I see you made little bevels where the wedges enter their tapered slots,to keep cracks from starting.
What I have done is carefully and SLIGHTLY plane a bit more taper on the wedges at their places where they enter the slots. Too small to notice,but this keeps the wedges from bursting the slots at their tops. I like the terminus of the slots to be nice and sharp.
I never liked the rather blah coffin shape of 18th. C. planes were were issued to copy. When I am on my own,and want to make a coffin smoother,I draw a shape that is narrower at the rear than at the front,swelling to maximum where the wedge is at it's top. This is a 19th. C. shape I have seen on some English planes. I think it adds a lot to the simple shape. I must confess,back when I could buy coffin smoothers for $4.00 in the Pennsylvania flea markets,I'd alter their shapes if they were too wide to suit me at their rear ends. That's a big no no,I realize!! These days a coffin smoother of decent condition might be more like $75.00,it seems.
Picture #1 shows the shape I refer to in the handles of these 2 gouges I made many years ago. At the ferrule end they are thinner than at the other end. The larger end would be the front end of my ideal smoother shape. The next picture are hook knives I made. I wish I could delete this picture as the handles are not as ideal as the first picture. But,when I go to delete 1 picture,sometimes the whole bunch goes with it!
The steel toed smoother is one I made out of a regular English coffin smoother. It is a common type of plane(at least back then) which I did not mind altering. I looked and looked for a steel toed smoother back in the 70's. Old Mr. Simms(of the Roy's show old tool chest).prized his above all other smoothers. You can make the mouth as thin as you want as the toe is moveable. In England I finally found one. But,it was in derelict condition,and they wanted 200 POUNDS for it! This plane already had developed a crack at the wedge as you can see. Unfortunately I don't have a full top view of it,but it is one that I altered the shape of. It has served very well for nearly 40 years by now,with the steel toe.
The dark plane is a plane I would NEVER touch to alter. It is made of CURLY APPLEWOOD,which has become a beautiful dark color as only applewood can! It isn't my ideal shape,but must be left alone. I forget the maker,but it is English.
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