Snipe Bill Moulding Plane

INTRODUCTION

What is a "Snipe Bill" plane?

 A Snipe Bill plane is a specialized woodworking plane primarily used to inset quirks (small recesses) in molding profiles or to start rabbets (grooves). It features a concave sole with a 90-degree segment, allowing it to cut a sharp, precise groove where a standard plane might struggle.
 
 FUNCTION:

 Initial Grooving:

 They are used to start rebate planing or create the initial cut for a profile, especially molding profiles.
 
 Quirk Insetting:

 They excel at insetting quirks, the small, often sharp depressions or step found in various molding profiles.
 
 Cleaning Up Mouldings:

 They can be used to refine and clean up after working with hollows and rounds.
 
 Sharper Cuts:

 Snipes bill planes cut closer to a 90-degree angle compared to the 60-degree angle cut by hollows and rounds.
 
 MILLING THE STOCK

I begin by wood selection and then milling up the stock per Fig 1. I will be making a set or two (2) snipes bill planes. A left and right. In this post I show making the Right One first. The Left one will come later.  I cut up two pieces at roughly 3-3/8” high x 11” long x 1” thick. The final finished dimensions will be 3-3/8’ high x 10” long x 7/8” thick.  It will be made of two parts.  An upper part made out of Spalted Maple and a lower part made out of Dogwood. The Dogwood is actually the boxing part. Instead of placing a 1/8” piece on a bias, I chose to make the whole lower part as boxing. The lower half “Boxing” will be joined to upper half with a sliding dovetails as shown per Fig 2.

BOXING

What is boxing for a moulding plane's sole?
 
Boxing in a molding plane refers to inserting strips of hard, dense wood, typically boxwood, into the high-wear areas of the sole. This practice extends the life of the tool by reinforcing these vulnerable areas, as they are subject to the greatest pressure and wear during planing. As mentioned my whole lower half is actually the boxing and made out of Dogwood. Normally boxing is placed into the sole on a “bias”. This is where sections of end grain are laminated together, inserted vetically and leaning with the bed angle, so that the end grain takes the wear and tear while planing. Not all Moulding planes of yesteryear practiced this and it may not be needed if the boxing is made of a real hard material like boxwood, dogwood, ebony, lignum vitae and others. I used dogwood and did not place on a bias. If it does not work then I will modify or make a new plane. Janka Hardness for Dogwood is 2150 lbf.

Here is the boxing bottom fashioned as a full length sliding dovetail being inserted into the upper half and then glued per Fig 3.

SANDING

Next, the blanks are trimmed to final length and sanded. See Fig 4.

Per Fig 5, here are the completed blanks. Ready for shaping.

SHAPING

Shaping begins by narrowing the upper portion of the body for each plane as shown per Fig 6. At this point I temporaily halt shaping and move on to mortising for the blade. The final shaping will come later with added details.

MAKING A NEW JIG FOR MORTISING ANGLES

I had to make a new mortising layout jig for locating the angles of 55° and 65° on the parts. Here is the completed jig per Fig 7. I can now layout the angles for mortising.

MORTISING BEGINS

After scribing the angle lines with the jig onto the plane body, I begin mortising the escapement area for the 65° bed and 55° wedge.
See Fig 8.

Next I drill from the top down and mortise down to the escapement area. I use the same jig setup as I did with the “Ogee Moulding Plane” build shown here but had to make different angle blocks. See Fig 9.

The entry mortise on this snipe bill is only ¼” wide. I used a ¼” brad point drill bit. It was slow going even with my jig as a guide. See Fig 10. Which is was the Ogee detail but was the same challenge for the snipe.

Next per Fig 11,  I used my homemade float to begin excavating and truing up the walls, etc. Though a bit unrefined and a prototype, this little thing was a lifesaver. It now has encouraged me to continue making some even better floats. It was tough excavating this mortise and life would have been miserable without it.

Here it is completed. It still needs some refinement and cleaning up but it turned out pretty good. See Fig 12. I also shaped the body to step in at a narrower width at the top half. The step is a 3/8” radius.

BLADE MAKING

Before Detailing,  I now needed to make the blade.  I used a 1095 blade I bought off of Amazon.  I cut it in half. I only needed half for this blade. I then marked it up and cut it out to shape. See Fig 13.

Next, I removed the hardness from the blade. Then I placed it into the plane body and scribed the snipe bill curve onto the blade.  After grinding, shaping, and giving it the intial edge and shape, I then reharden and tempered the blade. I then flattened the blade on both sides. Per Fig 14 you can see one area that was really stubborn getting flat. But I persevered and finally got it.

Here’s the finished blade and wedge per Fig 15.

DETAILS ON THE BODY

Next per Figs 16 and 17, I did detailing. Chamfering, Radiusing, card scraping etc.

In the detail take note that I added a “Strike Button” that helps in blade removal. It’s made of Cocobolo and its Janka Hardnes rating is 2,960 lbf  which is very high. You can beat on it without denting it. Lots of older antique moulding planes had them and this is the first time I’ve provided one on my planes.

She’s looking good now! Just look at that grain!!

THE FINISH

Now its time to apply my finish.

First I applied two coats of CA (cyanoacrylate) to the entire boxing sole surface. Much the same way turners do as a finish for pen making. Even though dogwood ranks right up there for Janka hardness at 2150 lbf,  I felt the very tip of the sole could use additional strength. It’s very much an arris. After the application of CA dried, I lightly steel wooled it.

Next, I applied two coats of 1 lb shellac allowing each coat 30 minutes to dry. I steel wooled in between all coats. Then I applied two coats of 2 lb shellac allowing each coat to dry overnight.

Here’s what it looks like at this stage per Fig 18.

FRENCH POLISHING …. THE  “Crème de la crème”

Last but not least, I French polished all surfaces even the sole. Doing the sole was a risk because it will see wear. But I wanted to see how it will hold up.

Then I gave it a generous coating of my wood butter and a final polish!

See Fig 19.

Per Fig 20, here’s the finished complete beauty now!!

In closing, I’d like to thank “OldTool”. He was very helpful providing details, dimensional info with sketches and photos from his antique Snipe Bill moulding plane.

Thanks for Looking!

Cheers!
Mr Rick