I don't love taking the time to describe build threads, and I can get carried away, so I'm going to do bullet point style in this build thread.
Please keep comments to legitimate questions until the end. I'll keep my answers brief. I can't make you do that, but I'd appreciate it.
Main points are:
* I already built another smoother. It works fine. I want the aesthetics of this one to be a little better (wider front, better eyes, generally a little better fit and finish), and the mouth to be tighter. The little things about the aesthetics of the other one are really starting to bother me. I intended to cut the front of the other plane back a little (which would make it look fatter), but even then it would still be a little too narrow.
* Length of this plane (not sure, same as other one. I'm limited by my piece of wood. I think that one was 8 1/2 inches or so)
* Cocobolo. Not the nicest wood to make planes out of Beech would be nicer, but I like the weight of the cocobolo a little more
* This plane will have a slightly shorter wear, but it's still going to be a long one compared to most planes on the market - that adds a little bit of a challenge for feeding and forces a bit more precision
* The height of the plane will be about 2 7/8" when all is said and done
* bed angle 45 degrees (I want a plane that's nice to use for everything)
* Iron is a vintage i&H sorby double iron set purchased on ebay, 2 1/4" wide
* You might not like my workmanship, I am not george, but you can build a plane of this sort and correct anything I do to be to your taste
* I have not read a book to find these things out that we're going to delve into, especially the serious bits about wedge fit and such that we'll talk about later for the plane to feed well without having a large mouth. There may be definitive answers on them (and other things like some of the angles on the mortise or wear) - I don't know what they are. I got here by trial and error and never thought I'd build a coffin smoother until I was able to locate two planes that were properly made.
* It is absolutely critical that this plane function well. It will be an expensive waste of time if it doesn't. A pretty plane that can't feed properly thick or thin shavings with the cap iron set close or far away is junk. One that can feed well no matter what is capable and practical
Here's the blank that I have. Somewhere between rift and quartered (which is what i like). Dead QS looks like slab sided steak knife handles on the top of the plane. The first plane is there, you can see the aesthetic shortcomings. Both it and the plane beside it came out of a turning blank I got about 3 or 4 years ago. It was already partially dry then, it's dry now.
P1030770.jpg
P1030771.jpg
I mark where I want the mouth to be on the sole of the plane first and go from there, marking the 45 degree bed first. The layout ultimately will look like this. The wear at this point is 85 degrees. I may cut it a few degrees shy of that and try the plane, I don't know. It should work OK, though. Figure the shavings will be coming off of a 45 degree bed and a 50 degree cap iron and hit the wear at a fairly low angle of incidence so that even if they don't have any strength, they shouldn't bunch.
P1030774.jpg
Last time I had a little problem with the mouth, because I thought I had a 3/16 iron and I didn't. So I use the actual iron to make the mark for the front of the mouth - sticking the iron on the bed line and marking the front of it on the sole (this step was actually before the last picture)
P1030773.jpg
Critical numbers.
* wear length - 1 inch (last plane was a quarter more than that)
* Top angle for the escapement or whatever you call it (Front of the mortise) 68 degrees. I might make it a little less steep, I don't know. Not critical right now.
* Distance from front of the plane to the back of the mouth - 2 3/4". that's just a tad long compared to most coffin smoothers, I'd imagine.
At this point, the blank is 3" tall. Gives me a little bit of wiggle room to work with.
I'm using a large japanese marking knife. Cocobolo is a funny wood to mark - I'd rather knife it. Bits of it are slick and bits aren't, and my white pencils just don't work well on it. Layout needs to be accurate and the blank needs to be square, but the precise work that's done isn't just done to the marks, so they don't have to be absolutely perfect, just good.
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