Making a Curved Sole Plane

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Catalunya
Hi there.

Thanks to Frank Fusco who was kind enough to send me two pieces of osage orange wood I've been able to make this plane. I've never worked with this wood and I must say that I discovered that apart from its colour it is a good wood for carving, the grain is too evident but that's part of the challenge.

Well here it goes.
One of the pieces developed a flaw all along it, most problably it didn't like the overseas travel and spanish climate:D, so my initial idea of keeping the grain matching on the plane had to be changed.

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I planed the piece until I got rid of the flaw, cut the center part from one half and the two cheeks from the other half. I stuck the cheeks with double sided table to a longer board to pass them through the thicknesser and even them.

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Drew the angles of the front and back piece and cut them on my miter saw.

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Aligned the pieces, and used dowels to keep them aligned.

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Made the holding pin, its holes on the cheeks and glued alltogether.

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I filed away the curved shape of the front part until it matched the curve of the blade. The extra thickness seen on the pic is left to plane away the curvature of the sole leaving a tight throat clearance. ( see next pic).

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Planned the curvature of the sole taking as a reference the blade itself until it almost reached the edge of the throat, removed the blade and continued planning and checking until I got a hairline gap.

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Shaped the plane at will, buffered it sharpened the blade to a razor edge and a plane is born!
View attachment 22326View attachment 22327

Now I have to make a coopered door cabinet to use it:doh:

Thanks for looking comments questions and everything are welcome.
Jerry your mesquite pieces are next:)
 

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