Two Small Smoothing Planes

[Dennis Mills]

Hi Folks,

Busy making planes again. The night before last I started the plane with the beech body and jatoba shoe. The mouth opening was too large so I made a patch. It's not perfect, so if I decide to sell it, it will be at a reduced price. 5 7/8" long.

The other plane I made this morning. It is made from iroko with a cherry wedge. It is 6 1/2" long.  Both have 1 1/2" irons that I made from 3/16" thick 1095 high carbon steel. Both are hardened to ~60 HRc, based on the tempering temperature I used.

The iroko plane is a commissioned piece. I don't know what I'm going to do with the beech plane.

Making the irons from the 1095 has been an adventure. It is not precision milled like the O1 I get from McMaster Carr. It is hard to get the irons with perfect flat backs, so I get them as close as I can and sharpen them with a very slight back bevel. I have a couple of other planes with self made irons, using the same procedure. Both work very well and I have no issues resharpening them. In time the backs will become flat with repeated sharpenings.

Dennis