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After the glue-up, I procrastinated for a month or so, reluctant to ruin what I’d done so far by drilling a hole through it for the wedge retaining dowel. Since I didn’t exactly follow the Rev’s plan, I had to adjust the placement… hoping that I’d got it right. I resorted to an electron-burner to do it. The dowel fit nice and snug. A couple spots of glue on the dowel as it entered the cheeks should hold it pretty much for as long as I’m around.
My original plan was
to make the wedge from the waste left from the rear block but it
wasn’t quite long enough. I pulled a scrap of cherry from the
offcut box and spent an hour or so cutting, trimming and
fettling to get it to hold tight. It would’ve been a lot quicker
if my miter box cut a true 90 degrees vertically… Next step was to open the mouth. I taped some sandpaper to my scary sharp glass plate and spent a couple of hours – with minimal progress visible. I decided I’d never get it done that way, so I pulled down my trusty #7 and had at it. In no time, the plane sole looked like this. Below is a close-up of the mouth.
I honed the blade, dropped it in and after a quick tap, tap, tap, here’s the first shaving this plane has taken.
Next up was to trim and round the ends and sharp arrises. I borrowed SWMBO’s candle warmer to melt some beeswax, spiked with a bit of carnauba and gum turpentine. Here’s the end result.
This was an enjoyable project and I learned a lot – about my abilities and my tools.
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