Old Style Smoothing Plane

[Brendon]

This is my latest hand plane design. It is old style and made from brass and Padauk. At under 7" it is a neat , sweet plane that handles well and planes wood easily and smoothly.
Points worth noting are the oak leaf detail to the forward, the smaller than usual tote with round finger hole and "crane's bill" spur. The round hole takes the 2nd and 3rd finger while the 1st and 4th fingers rest along the sides of the tote and lower plane body respectively. This arrangement affords great control over the plane.

I used a cross pin rather than machine screws to secure the lever-cap and the ends of the cross pin are inlaid with artificial ivory. The lever-cap screw is also inlaid with artificial ivory.
The blade-bed is brass and set at 50 degrees with a bevel down arrangement for the blade.
This is not only an attractive hand plane but a useful one for small smoothing projects.
You can see a video clip of the plane in use on my blog.