Project Information
After reading up a bit on Hock planes, I thought I should try my hand at making my own wooden hand plane. The iron was purchased from Hock, but the rest came out of my ever growing scrap bin. I set the dimensions from my best guess of the size of a Hock plane photo. The sides are jatoba left over from a table build, the sole is a piece of wenge, the wedge is katalox, and the dowel is 1/2" diameter store bought birch. The dowel is press fit so that it can be replaced easily if it breaks or deforms. Aligning the two sides to each other and the split body was done by drilling and doweling them before gluing. Afterwards, the alignment dowels, which were positioned behind the heel and in front of the toe, were cut off, explaining why they do not show up in the final piece. Originally, the plane was a square block, but that hurt my hands too much, so I band sawed some curves to make it easier to push and fit more comfortably in my palms.
The plane cuts pretty well considering this is my first try. The throat opening could still use a little tuning though.
The plane cuts pretty well considering this is my first try. The throat opening could still use a little tuning though.