This is a small thumb (like) plane I have been fiddling with for a while. I have made a couple of other metal bodied planes in the past using mild steel pins to join the sides and sole, but this is the first I have attempted using dovetails.
As you can see, my craftsmanship still needs some work. The dovetails looked good after I had peened them and filed flush. One I started lapping the sides and bottom I really started to notice the lines appearing. I just didn't get the metal pushed down into the voids as well as needed, and once I lapped the surfaces down, the voids started appearing. I peened again, and things improved a bit, but I didn't want to remove any more metal from the sole and cause the mouth to open up more. I finally just let it go, and chalked this one up as learning experience.
The blade is O1 but is not yet hardened and no bevel ground yet. My old propane torch just lacks the heat needed even with the small fire brick forge I built. I ordered a swirl flame propane torch that can also use MAP gas so will hopefully have the heat output I need.
The rest is just hot rolled mild steel. The infill and wedge are Honduran Rosewood.
The wedge shape may seem a bit odd to some. It actually extends past the width of the blade. I have a flat area up front to allow tapping the wedge out, and enough of a flat area on the tail end for setting the wedge.
Likewise, the sneck on the underside of the blade may look a bit off. I wasn't sure I would like this, but it does make it much easier to access since the long wedge doesn't leave much room to adjust the blade with the sneck on top. I originally had snecks filed in on the sides, but just didn't care much for them, so putting the sneck on the bottom just made sense to me.
I originally had a small bun of rosewood up front, but decided I liked it better to have the area in front of the mouth open. In place of the bun, I made a concave surface with checkering. The checkering came out courser than I would have liked, and after I did it I wasn't sure I really liked it. Putting it on was something of an impulse decision.
I have been trying to take pictures of things as I make them, even when things aren't going so well. Pictures do a pretty good job of reminding me what didn't work and what did. I'll try and sort out some that I took during the build and attach them to the thread.
Critique always welcome and appreciated. I have pretty tough skin.
100_2891.jpg100_2900.jpg100_2912.jpg100_2901.jpg