2013 Hand Plane Swap

OK. Not technically a handplane. As it turned out I actually spent more time on the blades than the body: I cut, shaped, ground, hardened, tempered, sharpened and honed. I’m pretty happy with the way the blade turned out. Shiny!

I made the body from some leftover decking that has been laying out in my father-in-laws field for at least 5 years. It was rained on, snowed on, baked, frozen and buried in the mud for all that time and is still dead straight. Richard, the LJ I sent the plane to, later told me it was Ipe. It was sort of a pain in the neck to work – especially mortising – but it should last for a long, long time. The lighter material sandwiched in between is some leftover crabapple.

The fence is more mystery wood with a piece of brass mortised in as a wearplate.

All in all a good learning experience.