Hello-
At 11:02 PM 1/6/00 -0800, Frank Filippone wrote:
>So, a woodie bottom.... now how did you get the radius right?
        Actually, the radius doesn't matter.  The plane was intended to be
flexible, so I could hollow different radii.  The radius just has to be
consistent over the length of the plane.  I marked a 6" radius arc on a
piece of cardboard (that is as large as that compass will go), then
transferred it to the ends of the plane.  Using my #2 (my only other plane
at the time), I planed it to the arc, then scraped it smooth with a scraper.
 >snip<
> Ths blade was from Hock? or did you make your own from a
>standard blade?  Ditto the shaping question......
        AFAIK, Hock wasn't in business at the time-more than 20 years ago.  Whi
le
in Michigan, I had visited the Henry Ford Museum and saw a round-bottom
plane there.  I _wanted_ one... ah, tool-lust at age 11...
        Once I got the bottom shaped, I mounted the metal works back on the bod
y
with the iron protruding.  I marked it with an awl, ground it to the arc,
then ground the edge and honed it.  I just set the cap a bit back from the
edges and had at it.  Of course, I immediately discovered I needed to
re-throat the thing.  When you look at it, it is fairly obvious I had no
idea what I was doing.  I fit a bunch of individual pieces in with
fibreglass resin to reduce the size of the opening, rather than fitting a
block and re-cutting the throat.

>Sounds workable, and like you say, fun.
        Well, I built the thing, then I didn't use it much for several years.
I
started making coopered lids for boxes and trunks, then cabinet doors.
Jim Colburn