Putting Boxing on/in Moulding Planes

[Cliff Ober]

David, I'm working on a pair of snipe's bills; I've used vera wood for the boxing (the stuff Rockler sells as lignum). I have it oriented at 45* toward the toe.

I had real good luck using a slotting bit in the router table, but next time I will put the boxing strip in before cutting the plane blank to shape. I've used walnut for the body and I'd hoped it would work well enough for the profile edge, but no-go. It was chipping right from the start.

Since the "lignum" boxing was a retrofit, I had to make a jig to hold the plane body at the correct angle to the slotting bit. It's probably not exactly the traditional way to do it, but it worked very well. I've reshaped the profile and can now move on to finish the details of the plane and shape the blade.

Cliff