Smoother is done!

[Mark Baldwin III]

This is my high angle smoother. The 1/4" by 2" iron is bedded at 55 degrees, with no chip breaker. I built this for some difficult grain in an upcoming project. The plane is ash and cocobolo. I decided it would be fun to pull some of the details from my moulders and distort them a bit, even added the little gouges to the front. This is my second plane with a shop made iron. It is a wee under 10" long. The first shavings look promising!

[Johnny Kleso]

I had a Pine Wood Durby Car in the BSA that looked like your Plane :)
Very Nice Work...

[Matt Ranum]

I had a Pine Wood Durby Car in the BSA that looked like your Plane :)
Very Nice Work...

Thats the first thing I thought of too. :D:D

Nice job!

[Peter Pedisich]

Looks very hand-grip friendly! Bet it's comfortable to use.

[Mark Baldwin III]

Matt and Johnny...yeah, that occurred to me. The front end almost looks like a gravel truck. One of these days, I want to shape one like a Willey's coupe.

Peter, it is pretty comfy. The treatment on the rear end is fashioned off of my Enos Baldwin moving filletster (sp).

Thanks for the kind words!

[Shawn Stennett]

Where did you get the material for the blade?

[Mark Baldwin III]

Where did you get the material for the blade?

I got it from McMaster Carr. It's O1. I bought a chunk that was 2"x18". Thickness was quite a bit over .250". Depending on the machinery you have available, you can buy it oversized or ground to dimension. I have a mill and surface grinder at work, so I got the stuff that comes a bit over the nominal size. Heat treating was done with an oxy-acetylene torch, canola oil, and a kiln (set to 350 degrees). There are probably a thousand better ways to do it, but that's what I have access to. I'm very happy with the results for my first two blades. I have enough material to make two more. I think I spent about $30 for the O1.

[Tri Hoang]

Nicely done. I like the contrast & will probably try using ash next time. Fine shavings don't flow very well to the top so adding a little curve to the front of the mouth would give some room for clean out.

[Mark Baldwin III]

Nicely done. I like the contrast & will probably try using ash next time. Fine shavings don't flow very well to the top so adding a little curve to the front of the mouth would give some room for clean out.

Thanks. I've been trying to figure out a way for the shavings to get out of the way. I hadn't thought about that, though. I know on my jack plane I need to spend some time on the wedge, the shavings get jammed on it if I'm not being careful.