this sled is a whole lot nicer than the one i banged together back then. got the kit but haven't actually put it together yet. good video.

[wes_d]

I love your comments on woodworking projects being a new opportunity to feel stupid. I’m not alone!

[theeddorian]

You really are right about the block plane doing the job. I have a rail around my living room that's about 60 feet of pine 1X4. I rounded over the visible edges with block plane with the rail pieces resting on saw horses, lengthwise. The corners match and the round-over is right around 1/4 inch. My wife was satisfied, so the result was more than adequate. She's a hard grader.

[johnfreiler]

I don't mind one trick tools when they do things very well: I've got a little round over plane that just puts a 1/8" radius on the edges of wood, which doesn't sound like much, but getting nice radius is not as easy as a chamfer and I find that I like having it around. Doesn't take up much space and I like the finished look I get.

[livinginthenow]

I like the auto-limiting feature. If you are working on a project with a lot of the same size/depth chamfers, you won't have to worry about how consistent your finished chamfers are. They should all be pretty much identical.

[reedplanes]

Rex thanks for doing a review and I will check back with you in 6 months and see if this is getting any use. There are a lot of chamfer plane designs, some old and some new and they always interested me. It was a lot of fun to explore chamfer planes and come up with this design. While chamfer planes are not for everyone or every project, I do think they have a place for some applications and users. When I designed this kit I always thought the holes for the magnets would be done with a 1/2" drill. I was very surprised you had a metric bit! Thanks everyone for your comments.

[johnfisk]

Just bought an old wooden box chamfer plane. Easy to set the depth and works a treat. Very happy with it. Cost @$12 delivered.

[egbluesuede]

Jeff is amazing. I love his innovations to make hand tools fun and customizable.

[rogerkaldahl]

Rex, I loved the video, it was fun to watch BUT I love to make champers free hand. I know most people can learn this system quicker than making the specialty tool. As you say, new toys are fun to use.

[Musicpins]

I completely agree, I use my no 4 for chamfers and if you want a consistent chamfer, which is the selling argument of many of these chamfer planes. Simply count how many strokes you do, if you don't change setting it should be, about the same!

I find this is the real advantage about "human speed" tools, it can be done with an auger bit too, if you make a couple of "test" holes in a scrap stock first. Here it is a real advantage using the same set of augers since they will have the same lead screw, which determines how much it pulls per revolution.

[mercoid]

Just purchased a Compass Rose plane stop. I got tired of rigging things from scrap to do the same job and knew that if I tried to make one it probably wouldn’t be as good. Looking forward to it.

[markelder]

Rex, thanks for the video! I bought this kit a couple of weeks ago & have not tackled it yet. This video has the details I need.

[andyc]

Thanks Rex, entertaining content, and honest assessment, I really appreciate you making the mistakes on our behalf !

[mafiacat]

Honestly I like this idea.
I'm definitely in the camp where I don't need one, and don't feel any urge to get a chamfer plane as I'm happy to do it by hand...but every now and again I wish I had one for projects with a lot of heavier chamfering or when I just want to do brain off woodworking.
And this is nice because it modifies something I already have, so it's not a whole tool waiting around to be used every eight months, it's only like...a third of one.

[ex-nerd]

I have one of those fancy single-purpose planes. It's great fun to use, but it's actually impractical to use on a big job because there is no repeatability built in. You can't just leave it on a full-depth cut because that takes too deep of a bite, so you end up dialing the depth little by little. It works fine for one edge, and you can check how it lines up for mating edges, but is extremely difficult to carry that depth to a second part. You caught the really cool thing about this sled design, which is that the plane's sole handles all of this for you, taking of only small shavings and then preventing you from cutting past the stopping point. I'm sure I'll end up making one of these at some point, but I'm a nerd so will probably 3d print it.

[skiphayes]

I'm one of you patrons and love your videos. Keep them coming!

[gibbousmoon]

Good for consistency. Also i imagine you could create different rails for a range of other angles, if you need them.

[notreallymyname]

Admittedly, I can only see one really good use for this, and thats for really long chamfers that absolutely must be consistent (read my wife will see it and wants it 'perfect'). That being said, I really want to play with that kit!

[MCsCreations]

Excellent work, Rex! 😊
But that's why you're never going to have a big collection like James'. 🤨
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊