Coopering Planes

To make curved doors, whether they be convex or concave, the inside of the curve needs to be planed with a round bottomed plane. These planes have a horizontal radius and a cambered blade. I made mine out of Burmese Rosewood with a Goncalo Alves sole. I went for an old english style for the body shape with chamfered edges, and a carved cross pin.

To do smaller work, I used a much darker rosewood to make a six inch long coopering plane. Once again I went with a traditional early English body style with chamfers and a scroll wedge.

To make the blade, I used an old piece of tapered steel I had and ground it to a radius. Because this plane only has a 7/8 inch blade, I used a brass pin instead of carving one of wood.

The sole is made from Lignum Vitae.

The wedge and body are treated with shellac with really brought out all of the colors that the raw wood didn't manage to get across.

I ran into a situation where I needed an even tighter curved coopering plane, so I made one with an elm body and ebony sole.

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