GG

Not wanting to take any work away from Steve Knight or Crown Plane, but 
I thought that making a compass plane for chair seats would be 
something I could handle.  I have used the Crown and it does a fine 
job.  The little ball on the back is comfortable and may be worth 
duplicating, although I did not and am not having a problem.

I found a small smoother for $20 - 8" long by 2" wide with a 1-1/2" 
double blade - (single blade will work fine).  I curved the sole front 
to back so that the center is about 1-1/8" below the ends using a 
b*nds*w, but a frame saw would work too.  My curve is weighted towards 
the back so that the toe is 1-1/4", the center is 2", and the heel is 
1/2".  I then curved the curved sole side-to-side so that the center is 
less than 1/8" below the edges using a 60-1/2 block plane to facet, 
then remove the facets, ad finitum.  I then marked the blade to the 
curve with the magic marker-awl trick, ground the end of the edge flat 
to follow the curve, then took off a lot of metal to get the bevel.  I 
made the curve of the the blade a little tighter than the side-to-side 
curve of the bottom to give it a mild scrub effect.  I didn't hone the 
edge, but used it straight from the grinder.  This puppy really removes 
wood (basswood in the 2 seats I have made so far) - these are the 
dipping size Fritos - and I have made the 2 chair seats without using a 
scorp first in about 15 minutes each.  The curve easily makes a chair 
seat that is 7/8" deep across a 15" wide seat - it will go deeper yet, 
and you get deeper still by altering the curves a bit.

You can do most of the work with the plane set rank, then pull the 
blade in a bit and do a finer job.  I managed to get a Crown travisher 
so that is as far as I went with the plane, but with patience and a 
couple of more re-settings of the blade, I am sure you could get the 
finish very nice, ready for sandpaper.  Sure the sole will wear, but it 
has a couple more re-shapings in it, and then I can make another one.  
I was lucky to find this little plane as it is cherry and very pretty.  
I had never re-worked a plane before and once I figured what I wanted 
to do, the job took about 30 minutes for both directions of curve and 
another 20 minutes on the blade - it worked great right out of the 
chute.  I wouldn't go any longer than 8" for the plane (the crown is 6" 
IIRC), although up to about 1-3/4" on the blade would work well I think.

Thanks to my buddy Croxton Gordon, master chair maker, for helping with 
the dimensions of the curves.

Ed Minch
Leaving overcast Delawhere for 2 weeks in Italy (Lake Como and Luca) in 
about 2 hours!!!!!!  Will be looking for tools like the Peugeot Freres 
try plane I found in Northeast France.

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