All this talk of wooden planes induced me to give another go with my two wooden smoothers:

Coffin Smoothers.jpg

On the left is an Ohio Tools with a 1-3/4" blade. On the right is a Mathison & Sons with a 2" blade.

Both of these have double irons.

The Mathison was easier to get to working. The Ohio was finicky getting it to work and was prone to jam shavings.

The Mathison had a fairly tight mouth. The Ohio looked like its mouth had been opened up quite a bit.

One of my discoveries this afternoon was though both of these planes feel uncomfortable in right hand use, it is likely due to an old injury to my hand. They were both more comfortable to use left handed.

To me, having a nice tote to hold on to has spoiled me over the years.

Maybe it is time to fix the handle on my transitional Sargent Jointer to give it another go around the bench. It is definitely lighter than either of my metal jointers.

jtk