Planemaking Test

This project began by chance, after seeing some plane realizations on the net. I used what I had at home, including a new old Hirch (made in Germany) iron and chipbreaker that my friend Ciro gave me a couple of years ago.

The plane body is ash; I really like it, solid, compact, enough easy  to work. The sole and wedge are wenge. The light-dark contrast is very nice.

The wood button used to release the cutting group and setting the blade always attracted me, so I placed a wenge one in the back of the plane.

Not having a right sized ash piece, I proceeded to gluing up three pieces of approx. 3 cm thick.

I excavated the throat cavity by Forstner bits as deep as possible, continuing with a 1" Japanese-style Firmer chisel (Atsunomi). To get the exact bed angle (60 °) I used the chisel with a beech guide block clamped to the top body.

I stamped "S60" on the back. S means Smoother and 60 is for indicating the seat angle. To obtain the moldings on the corners I used the belt sander, taking the plane in contact with the abrasive tape for few seconds. I obtained the wenge button drilling it by a cup saw.

A double sole really helps to get a very tight mouth. The wenge is a wood very resistant to wear, but has tendency to chip, so be very careful during chiselling around the mouth.

The sole has been leveled on sandpaper glued to a flat surface (120 and 180 Grit).

Shavings are our real prize.