Beech wide mouth plane

[Matt Evans]

I still had some Beech left over that was riftsawn from the last bench I built, and finally got around to making a plane for a 1/4" iron I had purchased a few years ago. I really wanted a comfortable plane to hog off material without clogging the mouth.

I wanted to do a little carving on this, but no one seemed to chime in, and my wife suggested a few simple runes rather than anything elaborate.

So, its finished. I may or may not remake the wedge, depends on how busy I get. It holds the blade fine, but the egg and dart detail was done poorly, and it is driving me nuts at the moment.

It works pretty darn well, and is a comfortable design. Whether or not the aesthetics are right or not, I am not sure. Eventually I will come to the conclusion that it is either ugly or not and keep on using it either way.

I wouldn't mind a little critique on the design. I don't make a lot of planes, but plan on making a few relatively soon, and wouldn't mind improving the design a bit.

[Tony Wilkins]

Very interesting design; I like it. The wedge gives it an ancient look like it came up out of a bog or Sunken Tudor warship.

[Zach Dillinger]

Very unique, and yet ancient and familiar. I like it. I think I would chop off the high part of the rear though. I don't see how that could be comfortable in use that way.

[Mark Almeidus]

Realy good design. The most important thing is it makes good shavings and that is comfortable.
I am not an expert for carving but you have done good job with it.
Here is a gallery of 18th century Dutch planes.
http://www.openluchtmuseum.nl/ontdek-het-museum/collectie-voorwerpen/houtschaven/
From the plane you have done, sure you can make something similar.

[Jim Koepke]

Nice looking plane. I am curious about the inscription on the right side.


Here is a gallery of 18th century Dutch planes. From the plane you have done, sure you can make something similar.

Mark, the link doesn't seem to have come through.

jtk

[Mark Almeidus]

My bad :)
http://www.openluchtmuseum.nl/ontdek-het-museum/collectie-voorwerpen/houtschaven/

[Matt Evans]

Nice looking plane. I am curious about the inscription on the right side.jtk



Both right and left have the runes. "Wide Mouth" on the left side, "Rough Work" on the right.

The runes are old Hungarian script (Székely-Hungarian Rovás) , with a modern Hungarian character or two thrown in, so not truly accurate. (Also, the words are English using Hungarian script, are left to right, as opposed to the original right to left, or reversing scripts, etc.)


Mark, Thats a nice visual resource for older wooden planes!

Zach, The high back acts as a tote, or more like the back of a coffin smoother (almost identical in size to the coffin smoother I typically use in the shop). For my hands it fits comfortably, conforming to the palm of my hand in the three different positions I might choose to use it in. I tried sort of matching the design of an infill panel plane on the front, which sort of worked, but not as well as I had hoped.

[Zach Dillinger]

Zach, The high back acts as a tote, or more like the back of a coffin smoother (almost identical in size to the coffin smoother I typically use in the shop). For my hands it fits comfortably, conforming to the palm of my hand in the three different positions I might choose to use it in. I tried sort of matching the design of an infill panel plane on the front, which sort of worked, but not as well as I had hoped.

Ok, I see what you are getting at now. It was hard to tell the scale of this plane; it seemed larger than it must be in reality. To Mark's point, make some Dutch planes! They rock! I've made several (most recent project is a plow) and they are beautiful and very comfortable to use.

[Robert Norman]

Nicely done!