If it looks straight it is straight.

Becareful or you'll end up making your own tools so you can make the thing to make the thing.

Seems like a good candidate for a hairmet.

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Chandler's job.

Chandler's job.

With Saw, Plane, and Chisel by Zachary Dillenger. It is an excellent book for learning the hand tool method.

It is riveted on. Drill and counter sink. Then peen over a pin to lock everything on place. File it flush.

The idea with that bump out was you could hit it with your hammer to retract the blade. It doesn't really work as well as I had thought. The blade needs to be longer for it to work. There isn't enough clearance between the wedge and the blade for it to work well.

I did make and heat treat the iron. 1084 is pretty easy to heat treat with minimal tools. It reminds me of O1, but with a more forgiving heat treat schedule.

Do you wear a hat? I learned to sew just enough to sew a loop of fabric to the side. I can stick my pencil in there preventing its escape.

This was the inspiration: https://www.apenbird.com/

Thanks! It is sitting at 66ish degrees.

Thanks!

There isn't any real issue with seeing everything. In the photo the blade is fully retracted and you're looking at it mostly from above. In use it is pretty easy to see where you are at in the cut.

I'm pretty happy with the performance. There are some minor things I want to change on the next one, but overall I'm content.

Thanks!

In some cases snipe is inevitable, even with expensive tools. It is a good idea to leave your boards a bit longer than you need them. Then when they are to thickness trim them to length and remove the snipe.

As for your question, what you are proposing will not work. You can end up tapering the board.

Onlinemetals.com has 260 brass you can buy in strips. They also sell plate, but you can get those custom cut if needed.

As for copper, Daed Tool Works released a kit for a small miter plane made from copper. There is some support for using it.

With the brass you have now try heating the area you are going to peen with a torch until it is red. Then let it cool. That will help to soften it. You may be able to get it to move a bit more without crumbling by doing that.

Also check out the book Making and Modifying Woodworking Tools by Jim Kingshott. One of the planes he describes making uses machining brass for the sides that are dovetailed to a steel sole. However. The brass isn't peened. That build method may be of use to you.

A workmate was my first workbench. It was rough using it to do hand cut joinery. It isn't heavy enough mass to resist the forces hand tools put out.

If space is the issue I would checkout something like this: https://www.curtisbuchananchairmaker.com/store/p23/PDF%3A\_Workbench\_Plans\_%28digital\_download%29.html. It is a small bench that uses sand to add weight and keep it from moving around.

I was thinking the same thing. I'm trying to find an antique one of reference to one in another book. I'm curious how it was handled originally.

I misunderstood you. I thought you were talking about piercing the iron to allow clearance for the tenons and adjustment screw.

To make the upper and lower parts of the wooden body it has you cut them from a single blank. Draw the bed angle, cut it with a saw, then smooth out the saw cuts.