Workbench drawers - Plane issue solved, bottom assembly and new toys

After having glued the drawer sliders to the sides I needed to cut the middle batten to length before being able to start with the bottom boards.
With the middle batten in place the drawer now is ready to receive the bottom boards.

Ready to receive the bottom boards

I also need first to solve my problem with the Record #778 plane. I filed a bit the blade bed and it is better. I then looked at the blade to be sure it was perfectly flat and it is. But looking at the blade I also found out that the main issue was in the eyes of the owner...
When I sharpened the blade, I checked that the edge was square to the side... but always to the same side... that was not necessarily the right side... Checking the blade I saw that both sides are not perfectly parallel and the side I used to check the squareness of the edge was the external side of the blade, the side that stands left to the plane. But the side that makes sense is the opposite one, and when I checked the edge of course it was not square to this side. So long story short I made the edge square to this side and now everything is fine and razor sharp.

Perfect shaving from the Record 778.

Before starting to cut the rabbet on the bottom boards I did a quick check of the plane setting to be sure width and depth were adjusted to the right size. First try was right on the spot but I want to cut the rabbet a hair deeper and wider to allow for wood movement.

Right on size, but need to add a hair for wood movement.

Just a hair deeper...

... and wider.

I was ready to start with the boards. I cut 2 boards to length and did the left and right side rabbet to check how that will look.

Cutting the rabbets on the first boards.

After having cut the two first boards I was not able to resist to the temptation, I needed to do a dry fit to see the result.

Two first bottom boards in place, inside drawer view...

...and from the outside.

I like the way it looks so tomorrow I will do the lap joins and complete the same on all boards.

Today I also received some new toys.

The new toys of the day.

On the left are two gauges from Marples, at the top a combination gauge and a mortise gauge at the bottom, this last one is made of ebony. Between the two is the depth post that was missing from my Stanley 71 router plane.

From top to bottom the saws are, two Tyzack Sons & Turner (the first one older than the second), a Disston and a Footprint. While you may think the footprint has not its place among the 3 older saws, I wanted to have a Footprint in hands to try it and check the build quality, and at first sight I must say that I am nicely surprised, but this will be the subject of a separate post later.

Vintage tools: Record 778 rabbet plane (and some problem with it)

This week I received a new rabbet plane, a Record 778 coming from England.
I already own a Craftsman 3730 made by Sargent and I like it. I used it on quite difficult wood, like the larch wood I used to make some drawer faces, and it gave good results when correctly sharpened.

Craftsman 3730 made by Sargent.

There are two main reason why I wanted to get a Record 778 , first the blade adjustment wheel, second the dual arms. With my Craftsman I noticed that I must be very careful with the fence as a single arm may allow some shift if too much pressure is applied.

The Record 778 I received.

The plane I got is not missing any part and is in quite good condition. A bit of rust here and there and the sole needs to be cleaned but nothing major.
On the format side the Record 778 is about the same size as my Craftsman and very similar, main difference being the blade adjustment and dual arms for the fence.

Craftsman 3730 and Record 778 side by side.

To start the cleaning process I disassembled the plane in parts.

The plane disassembled in pieces.

I started by cleaning the fence and plane body. For this I used my very high tech "machinist precision tool", a simple piece of marble on which I taped sand paper of different grits from 80 to 2000.

The precision tool.

I stroke the fence, sole and side of the plane so to remove all rust and also to flatten them.

Plane sole cleaned and flat.

I was lucky, everything was already quite flat and did not require heavy workout.

I then switched to the blade and there I found the first issue. I checked that the blade was square and here is what I found:

Not square, not even close.

No drama, back to the marble and time for some more gridding. I do not own a wheel grinder so I am getting this square by hand, should not be difficult I already did this before. After 10 minutes stroking the blade on the 80 grit sand paper I got it back to squareness. I finished the sharpening of the cutting edge increasing grit to 2000 on sand paper than I switched to water stone 4000 than 8000 and finally 3 or 4 strokes on the leather strop with buffing compound and I was done.

The little side cutter, call it a nicker, a spur or whatever, looked to have never been used so it was quite rounded and not sharp at all. To sharpen one edge I put it in the vice and used a little saw sharpening file, easy to do and this does not have to be razor sharp.

After having cleaned the body a bit and cleaned the cap iron it was time to put the blade assembly back in the plane... and there is coming my main issue. To my greatest disappointment, I have not been able to set the blade correctly. Anything I tried the blade was never straight and was protruding more on one side. I am not speaking about having the blade protruding a bit on each side of the sole as I know that this is normal and wanted. I was just not able to set the blade horizontally straight.

The blade is parallel to the mouth but still more protruding on the left.

During 30 minutes I tried to remove the cap iron, the blade, put them back, slowly tighten the cap iron etc etc... but no luck. And this made me think about how I found the blade initially, remember? The blade was not square and this was done in purpose by the previous owner to compensate for that specific problem!

Not easy to see but the blade is not straight.

As I find this is a quick and dirty way of solving that issue I removed the blade assembly and checked the blade bed, and I think to have found the issue. It looks like the bed is not straight (or maybe it is my eyes!)

This bed does not look straight to me.

The thickness at the mouth is not the same across the width.

Not sure it is visible.

So before I start to file the blade bed and mess with it, does anybody have any idea of what cause this issue? Am I on the right track thinking that this bed should be straight? If someone has any idea, advice or insight please drop me a comment!

Vintage tools: Record 311

Today I received a new tool that I got at auction on EBay, a Record 311 plane. The plane is in its original box and is in pristine condition.

The Record 311 in its original box.

I have no hands on experience with this one but I liked the concept of 3 planes in one, a shoulder plane, a bull nose plane and a chisel plane.

The Record 311 in shoulder plane configuration.

At first sight my feeling was mixed, usually tools trying to be good at multiple usage mean being good nowhere but after reading some comments online I decided to give it a try, especially that the one I found was in very good condition and missing no part.

The Record 311 in bullnose plane configuration.

...and in chisel plane configuration.

I cannot wait to play with it!