My Planes are Taking Shape!

On the fourth day of the Scott Meek class on making wooden planes, we shaped the wedges that will hold our blades in place and then began to cut the now rectangular plane bodies to their final shapes.
For my Osage orange smoothing plane, which has a 50 degree bed angle, I decided to create my own body style and so I strayed from the traditional design. 

The Osage orange smoother body before shaping

My idea was to incorporate handle-like curves in the toe and rear of the plane to make it more easily fit my hand in use.  So I left the front and rear sections higher so I could shape them to fit my hand.

Some of the shaping is visible on the front of the plane; I did less shaping on the rear

I will probably not make any more changes to this plane, except to polish the rasped areas.  I can do additional changes to fit my hand when I'm back in my own woodshop and after I have spent some time using the plane.

My teak jack plane in the process of being shaped

The teak 12 inch jack plane is still being shaped.  I'm following Scott's pattern for this plane, which will have Scott's "wave" pattern on the rear section.  That not only makes it easy to hold and use, but beautiful as well.

I've not yet started on shaping the 22 inch white oak jointer.  That will come tomorrow.

My teak jointer and Osage orange smoother as they near completion

Some of the 12 planes being built in the class this week

Tomorrow we'll finish shaping the bodies and then work the mouths so the blades protrude just the right amount.

Need I say that I'm having a lot of fun--and learning a lot too!--in this class?  When I update my book on handplanes, Choosing and Using Handplanes, I plan to include a chapter on wooden handplanes, which are quickly becoming favorites in my handplane collection.

Norm