Purple Heart hand plane
I started with two pieces of 2" x 2" x 24" purple heart. I originally wanted one wider piece of purple heart but they didn't have it and this worked just fine. I used the jointer and then the planer to clean up the sides of both pieces of wood. I then cut two 7/16" slabs off one of the blanks on the band saw and then cleaned up the cut side on the planer. Lay these three pieces out on your table and mark on top how things will ultimately go together. I used my cut-off sled on the table saw to cut the middle blank about midway at 45 degrees. I kept the blade at 90 degrees and placed a piece of wood cut at 45 degrees on the sled and the purple heart against it to make the cut. The piece which will be the slope the blade rest against needs some material hogged out where the cap screw will fit. I didn't have a router bit the correct size so I did this with a chisel. Just place the blade with chip breaker attached on the wood ramp and draw a pencil mark at the lowest point for the cap screw. Just make sure the iron/breaker is low enough to project 1/4" below the sole. This will make sure you don't try to cut too close to perfect and have to try to go back in after things are glued up. Mark the other piece of the middle section with about a 65 degree angle from the bottom to the top. This actual cut will be a slight curve instead of a straight cut. I cut this on my band saw. After this cut use a scraper and then sand paper to smooth the curve. Once all four of these pieces are ready place them together and put the iron/breaker in place. You don't want to let the iron show through at this point. Mark registration marks on each of the pieces while they are still in this orientation. I used yellow glue to glue these pieces together. Clamp pieces together and put them on waxed paper or plastic so it doesn't get glued to the table you work on. Make sure to remove all the squeeze out from the inside throat area before it hardens. After the glue is completely set, you'll need to identify the location for the 3/8" steel/brass rod that goes from one cheek to the other. Lay the plane on it's side. Measure 1 1/4" from the bottom and draw a line. Draw a line on the outside cheek identifying the angle of the back ramp. Once this line is in place, put the iron/breaker against the line, as if they were in the plane on the ramp. Place a second mark on the side of the breaker opposite the first line. Measure 3/8" away from the second line and again make a mark. This references the wedge thickness. Now draw a line 3/16" away from the last mark (half the thickness of the 3/8" rod) and extend it to the point where it crosses the horizontal line you drew 1 1/4" up from the sole. Mark this intersection with an awl or punch. Using a drill press, drill all the way through both plane cheeks at the marked point. Use the cut off piece from the plane ramp area to back up the drill bit. This will prevent tear-out. Carefully use a corner of this piece as you still need to make a wedge using this block. Make sure to test the drill bit you use on some similar scrap to make sure it's a good fit for the rod. Cut the rod just slightly shorter than the width of the plane. Knock the rod into the drilled hole. Next thing is to make a wedge from the left over piece cut out to form the plane ramp. My wedge ended up about 11/16" at one end down to about 1/4" at the other. I used a rasp and sand paper to round over the wedge and make it fit. Finally, put the iron/breaker combo and the wedge in place. Tap the wedge to set it. Remove it by tapping on the back of the plane with a dead blow mallet. Look at the face of the wedge that is up against the rod. Everything is fine if the mark from the rod is all the way across or shows a mark on the two edges. If the marking is not like this, (mark is in the middle or on one side like mine was initially) use either a rasp or sand paper to remove some material only where the mark is already present (which indicates it is higher than the other areas). Continue this process until the mark is all the way across or hitting on both sides which will keep the blade from rocking. Sharpen the blade and set the breaker about 1/16" away from the cutting edge. Put the iron/breaker in place with the wedge. I usually set the plane on a flat wooden surface and using finger pressure push the wedge in place. Push the plane across some wood to see if the blade is protruding. If not, lightly tap the iron and repeat until a nice shaving is obtained. If the blade is too far out, tap the back of the plane to bring the blade back. Make sure to tap the wedge forward to tighten after backing the blade out. Also, tap lightly on the side of the blade of one edge is out but the other is not. Takes a little while to get comfortable but they are fun to use. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hope this helps.