I have a fetish for boutique tools. Unfortunately, my bank account has a fetish for remaining too low to make these boutique tool purchases. So until my bank account is anti-fetish, I choose (my wife chooses for me, rather) to make my own tools. A few months back I made a wood smoothing plane (a gift from my lovely wife) from air dried white oak as directed by Scott Meek in his DVD Make a Wooden Smoothing Plane and I could not be happier with the result. Though I did not take many shots of this build, Scott’s video and plans make the process very simple. Just make sure all your surfaces are flat and square to a side when they need to.
If you have been tossing around the idea of making your own plane I suggest you catch it with both hands and follow Scott’s instructions. He makes incredible planes and gives great direction to making your own.
6 months after I made the plane I finally got a proper file to open the side a bit more to allow for lateral blade adjustment. I have to say it works beautifully.
I have the mouth of the plane set very tight to the blade. I will set the chip breaker even closer to the cutting edge of the blade to produce an even finer shaving. I see this plane getting a lot of use in the coming months.
Scott, you are awesome! Thanks for inspiring the community and teaching us how to produce such fine tool.
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