My latest K-plane -- and a question

[Bill Moser]

While procrastinating on doing actual woodworking, I built this smoother around a Mathieson double iron. It weighs in at about 2 lbs, about half the weight of my Spiers #7. I was thinking that I could increase the heft by drilling a couple of holes in the back (horizontally) and front (vertically) to accommodate sections of the brass rod (1-1/4", next to the plane), and maybe increase the heft somewhat. What do you guys think? Will the surrounding wood just end up splitting around the bars?212654

[Jim Belair]

You could do that but why don't you just use it a while and then decide? I've never seen an old woodie with added mass.

Cool looking plane Bill.

[David Keller NC]

If you want to weight the plane, I'd recommend drilling a few large holes and filling it with lead shot. You can add a flexible glue to the lead shot mixture to keep the shot from sloshing around but still allow the wood to expand/contract and avoid splitting. Silicone glue would be what I would use, but you could also use white latex caulk. If you don't like the idea of using lead, steel shot designed for waterfowl hunting would also work. Both should be readily available at any full-service gun shop.

[Bill Moser]

Jim - i haven't seen a woodie w/added mass either, but there's a first time for everything :)
David - thanks for the idea - hadn't thought of lead shot, but I have some spent pellets from pellet gun laying around somewhere, so I think I'll give that a shot (ha, pun!). The other purpose of the brass was to provide places for hammer-taps, but I can still do that by topping off the holes with sections of the brass rod.

[Mark Godlesky]

There was a thread a few years ago about a member who weighted a woody with lead shot.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?95996-The-Lead-Sled&

Actually it was an infill plane.

[Bill Moser]

Mark - looks like Michael beat me to it, but with a different technique. He encountered the same problem that I have, the width of the body needed to accommodate the metal "infill". My blade is wider (2 3/8") so in some sense I have more wiggle room. The plane is a full 3" wide at the pin, and I did not want to add a handle, as Michael did. It took me a while (read - lots of rasping & using) to come up with a shape for the rear which felt reasonably comfortable, but still leaves a lot of volume behind the blade.