I decided it was time to make another plane today. It’s been a long time since I posted last, but unfortunately my circumstances are such that I rarely get to spend time in the shop anymore. Anyways – today I started working on a block of Bocote that I had lying around.

The biggest part is getting the blocks and sides squared and cut. People give me weird looks when they see how much time I spend checking my work with a square – but we’re not building picnic tables here. A little extra time at this point saves a lot of hassle down the road.

For the wedge, I decided to re-purpose a spare African Blackwood wedge I had left over from the mitre planes I made last year. Also, an A2 steel blade (since I unfortunately didn’t have any O1 irons lying around).

After the sides and blocks were glued together, I laid out the positions for the side pins. These were then drilled for the pins, which are 3/16″ Brass.

Once the holes are drilled, the pins are inserted and ground flush with the sides. Then the bevels are added and the whole thing thrown on the buffing wheel. The finished product also has a wooden bridge (normally a brass cupids-bow would be more appropriate, but I don’t have any spare brass lying about).

This plane required very little work once it was finished…spending a lot of time double and triple checking and making adjustments during assembly leaves you with a very accurate finished product.